b'The office staff at Beatties Distillers in Alliston, Ont. Pictured are (left to right): Liz Beattie, Ken Beattie, Brenda Leverington, Harrison Torr and Darlene MacIsaac. PHOTO: LIZ BEATTIE, BEATTIE DISTILLERS.He points out the distillerys Farm-Crafted Potato Vodka is made with russet and Dakota Pearl potatoes, both of which have high levels of starch that is converted to sugar in the distilling process.Its more difficult and more expensive to extract the starch from potato, Murison says. But when it comes out, the end result is that it seems to be a bit creamier, a bit more buttery in terms of taste, which removes some of the harshness that you get from, for example, a grain vodka.Murison says credit for the distillerys exceptional showing at the 2018 World Beverage Competition also has to go to the care Beatties Distillers takes in crafting its potato vodka and other alcohol offerings.We have the right equipment and weve got the right people who are operating the equipment, which enables us to blend and distill the alcohol at the right levels to get a great-tasting product, he says.Part of that care is making sure only the best part of the potato is used to make the distillerys vodka.We take a good percentage of cuts from the heads and tails, so we make sure were working with just the heart of the product. Were never going to compromise on quality. Its just not in our nature, says Beattie. Were going to make sure that we get the best product out there. The potato, as far as were concerned, is the key to that.The spuds used to make Beatties Distillers Farm-Crafted Potato Vodka come from the 2,000-acre farm in Alliston, Ont., where the Beattie family grows chipping potatoes for numerous processors in both Canada and the United States. Beattie says, at first, the potatoes that went to the distillery were ones rejected by chip companies because they were too big or too small. She says, these days, its not just those spuds that are used to make potato vodka, and eventually therellDistiller Harrison Torr bottling a new batch of Farm-Crafted Potato Vodka at Beatties likely be some potatoes grown on the farm solely for use in the distillery. Distillers in Alliston, Ont.PHOTO: LIZ BEATTIE, BEATTIE DISTILLERS.6 SPUDSMART.COM FALL 2019'