The New Year is a time for resolutions. Maybe your resolution is to breakaway from the same brand of spirits you’ve sipped since college. Maybe you want to be unique, have a drink set apart from Goose and Ketel the Maker’s and Jack. Maybe you want to impress someone special (or everyone at the bar) when you place your order. “What’s that you ordered?” “Oh this? Just a small batch rye from the first licensed distillery in Ogden, Utah since the 1800s.”
Founded in 2009, Ogden’s Own sprits built their reputation on a less sweet, complex liqueur called Underground that was voted Best Liqueur in America at the Spirits of the America’s competition. They built on this success by adding Five Wives Vodka and Porter’s whiskey blends, and in 2019, a straight rye whiskey to their brand. Utah may seem an unlikely, maybe inhospitable, place to establish a distillery, and the proprietors of Ogden’s Own are quite aware of this. Their cheekily named Five Wives Vodka cleverly pokes fun at the state’s history of polygamy and teetolalism. This irreverence was enough to get import of the product banned in Idaho, a ban that has since been lifted. All this is great branding, and all press is good press, but how about the taste.
Ogden’s Own Underground– Underground is technically a liqueur, but it has a higher alcohol content (40%) than most other common liqueurs. The higher alcohol content makes Underground a more versatile liqueur, a mixer sure, but also a shot or even sipped neat or on the rocks. It also has only 2.5% added sugar content compared to the typical 20% of most other liqueurs which gives Underground a smoother, clean taste with no residual cloying sweetness. The profile is drawn from the 33 herbs and flavors which provide a solid base rather than the hollow saccharine taste of many other liqueurs.
Five Wives Vodka– Introduced in 2011, Five Wives is the notorious vodka briefly banned in the state of Idaho. Five Wives is distilled using fresh spring water gathered in five gallon jugs from nearby Ogden streams. It is made using corn, so it is naturally gluten free. The distilled corn and minerals from the spring water result in a crisp, sweet vodka with no lingering harsh alcohol aftertaste. Five Wives is at home straight, in a mixed cocktail, and as a shot (again no harsh aftertaste).
Porter’s Straight Rye Whiskey– Ogden’s Own Small Batch Rye released in 2019 is a lesson in the art of spirit distillation paired with Ogden’s Own clever branding. Each Label is crafted from real wood which references the complex flavor of the whiskey aged three years in charred, new oak barrels. The result is an eminently flavorful sipping whiskey with a slight smoky flavor, and, as with the Five Wives Vodka, no discernible, lingering aftertaste. Ogden’s own also offers flavored whiskeys: Porter’s Peach, Porter’s Apple, Porter’s Fire, and Porter’s Huckleberry which adds distinctive fruit flavors and cinnamon to their blended whiskey.
Yes, Ogden’s Own marketing sets it apart as a rebellious, irreverent brand, but that would all be for show if not for the quality of spirits they produce. The proprietors recognized that there were consumers wanting for a less sweet yet bold liqueur, a clean tasting vodka that sips like ice, and a small batch whiskey retaining the flavor of it’s oak aging. The fact that this was established in Ogden, Utah is all the more notable, lending the brand a brazen, outlaw appeal to a remarkable stable of classic spirits.
