In 1988 Sidney Frank, a well-known distributor in the US met with Cognac Maître de Chef François Thibault to chat about distributing Cognac in America. Eight years later the pair met again and this time the meeting set in motion an idea that would change the shape of the global vodka market.
At that time vodka was very much in the grips of the US Government’s definition of having “to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or colour.” But in that meeting Sidney shared with François his idea for something new, something not seen until then, and that was to create a premium vodka for the American market.
François told Bars and Clubs: “This was very unusual to have an American businessman coming to France, to see a French Maître de Chef about creating a premium vodka, I was making Cognac.
“At that time vodka had a pretty bad reputation, and it was generally quite strong – not in terms of alcohol, but in terms of taste. It didn’t usually taste very good and so people would have to add to it to dilute the vodka and hide that taste of the vodka.
“So, when I met with Sidney Frank the second time about making a vodka, I hadn’t really tried that much vodka, and didn’t know anything about it. But I still said yes because I love a challenge.”
François said that the pair agreed that to make a premium vodka, the first thing is that they have to be different to anything that has already existed. They looked at their options for creating a vodka and briefly considered going with the way a lot of vodka was being made at the time, which was to buy an industrial spirit, distil it many times, and then add a bit of filtered water to rectify the taste.
The gift of nature
“But that is not my philosophy,” François said. “I have studied wine, I have made Cognac and all of this was made from an ingredient that I was selecting and modifying himself. So, for me the solution was to find the ingredient to transform and make into vodka.
“When you look back in history the first ingredient for vodka, was not potato as many people think, it was wheat. In France we have the capital, Paris, but we also have many other capitals: the cheese capital, the wine capital, the Cognac capital and we have the wheat capital, which is just north of Paris in a region called Picardy.
“That region produces some of the best, if not the best wheat in the world. It has the highest grade of wheat used to make bread, one thing that people remember when they come to France is not just the beautiful scenery, but also the taste of the baguette, croissant or pain au chocolat.
“This is the gift of nature, this wheat has been grown for many generations because of the combination of the soil and the climate in Picardy, makes it the best conditions to cultivate wheat. And, if it’s good for bread, it must be good for vodka.”
With the premium ingredient selected François then set about working on how to transform that into a premium spirit.
He said: “I wanted something very close by, so we built the distillery within 50 kilometres of where the wheat is grown and also created the storage units as well. And I wanted to create a continuous process from the wheat grain all the way to the spirits – non-stop.
“I had never made vodka before, I hadn’t really drunk it, but I had made wine before and I knew that I could use my knowledge of wine fermentation as a starting point. And then you can distil that wheat wine and I know how to do that because I made Cognac, and I just needed to transfer this knowledge to a new ingredient.
“From there every single part of the process is important and you can’t move on to the next step until you have made the step you are working on the best it can be. My philosophy is if you choose a quality ingredient you just need to let that quality speak for itself.”
The continuous process
The first step in the process to making this premium vodka is the wheat harvest, which only happens once a year although it is over a few weeks. Then the wheat is cleaned and stored in temperature-controlled silos, which ensures it stays as fresh as the day it was harvested.
François explained to Bars and Clubs how his team then goes about taking that freshly harvested wheat to make Grey Goose.
“We have our wheat in storage, then we mill it and there are four different steps and those steps get out the membrane of the grain, which is rich in protein and so goes to feed farm animals. But what we want to keep is the heart of the grain, which we turn into a flour that is very rich in starch. And, because we mill our own wheat, we can make sure that the granular size of that flour is what we need so we can distil it – the granules are much larger than those used in bread and the flour you have at home.”
That granularity and the freshness of the wheat is part of the Grey Goose recipe, and it is also the best granular size for working with the yeast that Grey Goose uses.
François added: “Then we add enzymes to the starch into glucose and then once you have done that, you will add yeast to start fermentation.
“The continuous process is key in the fermentation process, as we have six different tanks which continually fill each other up, so once the first tank is full it pushes liquid into the second tank, and so on to the sixth one. This is temperature and agitation regulated in each tank and there is a higher sugar content in the first tank and as this goes through each tank, the sugar content reduces so there is no sugar in the sixth tank and the liquor will be around 12 to 13 per cent ABV. This is a long, slow fermentation, taking around 48 hours over the six tanks.
“We then keep the continuous process happening, as we can take that zero sugar liquor and distil it straight away. From there to make vodka to have to make a spirit of 96 per cent ABV, this is the goal and so you can’t use a copper still, you have to use a column distillation and a very important part of Grey Goose is that we only distil once, using a five-column distillation process.
“This process happens all-day, every day, helping the ‘low-and-slow’ distillation of Grey Goose. Once the four-day distillation process is complete we are left with a 96 per cent ABV spirit, which is moved 600km away to the South of France to Gensac-la-Pallue, next to Cognac.”
The second key ingredient
At Gensac-la-Pallue, Grey Goose has a dedicated well of water, which has been filtered through the limestone and has a reputation for great quality of water – this is the water that has been used in making Cognac for centuries.
“The water is the second ingredient that is key to making Grey Goose. This water comes from an underground natural well that is 150m deep and has quality of being very smooth and very pure.
“Once the water is added there is a single filtration through activated carbon cellulose, and we are tasting the spirit throughout the whole process, this helps polish Grey Goose and gives it that shiny appearance. Any every bottle of Grey Goose that we produce, is first washed – with Grey Goose.”
François said that while vodka is known for having no smell, no flavour and no colour, but it can be different and that is what he has worked to achieve with Grey Goose. There is no colour, but Grey Goose has a colour of aromas, when you smell it you want it to a comfortable smell, and the alcohol in Grey Goose is smooth, pure and François said he likes to call it “The morning after the rain”.
It’s the same on the palate, Grey Goose is comfortable and not hot on the palate, with a smooth, almost sweet mid-palate (although Francois emphasises again there is no sugar) and the finish is fresh and long.
François said through all this process he reaches his final goal with Grey Goose, which is a vodka that can be enjoyed like any other spirit: neat, on ice, or elevated into a Martini.
With such a precision process going behind the making of Grey Goose, it is incumbent on us all to serve it in the right way, and this is something that François has been working with Grey Goose’s Global Brand Ambassador, Joe McCanta on.
From the perfect temperature to the Snow Shot, Grey Goose has Signature Serves that are designed to highlight the gifts of nature that François has worked so hard to highlight.
Find out more about the best way to serve vodka here, and stay tuned for the final instalment of Bars and Clubs’ chat with François, coming next week.
