An Alaskan company is breaking into the international market with a premium vodka that is winning critical reviews in the tasting world. The vodka is called Permafrost and the central ingredient is a humble potato grown right in the Mat-Su Valley.

Toby Foster is the man who makes Permafrost, and he says there are only four or five vodkas in the entire world that are made from potatoes. And Foster says potatoes from the Mat-Su Valley make some of the best vodka around.

"The really cool thing about Matanuska grown potatoes is that because of the long summer days the potatoes produce a lot of starch and the starch is what we want. We can take that high starch potato and convert it into sugar which is what the yeast need to convert

it into ethanol," says Foster.

Foster is a former medivac pilot who followed a dream and emptied his savings to open the only liquor distillery in the state. His Glacier Creek Distillery is located in an airplane hanger in the Palmer/Wasilla area. The space is filled with cookers and coolers and stills that can turn a soup of raw potatoes into a premium vodka in a period of about two weeks.

But while potatoes are a big part of what makes the vodka so special there is another secret ingredient. Foster uses 10 thousand year old glacier ice that comes from Prince William Sound. It's purchased from the only man who has a permit to harvest glaciers in the state.

Foster says it's the age of the ice that makes his vodka so soft and

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smooth and apparently the critics agree. Recently the prestigious Beverage Tasting Institute of Chicago put Permafrost in it's highest category.

But despite it's success it hasn't stopped Foster from making changes. The old bottle featuring a polar bear is being replaced with a new engraved bottle. That combined with some other changes should bring the retail price down from its current level of about 50 dollars.

Foster has also launched a lower priced vodka called Frostbite that is made with Alaskan grain and says in the near future he'll be offering three flavored Alaskan vodkas as well.

Foster notes that they've come a long way since the first bottle rolled off the production line only a year ago. The company turned a profit during its first year and Foster says they are thrilled to be expanding so soon.

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