Detroit City Distillery's Paczki Day Vodka returns: How it's made and where to get it

A seasonal favorite returns next month with the release of Detroit City Distillery’s Paczki Day Vodka. 

This year’s batches are made with 3,000 freshly baked raspberry paczki from Hamtramck’s New Palace Bakery and 100% potato vodka from both Poland and Michigan. The paczki are soaked in the vodka for 24 hours in a 500-gallon copper pot before the distilling process. 

The seasonal spirit is a hot commodity and regularly sells out before each Fat Tuesday, which is March 1 this year. In 2021, they sold 4,200 bottles online in 22 minutes. 

Detroit City Distiller co-owner Michael Forsyth describes the Paczki Day Vodka as “ultra-smooth, and you can really taste the raspberry and buttery pastry of the paczki.”

“The level of excitement and demand for this product never ceases to amaze me. It’s always a huge challenge to work around the clock to try to make enough, but we have so much fun doing it,” he said in a media alert about this year’s release. “Due to requests already pouring in, we anticipate yet another fast sellout in 2022.”

Set an alarm for 8 a.m. Feb. 11. That’s when the 88-proof vodka goes on sale at detroitcitydistillery.com/shop. Those who snag a bottle, $35 each, can pick them up at the DCD Tasting Room bar at 2462 Riopelle in Eastern Market Feb. 18-27. 

A great day to pick up your bottle would be Feb. 26, because that’s when the tasting room will be hosting a pre-Fat Tuesday Paczki Day party from 10 a.m.-11 p.m. The indoor and outdoor event will be free to attend and is expected to have Polish food, Polish music and cocktails made with the vodka. 

Paczki Day Vodka may also be available in select liquor stores. 

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mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens