British potato vodka targets lucrative U.S. market

William Chase, owner of the only premium potato-based vodka distillery in Britain, plans to take on much larger, mass-produced luxury brands in the U.S. market, Chase told Reuters.

Unlike all large-scale vodka producers, Chase Distillery grows, mashes and distils its own potatoes on the founder's 400 acre family farm in the heart of the English countryside before bottling the spirit on site.

"There's a great market for high-quality spirits with provenance and pedigree...people are caring more and more where their products come from,"said the 50-year-old potato farmer turned entrepreneur.

Chase also had some encouraging words for British entrepreneurs seeking to boost exports.

"I thought it would be the fact that the vodka is made from potatoes in an old-fashioned way, but across the world it is the fact that it's English. English is becoming trendy again,"Chase said.