It was in 2008 that Sarah Palin’s failed bid for the vice presidency put her home of Wasilla, Alaska, on the map. Coincidentally, 2008 was also the year the state’s first commercial distillery, simply titled Alaska Distillery, opened its doors in the same town. The pet project of Toby Foster, a former medevac pilot who switched careers after he broke his back in a plane crash, Alaska Distillery mostly produces vodka, from a high-end version they call Permafrost to a range of flavored vodkas made with local ingredients ranging from raspberry to birch syrup to smoked salmon.

Beyond the…