Paul Kelly Vodka: A Unique Product from Louisiana Sweet Potatoes

BOGALUSA, La. (WGNO) — There’s an energetic and unique spirit many towns across the country. Bogalusa, Louisiana is no different and unlike anywhere else.

However, when referring to the spirit of Bogalusa, there is a double entendre in the word “spirit.”

Paul Kelly vodka is a craft vodka and a labor of love rooted in family and history. It’s made right at the heart of Bogalusa, out of the mind of master craft distiller Paul Kelly.

Paul’s journey into distilling started half a world away. “I used to work in Saudi Arabia. When I was there we couldn’t buy any booze. A buddy of mine and I had the goal to make the best ethanol on earth,” explains Paul Kelly.

That ambition of making a clean and superior ethanol eventually brought Paul Kelly back home to Louisiana. He would use that idea in a different way using two native ingredients: sweet potatoes and cane sugar.

Paul Kelly explains how his vodka dream was inspired but not easy, saying “the original formula was difficult to work with cause sweet potatoes go bad really quick. But they have so many nutrients and I was shocked how good the mash came out.”

Today, the Paul Kelly distillery operates inside a former milk bottling plant in Bogalusa. It’s a small business but there’s passion in it. Paul has dreams of expanding and says he cooks about 400 pounds of sweet potatoes at a time. That cooked sweet potato then moves into tanks to ferment. He produces about 80 cases a month.

The local environment plays its part too, as the vodka makes use of the local water supply and even the soil that sweet potatoes grow in themselves to add character to his vodka.

For Paul, this isn’t just about vodka, it’s about roots. Just as sweet potatoes are roots, Paul has roots of his own. His dad was a tenacious bearcat pilot in World War Two. His uncle, even though afflicted with polio, was allowed into the navy because of his intelligence. Paul inherited both the intelligence and tenacity of his uncle and father.

From sweet potatoes and sugar to visitors sharing tales over a glass, Paul Kelly Vodka blends Louisiana soil, water, and spirit into something uniquely its own.

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