At the St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour this past January, my husband, friend and I taste-tested a beverage that became our new favorite drink: God Bless Vodka (GBV).
I like going to a craft beer tasting for the off-the-wall stuff that shows up. I like a weird sour, or an odd-flavored seltzer (looking at you, Bud Light Flannel Pack) but the best drink I tried at this last event was hands down the God Bless Vodka canned cocktail. Both the lemon-lime and blue raspberry lemonade flavors hit the spot, and after the event, my group immediately went to the nearest liquor store that stocked it and cleared the shelves into our cart.
I knew I had to hear the story of how this Minnesota-born cocktail came to be, and a DM on Instagram led me to Tom Juberian.
The drink itself was born at a Minnesota Twins game in 2017 when actor Josh Duhamel shouted out the phrase “God Bless Vodka” while being interviewed by Fox Sports reporter Marney Gellner. Tom thought that would be a great name for a drink, and started blending a combination of lemonade, vodka, and crystal light on the boat for his friends and family. Just for the heck of it, he looked into getting his drink canned. That lead him on a journey that has now resulted in his cocktail being on store shelves all across northern Minnesota and into North Dakota.
Tom isn’t a brewmaster by trade either. His degree is in Physical Therapy, and in addition to working in that field, he also runs AirBnb’s and owns an Anytime Fitness. To say he is a busy man is an understatement, but he is a man in pursuit of adventure, and I think that is super inspirational.
Check out my full interview with Tom, and hear the full story of how God Bless Vodka came to be on The Small Town Tourist Podcast.
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