Stuga Vodka creators find way back 'home' to make Kansas corn-based spirit

LINDSBORG — Meaning small house or cottage in Swedish, the word "Stuga" is all about home.

Now the word has taken on a new meaning, as a brand of homegrown and crafted, corn-based Kansas vodka.

The idea for a corn-based vodka came from husband and wife Hilary and Erin Condren after finding themselves back "home" to the family farm in Lindsborg during the height of the COVID pandemic.

"The world's falling apart, we're in California ... and we decided to go home to Lindsborg, Kansas, embrace our roots and figure out what in the world is happening before we make any next decisions," Erin Condren said.

Where do the roots of the Stuga Vodka brand come from?

Condren is the fifth-generation owner of the farm after her family left Sweden in 1869 and found themselves staking claim in Lindsborg under the Homestead Act.

The Condrens decided that if they were going to take over and steward the family farm, they wanted to find a unique way to make use of the crops that helped her ancestors flourish.

At the same time, the Condrens also partnered with Dani Greene to take over the Öl Stuga bar in Lindsborg, and things started aligning to begin this new adventure into distilling.

"It all sort of came together where we took over the bar, took over the farm, took over the crops," Condren said, "and we thought let's do something cool."

Lovers of vodka, the Condrens realized that Tito's was really the only brand that was using 100% corn, and decided it could be something they could do to add to the market, using Kansas ingredients.

"We knew we wanted to be Kansas-made," Condren said. "We knew that we had Kansas corn (to use) and even if our farm didn't produce enough Kansas corn we wanted to align ourselves with others who had Kansas corn."

They also wanted to make sure Stuga would be made in Kansas, so they looked around the state and eventually partnered with Boot Hill Distillery in Dodge City to house the operations.

"We felt immediately a connection to Hayes Kelman and his team at Boot Hill," Condren said. "We walked through, legally, how we were going to create an alternating proprietorship."

She said the two are distinct companies, but Boot Hill and Stuga share facilities and teams.

"We worked through renditions and formulas until we came up with what we wanted to put out into the world that Kansas could be proud of," she said.

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After refining the product, she said they wanted to find a Kansas distributor to get their vodka on shelves and they found that with Lenexa-based Worldwide Beverage Group, and the product launched in May 2024.

Find Stuga Vodka in Kansas liquor stores now

Though they have a distributor, Erin Condren said she and her husband still make the time for personal interactions, calling and walking into stores to pitch the vodka themselves, with the product now in 132 stores across the state.

"There has not been one store that has said no to the product," she said.

In addition to the straight 80 proof, six-times distilled, corn vodka, Stuga also sells canned vodka soda cocktails, with five different cocktails; Rain, an unflavored vodka soda with sparkling water; Farm, which uses grapefruit juice; Harvest, which uses blood orange; Lake, lime flavored; and Sun, using lemon juice.

"We're coming out with a sixth (canned cocktail) in fall called 'Hunt' that's cranberry," Erin said. "That'll be out in October or November."

For more information about the company, visit its website at www.stugaspirits.com . Stuga also regular posts information and updates on its Facebook and Instagram pages.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Stuga Vodka creators find way back 'home' to make Kansas corn-based spirit