Hamtramck, Michigan’s New Palace Bakery, famous for its paczki, has once again teamed up with Detroit City Distillery for the limited-edition Paczki Day Vodka in preparation for Paczki Day (March 1, 2022).

Sales of the special vodka will commence online on Friday, February 11. The spirit is distilled with fresh-baked raspberry paczki from New Palace Bakery. Last year, the Distillery sold out of 4,200 bottles online in just 22 minutes, while many liquor stores sold out as soon as it hit the shelves. Paczki are popular among Michigan’s Polish community, especially on the day before Ash Wednesday, when the Lenten season begins.

“The level of excitement and demand for this product never ceases to amaze me. It’s always a huge challenge to work around the clock to try to make enough, but we have so much fun doing it,” says Michael Forsyth, co-owner of Detroit City Distillery. “Due to requests already pouring in, we anticipate yet another fast sellout in 2022.”

“When I first made Paczki Day Vodka, my goal was to capture the essence of the Hamtramck’s Paczki Day party in a bottle. Now, PDV has become part of people’s Paczki Day tradition,” adds Steve Orzechowski, distiller at DCD. “It’s an honor to make something we can all be proud of that celebrates our Polish community.”

This year the Distillery will use over 3,000 glazed raspberry paczki from New Palace Bakery to distill in 100 percent potato vodka from Poland and Michigan. Each batch uses 18-dozen paczki baked fresh that morning, which are then are soaked for 24 hours in vodka inside a 500-gallon copper pot still before they are distilled.

The spirit is smooth, buttery and has a distinct raspberry finish. It’s best enjoyed chilled over ice, mixed in a cocktail or as a paczki chaser.