LÜG vodka to premiere on Lugnuts opening day

LANSING — What’s the newest attraction at Cooley Law School Stadium?

It's not beer. Or a twist on your classic ballpark brat. 

It's something more spirited. 

The Lansing Lugnuts, in collaboration with American Fifth Spirits, will launch LÜG vodka, on April 7, opening day at the ballpark.

But how do you pronounce LÜG? Loog? Luge?

"To be completely honest, we’ve heard about four different variations of how it's pronounced,'" said Lugnuts new general manager Tyler Parsons.

"We're just telling people it has a variable name based on how much of it you drink, I guess."

Potential specialty cocktails include "Call to the Bullpen Bloody Mary," "Luggie’s Mule," "Wild Thing/Wild Pitch" and "Rocky Cherry."

The corn vodka is distilled by downtown Lansing's American Fifth Spirits.

"We went with corn for this one, first of all, to differentiate it against our normal vodka," said American Fifth Spirits owner Rick Wyble. "And that way, we could put gluten free on the label." 

"There are so many people going through their gates that we want to make sure we weren’t going to make anything that would offend someone’s digestive tract."

Typically, vodkas made from corn are a little bit more delicate, Wyble said. "Whereas wheat is very bright and light. Vodka from potatoes people tend to think of it as more of a creamy texture. And rye would be spicy."

Parsons isn't a stranger to the process of launching a team's own brand of libation.

Originally from Dansville, he comes to the Lugnuts from the Johnson City Cardinals in Johnson City, Tennessee, where he was also general manager.

"I was one of the first few teams in minor league baseball to brand a craft beer," Parsons said. "We did that in Tennessee, got a chance to kind of see how it took off and became an extension of our brand beyond just having our own beer."

The beer was called Cardinal Park Red Ale.

"I got to Lansing in mid-November and really started to see some growth and progress in the distilling scene and the spirits scene," Parsons said. "It's pretty large right now across the country, but specifically here in downtown Lansing as well.

The Lugnuts already had a great relationship with Wyble and American Fifth Spirits, their neighbor just a stone's throw away across Larch Street.

 "Really, we were just kind of batting around an idea, and I met with Rick, and, honestly, it made sense. We thought it was a really cool idea and concept. And I really leaned on Rick and his staff for the type of spirit we were going to go for."

Wyble says bottles of LÜG will be sold at American Fifth, but they won't do any cocktails with it.

"Doing vodka just made sense from one, a volume standpoint, and two, it's just a very, very popular type of spirit and is used in a lot of different things," Parsons said.

So LÜG was born. 

"We worked on the co-branding, and it's kind of taken off. We're having a lot of fun with it."

Contact Vickki Dozier at (517) 267-1342 or vdozier@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickkiD.