In The Harbor -Terry Olson
Terry Olson on ZIM'S Vodka, Hockey & Polish Tradition
In the Harbor | Episode 38 featuring Terry Olson
Most people pick one lane. Terry Olson picked all of them.
A former professional hockey player who skated for the Penticton Vees, Western Michigan University, and the Nashville South Stars, Terry spent years coaching elite youth hockey programs (Little Caesars AAA, University Liggett School, U of D Jesuit) while building and selling a marketing and research company. Then he tried a wheat-based vodka, felt terrible, and that one bad drink sent him on a plane to Poland.
What he found there changed everything: a 250-year-old distillery in Wroclaw, Polish potatoes with some of the highest starch content in the world, and spring water filtered through a proprietary reverse osmosis system. He came home to Grosse Pointe, Michigan and founded The Rebel Spirits Group, makers of ZIM'S Vodka, named after "ziemniak," the Polish word for potato.
ZIM'S launched in 2012 with two products: ZIM'S 81 (81 proof) and ZIM'S 59 (59 proof, same great taste with 25% less alcohol). Within 10 months, both won Masters awards at The Vodka Masters 2013 in London, the highest honor in the "Smooth" category, going head to head with Belvedere, Crystal Head, and Stolichnaya. A Platinum at the Spirits International Prestige Awards followed.
Only about 3% of the world's vodkas are made from potatoes. ZIM'S uses eight pounds of Polish potatoes for every fifth, and they do it the hard way on purpose. No flavored lines. No trend-chasing. No tasting room. Just the product.
What makes ZIM'S stand out beyond the taste is the Farm to Table to Farm loop. Polish potato farmers grow the raw materials. The distillery turns them into vodka. All the leftover mash goes back to those same farmers for fertilizer and feed. It is one of the few spirits brands in the world with a true closed-loop production cycle.
In this episode of In The Harbor, Terry talks about why Poland was the only option, how hockey culture shaped his approach to business, what it takes to compete against billion-dollar brands with a bootstrapped operation, and why "the smoothest vodka on the planet" is more than a tagline.
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