Wait A Bit Vodka, a love letter to small farmers
Published:Thursday | June 27, 2024 | 12:06 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
For decades, Wait-A-Bit district in Trelawny has been the cornerstone of the yam belt in Jamaica. Producing tonnes of yellow yam, Lincoln Nicholson was always an admirer of both the dedication of the farmers as well as the provision itself.
Fifteen years into his career in ground provision exports, Nicholson got the novel idea to pair the beloved starch with another love of his: liquor.
Coming off three years of trial and error, Nicholson is now ready to hit the market with Wait A Bit Vodka from Wait A Bit Distillers.
Named for the district he has now come to consider a second home, Nicholson says his product can stand up to scrutiny with the best of them.
“We make excellent vodka in small batches. It’s 100 per cent from yellow yam, naturally gluten-free, made right here in the Cockpit Country with spring water.”
Explaining the flavour, he said, “It has notes of yellow yam. It smells very sweet and [is] smooth going down. It’s very smooth.”
While the inspiration for the name catches the eye first, Nicholson says it is a double entendre because of the long time it takes to create the product, due to their small production size.
Gesturing to the ‘Likkle Batches’ emblazoned across the bottle, he said, “Everything is done by hand. We’re in a small town, here in Wait-A-Bit. Everything is small. We buy yam from small farmers, we have a small production that’s focused on quality.”
Typically, potatoes are what the general public commonly expects for vodka; however, Nicholson said Jamaica was sitting on a goldmine that he saw fit to capitalise on.
“In Jamaica we grow a lot yams, we don’t grow a lot of potatoes. We have yams year-round. It’s an excellent compost carbohydrate with great conversions to make alcohol.”
For small farmers like Andrew Stewart, who has been tilling the soil in Wait-A-Bit for 30 years, this product cannot come soon enough.
“I think that is a fantastic endeavour. I endorse it 100 per cent, and actually, I think we need more by-products coming from this great product that is yellow yam,” he began, beaming.
Stewart said while they are happy selling yam for the typical consumption, he would like more people to understand where the produce comes from and the faces behind bringing it to the masses.
“I think this product will boost that immensely, because I think that is one of the things that is affecting yam development. There is not much knowledge spreading all over about it. So this initiative, I really endorse it. It will do a great [amount of] good for this product.”
With his distillery nestled amidst the seemingly endless acres of yam fields, Nicholson says his days are spent toiling away inside their little production house hand-crafting the new spirit with the help of his assistant, Tommy.
“A regular day starts off with mashing. That’s an all-day process in itself. Then cooking the yellow yam, converting those complex carbohydrates to sugars and then cooling them down to put into the fermenter so the yeast can eat them up. And then they make great-tasting alcohol.”
The spirit now at the fingertips of interested parties, Nicholson says looking back at his journey, he is grateful for where they are now.
“It was actually really difficult to accomplish it, and now we’re here. We tried every week, for going on two years, to get it done. I did all the engineering works here myself. Sometimes it hard to do things in small towns and get the supplies.”
He continued, “It makes me feel good every time someone has a taste of it and gives me their honest opinion. I always say honest opinions only, good or bad, and most times it’s good.”
Still reeling from the praises some yam farmers levied on him after trying the vodka, Nicholson summed up his emotions saying, “When people drink Wait A Bit Vodka, I just want them to fall in love. Fall in love with Jamaica, fall in love with yam.”