Sedna, first a sea goddess, now a vodka

The label on “Sedna” — a Newfoundland vodka named in honour of the Inuit sea goddess — features a stylized raven. (PHOTO COURTESY OF SEDNA VODKA)

For centuries, Sedna has been a figure in Inuit mythology as the goddess of the sea and marine animals.

And apparently, she is now the goddess of vodka, too.

A Newfoundland vodka, called Sedna, has taken the Inuit goddess as its muse.

“A gift from the Goddess… a legend takes flight,” is its motto for the vodka, launched in 2009.

Dentist Hilary Rodrigues, the chief executive officer of the Rodrigues winery and distillery, said he’s been fascinated by Sedna ever since he lived in Inuvik during the late 1970s.

“That’s where I learned about the legend of Sedna and I was interested in all things northern,” Rodrigues said.

The website includes information about Sedna, the young woman who becomes the mother of all sea creatures.

“As the sea goddess, Sedna has dominion over her creatures and controls the availability of seal, walrus, fish, whale, and other sea animals to Inuit hunters,” reads the website.

“Sedna is a wonderful legend because it goes all the way from Russia and Alaska to Labrador,” Rodrigues said.

When Rodrigues returned to Newfoundland from Invuik, he named his mink ranch after Sedna.

After he sold that business, he decided to produce wine under his own name, and then to start a company called Sedna Nutraceuticals, which sells health supplements made with blueberries, crowberries and other northern berries.

In 2009, Rodrigues’ distillery started to make Sedna vodka.

Its northern link is reinforced by the iceberg water used to make the vodka, he said.

“That’s the connection with Sedna — it’s a gift from the ocean,” said Rodrigues. “It passes though Sedna’s domain, and anything that passes through her domain, you must respect. Consequently, we named the vodka ‘Sedna.’

I hope that we have not offended anyone [by that choice of a name],” he added.

The distillation process for Sedna relies on volcanic rocks which filter the water-alcohol mixture.

That’s followed by a carbon filtration system— and this gets rid of all the “wild alcohols,” Rodrigues said.

“It’s very pure,” he said.

The labels on the 750-ml vodka bottles, available in frosted white and black, feature a stylized red and yellow raven.

You can’t buy Sedna in liquor stores outside Newfoundland, but you can order bottles, Rodrigues said.

In Nunavut, that would require a permit from the Nunavut Liquor Management board.

Although Sedna is not well-known yet, “it’s really a terribly good vodka,” Rodrigues said.

Sedna recently has won a gold medal on a U.S. show called “Hot Mixology.”

Rodrigues’ next project: to launch a pink botanical Sedna vodka and a blue-hued blueberry Sedna vodka.

Rodrigues’ daughter eyes a bottle of Sedna vodka against the background of an iceberg in this photo from the website for Sedna vodka. (PHOTO COURTESY OF SEDNA VODKA)