The 42nd parallel south cuts straight through New Zealand. You cannot get much further from everything else in the inhabited world, and that is exactly the point the whole bottle rests on: clean water, clean air, no neighbours to worry about.
Expert description
42 Below Vodka is a New Zealand Vodka made from wheat and bottled at 40%.
The story starts in 1999 in a garage in Wellington. Geoff Ross had a thought that a country as clean as New Zealand ought to be able to make one of the purest vodkas in the world, and set about it on his own. First he sold to friends, then to bars, and eventually the whole country wanted the bottle. Today it sits on shelves across most of the globe.
The name points at the latitude, and the water is part of the argument: it is drawn from an aquifer beneath old volcanic rock. The wheat is New Zealand grown, and the spirit is cleaned so far that the grain is barely sensed. That makes it one of the most obliging bases behind a bar — it settles underneath the other ingredients instead of fighting them.
Tasting notes
Nose
Clean and cool with a faint citrus trace. The grain sits well back and makes no fuss.
Palate
Soft and almost oily in texture. A mild sweetness from the wheat, with no sharp alcoholic edge.
Finish
Fresh and full in the mouth, but short. A clean, lightly mineral impression is what stays.
Specifications
Name: 42 Below Vodka
Producer: 42 Below
Region/Country: New Zealand
Type: New Zealand Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Serving suggestion: Neat, on the rocks or in a cocktail where the base should keep a low profile.
Flavour profile
Clean · Soft · Lightly grain sweet · Fresh
Did you know?
Less than ten years after the first bottle was filled in a Wellington garage, Bacardi bought the whole brand. Geoff Ross and Justine Troy later wrote a book about the trip from homemade to world market.
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