Very few bottles tell you what happened to the contents. This one has printed the process on the label: two filtrations, two materials and two entirely different ways of taking something away.
Expert description
Bols Charcoal & Copper Filtered is a Dutch Vodka from Lucas Bols, filtered through both copper and activated charcoal and bottled at 37.5%.
Copper is the oldest trick in the trade. The metal binds sulphur compounds that would otherwise give a spirit something close to struck match or boiled cabbage, which is why stills have been built in copper for centuries. Put copper to work after distillation as well, and the last of those compounds get one more chance to be caught.
Activated charcoal works differently. It removes nothing by chemical bonding but by trapping the larger molecules in the pores of the carbon, while ethanol and water pass through more or less unhindered. Fusel oils and heavy aroma compounds stay in the filter, and the spirit comes out lighter than it went in.
The balance is the whole craft. Filter too hard and the small grain character that makes a vodka worth tasting disappears too, leaving something clean with nothing at all to say. Here the level is set so the bottle turns dry and smooth rather than washed out, which makes it an efficient building block behind a bar.
Tasting notes
Nose
Almost silent. Cool and mineral, with only a faint suggestion of grain and a touch of fresh metal.
Palate
Dry and sharply cut. There is very little sweetness, the body is slim, and the profile runs straight without any bends from the first sip.
Finish
Very short. It lets go quickly and leaves a trace of pepper and no weight at all.
Specifications
Name: Bols Charcoal & Copper Filtered
Producer: Lucas Bols
Region/Country: Netherlands
Type: Dutch Vodka
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Filtered through copper and activated charcoal
EAN no.: 5900471026200
Serving suggestion: Use it in a Vodka Tonic or a Bloody Mary, where the dry profile leaves room for everything else.
Flavour profile
Dry · Clean · Slim · Mineral
Did you know?
Activated charcoal has an absurdly large internal surface area. A single gram can amount to several hundred square metres, because the carbon is riddled with microscopic pores — and that area is exactly what the filtration lives off.
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