A man reads Russian philosophy and metaphysics, and somewhere along the way decides to make vodka instead. He teaches himself the craft, borrows space at a small distillery and fills 75 litres at a time. The bottles are named after a clumsy bear.
Expert description
Den Klodsede Bjørn Vodka is a Danish Vodka distilled from Danish barley and wheat malt and bottled unfiltered at 40%.
Behind the bottle stands Frederik Plum, a self taught distiller who began making vodka in 2013, the same year his son was born. He works at Trolden Distillery, where the malt is both malted and brewed on site before it ever reaches the stills.
Distillation runs three times through small Portuguese copper pot stills. A batch is 75 litres and yields somewhere between 150 and 170 bottles, each of them numbered by hand. It is not a way of working that scales, and it is not meant to.
The decisive choice is that the distillate is never filtered. Ordinary vodka is usually run through activated charcoal, which strips out both faults and character. Here the grain stays in, giving a creamy, almost dairy texture and a peppery spice you do not normally associate with vodka.
Tasting notes
Nose
White pepper first, then something mineral like rain on warm stone. Below sits white bread, caraway and a trace of aniseed.
Palate
Creamy and almost dairy sweet in the middle with a clear minerality. White and black pepper clean the mouth again before the sweetness can turn heavy.
Finish
Creamy bread and cracked black pepper. The spice hangs on longest and makes it far more characterful than most.
Specifications
Name: Den Klodsede Bjørn Vodka
Distillery: Trolden Distillery
Bottler: Den Klodsede Bjørn
Region/Country: Denmark
Type: Danish Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 50 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled in small Portuguese copper pot stills, unfiltered
Serving suggestion: Fridge cold in a small glass, or in a Vodka Martini where the pepper gets room.
Flavour profile
Creamy · Mineral · Peppery · Unfiltered
Did you know?
The letters V.A.M.P. on the label are not a nod to vampires. They are the initials of his son's four names, Vladimir Asbjørn Munk Plum, born in the very year the first vodka was distilled.
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