Sobieski Vodka

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  Sobieski Estate Vodka Single Rye Polish Vodka 100 cl 40%

  Item no.: 22227865479-1106-197279966

  Some bottles get saved for occasions and some simply need to be there. A litre in the freezer belongs to the second group. It comes out for guests, for the fish on Saturday and for the glass nobody had planned on.

  Expert description

  Sobieski Estate Vodka Single Rye is a Polish Vodka made from pure Dankowskie rye, bottled at 40% in a 100 cl bottle.

  The litre is the format that makes sense if the vodka is meant to be used. Sobieski is built to be poured rather than admired: the label is plain, the glass is simple, and the priority clearly sits with what is inside. That is the same line the house has held since it dropped the idea that more distillations automatically mean better vodka.

  The grain is Dankowskie rye from Polish fields, and there is nothing else in it. Rye brings a bread and pepper signature that a wheat vodka never reaches, and because the spirit runs only once through the forty metre house column, that character stays put. The water comes from Oligocene springs.

  At this size it also becomes a different sort of bottle behind a bar. There is enough for a round of shots, a jug of Bloody Mary and the everyday alternative to gin in the same week without a trip to restock. The rye survives being mixed with strong things and does not vanish behind tomato, ginger or horseradish.

  Tasting notes

  Nose

  Dry grain and baker's dough, with a breath of aniseed over the top. The aroma is restrained and does not close up even when the glass is cold.

  Palate

  Firm and dry. The rye sits mid mouth as crust and flour, and a peppery warmth rises slowly from behind.

  Finish

  Clean and medium. The warmth falls away evenly and leaves a dry, faintly salted impression.

  Specifications

  Name: Sobieski Estate Vodka Single Rye
  Distillery: Destylarnia Sobieski
  Region/Country: Starogard Gdański, Poland
  Type: Polish Vodka
  ABV: 40%
  Size: 100 CL
  Distillation method: Single distilled in the tallest column in Poland
  EAN no.: 5900226006860
  Serving suggestion: Straight from the freezer into frozen glasses at the table, or in a Vodka Gimlet where the rye spice meets the lime.
  

  Flavour profile

  Dry · Peppery · Grainy · Direct

  Did you know?

  The word vodka first appears in writing in 1405, in a document from Sandomierz in Poland. There it did not describe a drink but medicine and cosmetics — the glass came later.

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  • 1pcs.
    38,75EUR
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  Sobieski Estate Vodka Single Rye Polish Vodka 70 cl 37,5%

  Item no.: 22227865479-1106-1972500

  A rye field in northern Poland looks like very little in August. The ears are long, thin and slightly unruly, and the yield falls short of wheat. Dankowskie gets planted anyway, and there is a reason somebody keeps holding on to it.

  Expert description

  Sobieski Estate Vodka Single Rye is a Polish Vodka distilled exclusively from Dankowskie rye and bottled at 40%.

  Dankowskie is an old Polish rye variety picked for flavour rather than for yield. It gives less per hectare than modern strains, but it carries a spiced, almost bready character across into the spirit, and that is the entire point of a single rye. There is no other grain in the bottle, no wheat to round the corners off.

  The distillery sits in Starogard Gdański and counts among the oldest working spirit plants in Poland, with roots back to 1846. The rye runs through the house column, which at close to forty metres is the tallest in the country, and it passes through only once. One long run cleans the spirit without tearing the grain character out of it.

  You notice it straight away. Sobieski Estate has not been polished down to flavourless neutrality; it lands somewhere between the clean bar vodka and the rustic old-school Polish bottlings. In the 70 cl format it is easy to keep in the freezer and pour from whenever a glass needs something spiced.

  Tasting notes

  Nose

  Dry rye and a touch of dill. Behind it sits something mineral, close to wet flint.

  Palate

  Clean and angular. The grain arrives as flour and crust before a clear white pepper settles across the tongue.

  Finish

  Medium and dry. The pepper holds, and a faint nutty note turns up right at the very end.

  Specifications

  Name: Sobieski Estate Vodka Single Rye
  Distillery: Destylarnia Sobieski
  Region/Country: Starogard Gdański, Poland
  Type: Polish Vodka
  ABV: 37,5%
  Size: 70 CL
  Distillation method: Single distilled in the tallest column in Poland
  EAN no.: 5900226005634
  Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a small glass with smoked fish, or in a Polish Mule with ginger beer and lime.

  Flavour profile

  Dry · Spiced · Bready · Mineral

  Did you know?

  There is a hall in the Vatican Museums called the Sala Sobieski. It is named after King Jan III Sobieski and dominated by Jan Matejko's enormous painting of the relief of Vienna in 1683 — the king this bottle carries the name of.

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  • 1pcs.
    26,75EUR
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  Sobieski Herb de Pologne Premium Vodka 100% Pure Rye Polish Vodka 40%

  Item no.: 22244444555-99875

  A single blade lies across the inside of the bottle. It is not decoration added afterwards — it is the whole reason the liquid shifts colour in the light and smells of something between new-mown hay and baked apple.

  Expert description

  Sobieski Herb de Pologne is a Polish Vodka made from pure Dankowskie rye, flavoured with bison grass and herbs and bottled at 40%.

  The name translates literally as herb of Poland. The base is the same rye the house uses across its range: Dankowskie, grown in Poland and run once through the column at Starogard Gdański. On top of that sits an infusion of bison grass together with other natural herbs, and every bottle gets a blade of its own.

  Bison grass is Hierochloe odorata in Latin and grows on damp meadows and forest clearings in eastern Poland. The scent comes from coumarin, the same compound that makes new-mown hay and woodruff smell the way they do. That is why the vodka does not taste floral but green, dry and lightly baked.

  The herbs carry it further than a plain grass vodka. Creamy vanilla sits under the grassy note, with rosemary, lavender and a clear knock of black pepper above it. The rye holds the whole thing together from below, so the bottle turns neither perfumed nor sweet.

  Tasting notes

  Nose

  New-mown hay and woodruff, with a breath of baked apple and dried flowers behind.

  Palate

  Soft and grassy with creamy vanilla through the middle. Rosemary and lavender appear at the edges before black pepper cuts across.

  Finish

  Dry and long. The grass lingers, and at the end the rye is left standing as flour and pepper.

  Specifications

  Name: Sobieski Herb de Pologne
  Distillery: Destylarnia Sobieski
  Region/Country: Starogard Gdański, Poland
  Type: Polish Vodka
  ABV: 40%
  Size: 70 CL
  Distillation method: Single distilled in the tallest column in Poland and flavoured with bison grass
  Serving suggestion: With cold clear apple juice and a squeeze of lime, or ice cold and neat in a small glass with smoked cheese.
  

  Flavour profile

  Grassy · Herbal · Vanilla soft · Peppery

  Did you know?

  Bison grass takes its name from the European bison that graze on it in the Polish forests. The plant is also called sweetgrass and has been used for incense and basket weaving in several cultures, long before anyone thought of putting it in a bottle.

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  • 1pcs.
    26,75EUR