There's something about a bottle that's never been opened. This one has sat sealed for decades, its imperial crown and coat of arms still intact — a small piece of American-Russian trade history, bottled in glass.

Expert Description

Smirnoff No. 57 Vodka is an American 100 proof vodka bottled by Ste Pierre Smirnoff Fls at 50% ABV, most likely somewhere between the 1950s and the 1970s. The label leans on the brand's old claim as "Purveyors to the Imperial Russian Court 1886-1917" and carries the four imperial Russian coats of arms that mark Heublein-era Smirnoff bottles. The back lists four bottling locations at once — Hartford in Connecticut, Allen Park in Michigan, Menlo Park in California, and Paducah in Kentucky — a sign of just how large Smirnoff's American production had become by that point.

This is an export bottling. That's confirmed by the red "U.S. Internal Revenue" tax strip across the cap, a legal requirement on American spirits until it was phased out in 1985. Given the bottle is both unopened and several decades old, we treat it primarily as a collector's piece rather than something meant for drinking — the contents may well have shifted in character over time, even with the seal intact.

Tasting Notes

Nose

Straightforward grain vodka at its most honest — neutral, with a touch of warmth from the 50% ABV and no perfumed notes to speak of.

Palate

Sharp and direct on first contact, a dry, grainy body building toward a clear alcoholic heat.

Finish

Short and clean, with little sweetness — typical of a classic, unfiltered high-proof vodka from the period.

Specifications

Name: Smirnoff No. 57 Vodka
Distillery: Smirnoff
Region/Country: USA
Type: Vodka
ABV: 50%
Size: 37.8 CL
Edition: Export bottling (tax-stripped)

Flavour Profile

Grainy · Dry · Bold · Classic

Did You Know?

In June 1950, bartenders marched down Fifth Avenue in New York carrying banners demanding an end to the Moscow Mule — "Down with the Moscow Mule." The stunt landed Smirnoff a full page of free publicity in the New York Daily News, and the drink only got more popular from there.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

There is something about an old spirits bottle with an orange‑red label, still clinging on despite decades of dust, that tells more than any tasting note ever could. This Gordon’s Vodka is a piece of American bar history from the 1970s, from a time when a bottle was expected to pour itself, and when Gordon’s boar’s head sat just as proudly on a vodka bottle as it did on the gin.

Expert description Gordon’s Vodka 175 cl is an American vodka bottled in large format with a built‑in pourer, distilled from 100% neutral grain spirit and bottled at 40% ABV.

The bottle was produced and bottled in the USA by The Distillers Company, Limited at the company’s facilities in Linden, New Jersey, Plainfield, Illinois and Union City, California, for Gordon’s Dry Gin Company Limited. The patented “Built‑in Pourer” — a pour spout molded directly into the neck of the bottle under U.S. Patent No. 3,930,042 — was a typical solution in the American spirits industry of the era, where bars and home bars needed to pour quickly without a loose funnel or spout.

The label carries Gordon’s familiar boar’s head and the year 1769, otherwise known from the company’s famous London Dry Gin, showing how the brand in the U.S. for a period also lent its name to a vodka in the same visual identity. Based on the design and patent number, the bottle is estimated to have been filled in the 1970s. The bottle is sold as a collector’s item/memorabilia — note the wear and a crack at the top of the label, as shown in the photos.

Tasting notes Nose As the bottle is from the 1970s and cannot be tasted, the notes below are general style notes for the neutral, grain‑based American vodka style of the time — not an assessment of this specific bottle’s contents. The style is expected to be clean and lightly grainy without pronounced aromas, as was the norm for the era’s “smoothest, most mixable” vodkas.

Palate Neutral and slightly sweet in style, without distinct character beyond the clean grain spirit — typical of mass‑produced American vodka of the time, intended for cocktails.

Finish Short and clean, without notable aftertaste.

Specifications Name: Gordon’s Vodka Distillery: Gordon’s Bottler: The Distillers Company, Limited Region/Country: USA Type: Vodka ABV: 40% Size: 175 cl Bottled: 1970s (estimated)

Flavour profile Vintage · Grain‑based · Neutral · American

Did you know? Patent number 3,930,042 on the label refers to the pourer itself, not the vodka — a detail many collectors overlook, but one that makes it possible to date the bottle precisely using U.S. patent records.

See our full selection of Vodka. Listen to our podcast:

Some bottles never make it into a glass. They end up behind museum glass instead, the label fragile and half torn away, like a piece of paper that has survived more moves than its owner can remember. Morosoff Wodka is one of those bottles.

Expert's Description

Morosoff Wodka is a German vodka bottled by Interchoc-Hagen at 40% ABV. The label carries a golden eagle emblem, the red script "Wodka" and the phrase "Deutsches Erzeugnis" — a German product, made for the domestic market during a period whose graphic style and typography tell their own story about when it was produced.

This is a collector's bottle. The label is worn, partly torn, and shows clear signs of age, and we cannot guarantee either the quality or drinkability of the contents. The value here sits in the history, the rarity and the visual character — not in a tasting experience we can vouch for.

Specifications

Name: Morosoff Wodka
Bottler: Interchoc-Hagen
Region/Country: Germany
Type: Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL

Did You Know?

The German spelling "Wodka" with a W instantly marks a bottle as made for the domestic German market, distinct from the English-language "vodka" branding used for export.

Listen to our podcast:

Behind the faded, silver-grey label sits a bottle that spent decades on a shelf long before anyone thought to call it vintage.

Expert's Description

Graf Keglevich Vodka is a German-licensed Vodka bottled at 40% ABV by Distilleria Stock Import GmbH in Unterföhring near Munich under the Graf Keglevich name.

Keglevich is originally an Italian Vodka, created by the Stock company, founded in Trieste in 1884 by Lionello Stock. The recipe is credited to the Hungarian Count Stephan Keglevich, and the name "Graf" (German for count) refers directly to him. This bottle is a licensed edition produced specifically for the German market, marked "Deutsches Erzeugnis" on the label, setting it apart from the original Italian editions of the same Vodka.

The label's print style, the double-headed eagle with a "K" crest and the worn silver finish match other Stock/Keglevich bottles from the same era, typically dated to the 1960s-1970s. This edition has long been discontinued, and neither the label nor the bottle shape appears in Keglevich's current range, which today mainly consists of fruit-flavoured Vodkas.

Tasting Notes

Nose

Pure grain alcohol with no added flavouring - typical of a classic wheat-based Vodka from the period, with a hint of sweetness and a light, neutral scent.

Palate

Round and soft at first, shifting quickly to a dry, clean alcohol character. No spice, no sweet extracts - just Vodka as it was made before fruit-flavoured variants took over.

Finish

Short and clean, with no bitterness. Given the bottle's age, it's recommended purely as a collector's piece, not for consumption.

Specifications

Name: Graf Keglevich Vodka
Distillery: Stock
Region/Country: Germany
Type: Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 100 CL

Distillery: Stock

Flavour Profile

Classic · Clean · Grain-based · Vintage

Did You Know?

The double-headed eagle on the label isn't just decoration - it comes from the Keglevich family's coat of arms and ties the bottle back to old Austria-Hungary, where the Keglevich family held noble status long before Stock turned the name into a Vodka.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

The rest of the family is about colour and sugar. Dry Lemon declines. Tart lemon over a clean vodka base, and not a great deal else, which is the entire reason it exists.

Expert description

Cuba Dry Lemon is a Danish Vodka Spirit Drink from Spritfabrikken Danmark in Kolding, made with triple distilled vodka carrying a lightly tart lemon flavour and bottled at 30%.

It is the driest bottle in the range and was developed for people who do not want things too sweet. Where the strawberry and orange lean on boiled sweets, this one sits closer to the peel of a lemon, and the sugar has been turned down noticeably.

The base is vodka distilled three times, and because the strength is set at 30% the label reads spirit drink made with vodka. The producer recommends it chilled, shaken with ice or lengthened with soda or juice, and it is built for long drinks rather than for sipping neat.

In the glass it behaves like a mild vodka with the lemon already added: you do not need to bring nearly as much acid of your own. The house suggestions are a Lemon Drop or a Tom Collins, but it also works with plain sparkling water and a slice of lemon.

Tasting notes

Nose

Fresh lemon peel first, bright and light. Behind it sits a mild sweetness and a trace of elderflower.

Palate

Tart and crisp with the lemon up front. Sweetness is present but takes up less room than in the rest of the range, and the vodka base gives structure without sharpness.

Finish

Short and dry. The citrus peel lingers for a moment, and there is no syrupy tail behind it.

Specifications

Name: Cuba Dry Lemon
Producer: Spritfabrikken Danmark
Region/Country: Kolding, Denmark
Type: Danish Vodka Spirit Drink
ABV: 30%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled
Serving suggestion: Shaken with ice in a Lemon Drop, or long in a Tom Collins with sparkling water and a slice of lemon.

Flavour profile

Tart lemon · Fresh · Dry · Light

Did you know?

One of the range’s best known drinks was invented behind the bar at the old Crazy Daisy in Haderslev. A bartender mixed the caramel variant with lime and green soda, and the result was named Champusbrus because it tasted like the ice lolly of the same name.

See our full range of Cuba Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Rare vintage bottle – only 1 available!

This bottle is a piece of spirits history and is no longer in production. Whether you're collecting, gifting, or simply looking to enjoy a nostalgic sip – act fast before it's gone.

The bottle dates back to 1980s and has been stored away for many years. It is sold as a collectible item, and the quality of the contents cannot be guaranteed.

A historic collector's item with potential rarity value – depending on who’s asking.
Note: Scratches or scuffs may appear on the bottle – see image for details.

A bottle from the days when the Soviet Union sent vodka westwards under names that have since been forgotten again. The glass is heavier than anything made today, the label printed in a different kind of colour, and the contents have sat untouched for roughly half a century.

Please note: Scratches and marks may be present on the bottle, see the photograph. The bottle is sold as a collector's item and the quality of the contents cannot be guaranteed.

Expert description

Boaka Vintage Vodka is a Russian Vodka bottled in the 1970s at 45%.

Boaka belongs to that crowd of vodka brands built up around export from the Soviet Union and later vanished so thoroughly that almost no written trace remains. The brand is no longer produced, and these days the bottles turn up at auction more readily than production records turn up in any archive.

The 45% is worth noticing. Classic Russian vodka lands at 40%, and the higher strengths were typically reserved for bottlings destined abroad, where duty rules and market expectations both worked differently. The result is a more compact vodka than the version the brand sold at home.

Vodka does not develop in the bottle the way whisky develops in a cask. With no wood there is nothing to draw colour or tannin from, so what you are holding is essentially the spirit that went in some five decades ago. What can change is the closure, which may have let a little air in over the years, so the fill level may have dropped slightly.

Tasting notes

Nose

Dry and grainy with the faint muskiness that old glass and old paper give off. The strength announces itself more plainly than you are used to from a modern bottling.

Palate

Powerful and more angular than today's vodkas. The grain stands out dry, and the extra degrees lay down a warmth that settles in the middle of the tongue.

Finish

Long and warm with a dry, mineral trail. There is no sweetness to rest on at the end.

Specifications

Name: Boaka Vintage Vodka
Producer: Boaka
Region/Country: Russia
Type: Russian Vodka
ABV: 45%
Size: 75 CL
Bottled: 1970s

Flavour profile

Dry · Powerful · Grainy · Vintage character

Investment potential

Medium. Soviet bottlings from the 1970s grow scarcer with every year that passes, and Boaka is no longer produced, so no new bottles will ever join the pool. The age is genuine, and the combination of 75 CL at 45% is not a bottling you come across today. Condition pulls the other way: scratches and marks on the glass count heavily with collectors, and no original box comes with it. That is why the assessment lands at Medium rather than higher.

Did you know?

All Soviet spirits export ran through a single state body, Soyuzplodoimport, established in 1966. That is part of the reason bottles from the period so often carry Latin lettering and text aimed at foreign buyers, even though production took place behind the Iron Curtain.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

96% is not a number anyone picks for comfort. It is the strength an ordinary distillation column can actually reach, and it belongs in one place in the kitchen: with whoever needs the last of what a root, a bark or a lump of resin has to give.

Please note: This item does not come in a glass bottle but in a square 1 litre plastic jerrycan (UN approved) with a 32 mm cap. The content has a very high alcohol strength, is readily flammable and must be kept away from children and open flames.

Expert description

Radius Tinktur Vodka Økologisk 96% is an Organic Danish Vodka from Radius Distillery at Oremandsgaard estate, bottled at 96% in a one litre container.

It is the strongest thing the house makes, and it is meant as an ingredient rather than a drink. Where 60% is a ready-mixed extraction base, 96% is a starting point you assemble yourself: you decide how much water goes in, and with that which compounds come out of the plant.

That matters for everything that does not give up easily. Resins, propolis, vanilla pods, dry roots and bark need a high alcohol share before anything happens at all. In return the recipe has to be followed: too much alcohol can precipitate mucilage and pectin instead of extracting them, and the yield suffers.

The base is organic and distilled clean, so it does not lay its own flavour on top of whatever you are working with. Radius Distillery gathers its raw materials within the shortest possible distance of the still house at Oremandsgaard estate — hence the name — and spends most of the year on gin, aquavit, liqueur and whisky.

Tasting notes

Nose

Piercing and almost colourless in aroma. There is no fusel and nothing sweet, only clean ethanol with a faint mineral trace behind it.

Palate

Cannot be judged undiluted. Brought down to drinking strength with water, it shows a dry, straightforward profile with a faint sweet edge and no rough corners.

Finish

Clean and quick. The heat lets go fast and leaves no off note behind to disturb the herbs.

Specifications

Name: Radius Tinktur Vodka Økologisk
Producer: Radius Distillery
Region/Country: Oremandsgaard, Southern Zealand, Denmark
Type: Organic Danish Vodka
ABV: 96%
Size: 100 CL
EAN no.: 5714474000163
Serving suggestion: Not to be drunk neat. Use it for herbal extraction or dilute it to whatever strength your recipe calls for.

Flavour profile

Neutral · Extremely powerful · Clean · Organic

Did you know?

96% is not a marketing figure but a physical limit. Ethanol and water form an azeotrope at around 96 percent by volume, where vapour and liquid share the same composition. Ordinary distillation cannot climb past that point, however many times the spirit is run through.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

There is no chilled bottle here and no finely moulded stopper. There is a jerrycan, a screw cap and a content chosen for what it can pull out of a handful of dried plants. Radius Tinktur was built for the kitchen table, not the display cabinet.

Please note: This item does not come in a glass bottle but in a square 1 litre plastic jerrycan (UN approved) with a 32 mm cap. The content has a very high alcohol strength and must be kept away from children and open flames.

Expert description

Radius Tinktur Vodka Økologisk 60% is an Organic Danish Vodka from Radius Distillery at Oremandsgaard estate, bottled at 60% in a one litre container.

Radius Distillery sits in the middle of the estate near Præstø in southern Zealand and takes its name from its own working method: raw materials are gathered within the shortest possible radius of the still house. Day to day the house concentrates on gin, aquavit, liqueur and whisky, and the distiller works with the laboratory tape measure in one hand and his nose in the other.

This release is not meant as a sipping vodka. A tincture is an alcohol extraction, and strength decides what comes across. Water pulls out tannins, acids and plant mucilage, while alcohol takes the essential oils, resins and bitter compounds. At 60% you get both at once, which is exactly why so many herbal recipes settle at that level.

The base should keep quiet. It is distilled clean enough that lemon balm tastes of lemon balm rather than of spirit, and the organic certification means no residues travel from the field into the jar. Caraway, sea buckthorn and horsetail are among the plants it is regularly put to work on.

Tasting notes

Nose

Sharp and clear. Behind the alcohol lies a slender sweetness and a mineral trace, but there is no fusel weight.

Palate

Burning undiluted. Bring the strength down with water and a mild grain sweetness unfolds, leaving the mouth dry and smooth rather than oily.

Finish

Short and warm. It clears quickly without leaving an off note, which is the whole point of an extraction base.

Specifications

Name: Radius Tinktur Vodka Økologisk
Producer: Radius Distillery
Region/Country: Oremandsgaard, Southern Zealand, Denmark
Type: Organic Danish Vodka
ABV: 60%
Size: 100 CL
Serving suggestion: Intended as an extraction base for herbs. If it goes in a glass, dilute it heavily with water or ice.

Flavour profile

Neutral · Clean · Powerful · Organic

Did you know?

Oremandsgaard has been farmed organically since 1967. The estate converted long before the word became common in Danish supermarkets, and that is the soil the distillery draws its raw materials from.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

At 69 degrees north the Lyngen Alps throw their shadow over a distillery that has grown used to working in the dark. In winter the northern lights stand above the roof for hours. Bivrost takes its name from that very bridge, the one that in Norse mythology connects the world of men with the world of the gods.

Expert description

Bivrost Norsk Arctic Vodka is a Norwegian Vodka from Aurora Spirit Distillery, distilled from Arctic barley and bottled at 40%.

Aurora Spirit Distillery sits in Lyngen in northern Norway, well above the Arctic Circle, and calls itself the world's northernmost distillery. The water comes from the glaciers of the Lyngen Alps: meltwater from ice that froze more than 5,000 years ago and has lain untouched in the mountain ever since. It is filtered, and otherwise handled as little as possible.

Distillation runs through the full column, 15 plates and a five metre tower, where the spirit is cleaned again and again before it is cut with the glacier water. The result is a vodka without sharp edges, but it has not been polished into nothing. A soft grain character from the barley remains, the kind most heavily distilled vodkas strip away completely.

Tasting notes

Nose

Clean and cool. A lightly sweet grain note, a suggestion of vanilla and something mineral, close to wet stone.

Palate

Soft and almost oily in the mouth. The barley shows up as a mild sweetness, followed by a touch of white pepper.

Finish

Short and clean. The sweetness drops away quickly and leaves a cool, mineral impression behind.

Specifications

Name: Bivrost Arctic Vodka
Distillery: Aurora Spirit Distillery
Region/Country: Lyngen, Arctic Norway
Type: Norwegian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 50 CL
Distillation method: Column distilled
EAN no.: 709004060020
Serving suggestion: Ice cold from the freezer in a small glass, or in a Martini where the grain sweetness has room to show.

Flavour profile

Clean · Soft · Mineral · Lightly grain sweet

Did you know?

Bivrost is the rainbow bridge of Norse mythology, the road between the world of men and the world of the gods. The distillery's whisky range is called Nine Worlds after the nine realms of that same mythology, and every release is named after one of them.

See our full range of Bivrost

Listen to our podcast:

The water in this bottle waited in the dark for thousands of years while the world above changed seasons over and over. Beneath the seabed by Hestur in the Faroe Islands, deep inside the rock where the Sandoy tunnel was blasted through, the construction crew hit a pocket of crystal clear fresh water, filtered through stone and shut away from sun and salt. Faer Isles Distillery in Vestmanna heard the story and decided to distil it.

Expert description

North Atlantic Subsea Vodka is a Faroese Vodka from Faer Isles Distillery, distilled using water drawn 140 metres below the surface of the North Atlantic and bottled at 41.7%.

The water was found by accident when the contractor NCC drilled the Sandoy tunnel between two of the Faroese islands. A member of the project team had the idea of passing the water on to the distillery, and tests quickly showed it was a thing apart: mineral rich, clean and with a character clearly different from ordinary Faroese rainwater. After its journey through the rock layers the water has picked up minerals that now leave their mark on the taste.

To the finished vodka the distillery adds a small amount of distilled seaweed from the surrounding waters. That brings a nutty trace and a floral streak playing against the lightly saline base note from the water. It is a deliberate choice from a distillery unafraid to let the raw material speak.

Faer Isles Distillery was founded by whisky enthusiasts in Vestmanna and funded through crowdfunding with backers in more than 20 countries. Alongside the whisky still maturing in cask they make gin, akvavit and this vodka. Since launch Subsea Vodka has taken gold at the Vodka Masters in the Super Premium category and gold at the IWSC.

Tasting notes

Nose

Quiet and cautious rather than sharp. A trace of spice sits beneath a clean mineral core, and a faint salty breath reminds you where the water comes from.

Palate

Round and full without turning heavy. A light sweetness at the start gives way quickly to a pointed peppery warmth, and the seaweed reads as a discreet nutty layer under the minerality.

Finish

Long and warm with a persistent spiciness that builds rather than fades. This is the kind of close you come back to.

Specifications

Name: North Atlantic Subsea Vodka
Distillery: Faer Isles Distillery
Region/Country: Vestmanna, Faroe Islands
Type: Faroese Vodka
ABV: 41.7%
Size: 50 CL
Distillation method: Distilled using water from a reservoir below the seabed, with distilled seaweed added
EAN no.: 5744002540076
Serving suggestion: Ice cold from the freezer in a small glass, or in a Moscow Mule where the salinity plays against the ginger.

Flavour profile

Mineral · Floral · Spiced · Full bodied

Did you know?

Faer Isles Distillery calls itself the most remote distillery in the world, and it sells casks to private buyers. Those buyers come from more than 20 countries, and plenty of them have never set foot on the Faroe Islands yet still own a cask drawing in salt air at Vestmanna.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Kalisz is one of the oldest towns in Poland, and on its edge sits a family distillery now in its third generation. One day an English guitarist walked in with an idea for a vodka that should taste like the martini he had been imagining. He got it made.

Expert description

Dave Stewart's Poetry Pure is a Polish Vodka distilled from rye, wheat and a smaller share of corn, six times distilled and bottled at 40%.

The man on the label is Dave Stewart, one half of Eurythmics and the guitarist behind the sound Annie Lennox sang over. He started Poetry in 2022 with the Swedish investor Johan Holgersson, and the starting point was something as concrete as a conversation about how the ideal martini ought to taste. Production sits with Grupa AWW in Kalisz, where the same family business has been distilling for three generations.

There is a reason for the grain mix. Rye brings spice and a dryness that keeps the vodka upright. Wheat lays a soft layer underneath, and the small share of corn rounds off the attack with an almost milky sweetness. All rye and it would bite. All wheat and it would turn dull.

The six distillations are not decoration on the label. Each pass through the column strips out more of the heavier fusel oils, and those are what give a hastily made vodka its sharp, almost stinging feel. Poetry is correspondingly calm to drink neat, and it has taken double gold at international spirits competitions.

Tasting notes

Nose

Dry rye bread character with a lightly peppered edge. Behind it sits a trace of vanilla and something close to a warm bakery.

Palate

Soft attack with the wheat leading. Mid palate the rye pepper appears, and the corn adds a discreet sweetness that ties it together.

Finish

Clean and medium long. The pepper lingers a little, and no sharp alcohol heat arrives at the end.

Specifications

Name: Dave Stewart's Poetry Pure
Producer: Poetry Spirits
Region/Country: Kalisz, Poland
Type: Polish Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Distilled six times from rye, wheat and corn
EAN no.: 5901619688007
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a Vodka Martini with an olive or a strip of lemon peel. Also works neat from the freezer in a small glass.

Flavour profile

Peppery · Soft · Dry · Clean

Did you know?

Dave Stewart wrote Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) with Annie Lennox in 1982 on a small eight track setup in a room above a factory in London. The track still sits on his Spotify profile, which Poetry links to from the bottle.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Some bottles hide on the shelf. This one does the opposite. An alien head with two black eyes looking back at you, and inside it a corn vodka filtered through stone older than the Earth itself.

Please note: this is not the Chrome edition. The bottle is clear glass with black eyes.

Expert description

OuterSpace Vodka is an American Vodka distilled five times from corn and bottled at 40%.

The idea came from Jim Denoon, who works with the design and development of glass packaging for a living. It shows. The bottle is shaped as an alien head and is at least as much shelf theatre as it is packaging. Behind the gimmick sits a properly made vodka: the corn comes from Iowa, the spirit runs through five distillations, and it is finally filtered through meteorite material dated at over four billion years. The vodka is gluten free.

Five distillations do something to the texture. It turns round and creamy rather than sharp, and the sweetness from the corn gets room to fill the middle before drying out again towards the end.

Tasting notes

Nose

Almost neutral on the first pass. Give it a moment and a light vanilla sweetness appears, along with something green, close to mint leaf.

Palate

Creamy and round. Corn sweetness sits clearly in the middle, soft and nearly milky, until a peppery warmth cuts through it.

Finish

The sweetness disappears faster than expected and leaves something dry and spiced. The warmth stays around far longer.

Specifications

Name: OuterSpace Vodka
Distillery: OuterSpace
Region/Country: Iowa, USA
Type: American Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
EAN no.: 3760175132070
Serving suggestion: Ice cold as a shot, or in an Espresso Martini where the creamy texture carries the coffee.

Flavour profile

Soft · Creamy · Lightly sweet · Spiced finish

Did you know?

The meteorites the vodka is filtered through are dated at over four billion years. That makes them older than the grain, the water and the glass in the bottle, and older than practically the entire present surface of the Earth.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Three litres of vodka has weight to it. You do not lift it with one hand, and you do not push it to the back of the cupboard. The elit magnum is built to stand in the middle of the table where everyone can see what is being poured.

Expert description

Elit Vodka is a Latvian Vodka from Stoli Group, distilled from wheat and bottled at 40% in a 300 cl magnum.

The large format changes nothing about the liquid but everything about the occasion. Three litres covers a full gathering, and because the bottle has to be handled with both hands, the pour itself becomes part of the evening. The shoulder is broad, the neck is long, and the glass is heavy enough that the bottle stands steady even when half empty.

Inside sits the top of the house range. The wheat is distilled three times to alpha grade at Latvijas Balzams in Riga, and the spirit is cut with artesian water from a borehole under the plant. It is then chilled to minus 18 degrees and drawn slowly through ion charged filters — the freeze filtration the whole elit expression is built around.

The cold is not decoration. At that temperature the heavier alcohols and oils behave differently and allow themselves to be caught in the filter, which is why the texture ends up as thick and round as it does. A magnum gives you ample opportunity to test the claim.

Tasting notes

Nose

Discreet and grainy. Dry baked goods run across the whole aroma, with a small lift of citrus peel on top.

Palate

Thick and round in the mouth. Sweetness from the wheat builds slowly and gives way to a dry, lightly peppered stripe.

Finish

Clean and coolly drying. It lingers briefly and leaves the tongue with no stickiness at all.

Specifications

Name: Elit Vodka Magnum
Producer: Stoli Group
Region/Country: Riga, Latvia
Type: Latvian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 300 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled and freeze filtered at minus 18 degrees
Serving suggestion: Pour it ice cold into shot glasses for the table, or build a jug of Vesper for the whole party.

Flavour profile

Round · Dry · Grain sweet · Clean

Did you know?

Latvijas Balzams in Riga was built in 1900 by order of the Tsar and has distilled without interruption ever since. The plant has outlived two world wars, a series of regimes and a declaration of independence — and still makes spirits on the same ground today.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Turn the lights off and the bottle almost disappears. Matte black glass throws back no reflection, and the engraved circles cut across one another like rings around an eclipsed moon. Night Edition was drawn from the things you only see once the sky is dark enough.

Expert description

Elit Vodka Night Edition is a Latvian Vodka from Stoli Group, distilled from wheat and bottled at 40% in a matte black bottle.

Elit sits at the top of the Stolichnaya family and is made at Latvijas Balzams in Riga, one of the oldest and largest spirits plants in the Baltics. The wheat is distilled three times into an alpha grade spirit, the purest classification available to work with, and then cut with artesian water drawn from roughly 200 metres below ground.

The final step is the house signature. The spirit is chilled to minus 18 degrees and then drawn through ion charged filters so slowly that the process can run for hours. The cold holds the heavier compounds back, so they stay in the filter rather than in the glass. The vodka is then left to rest before bottling.

Night Edition is the same liquid in different clothing. The bottle is a matte black version of the usual elit shape, and the engraved circles borrow from eclipses and other rare night sky events. This is a bottle designed for evening light rather than daylight.

Tasting notes

Nose

Cool and reserved. The aroma is dry wheat with a touch of lemon peel and a breath of anise behind it.

Palate

Silky and almost free of burn. A discreet grain sweetness fills the middle before white pepper lays a thin stripe across the tongue.

Finish

Cool and clean. It fades quickly and leaves a sense of mineral and cold air behind.

Specifications

Name: Elit Vodka Night Edition
Producer: Stoli Group
Region/Country: Riga, Latvia
Type: Latvian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled and freeze filtered at minus 18 degrees
Edition: Night Edition
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a small tulip glass, or in a dry Martini where the chill does the carrying.

Flavour profile

Cool · Silky · Dry · Mineral

Did you know?

Night Edition was the first elit bottle built with light inside it. A source in the base sends light up through the frosted neck so the engraved circles appear in the dark — a bottle that only shows its full decoration once the lamps are off.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Rye is the grain of Poland. It grows where wheat gives up, it bakes into bread that keeps for a week, and in distilled form it is the backbone of the country's vodka tradition. WÓDKA sticks to a single rye variety and lets it decide everything.

Expert description

WÓDKA Vodka is a Polish Vodka distilled solely from the Dankowskie Golden rye variety, five times column distilled and bottled at 40%.

The rye comes from a single estate and is distilled just outside Kalisz in central Poland. Dankowskie is the variety Polish producers themselves point to when genuine rye vodka comes up, and it is grown for exactly this purpose. After five passes through the column, the spirit is filtered twice through charcoal burned from Polish birch.

Five distillations sound like a road towards the neutral, but the aim here is different: to clean without removing. The rye character still stands clearly in the glass, and that is precisely what the judges rewarded when the vodka took Double Gold and was named Overall Best Vodka at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2017.

Tasting notes

Nose

Vanilla and freshly baked rye bread, with a clear scatter of black pepper on top.

Palate

Full and broad. The rye carries all the way with a bready sweetness, while pepper cuts a dry line through the middle.

Finish

Long and fine. Almond and rye bread linger, and white pepper arrives on its own at the close.

Specifications

Name: WÓDKA Vodka
Producer: WÓDKA
Region/Country: Kalisz, Poland
Type: Polish Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times column distilled, filtered through birch charcoal
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a small glass with herring or smoked fish, or in a Bloody Mary where the rye has something to say.

Flavour profile

Rye spiced · Bready · Peppery · Full

Did you know?

The word wódka is a diminutive of woda, the Polish word for water. Translated directly it means little water — a modest title for something that has been the subject of state monopolies and court cases over which country invented it.

See our full range of Vodka brands

Listen to our podcast:

The name says Copenhagen. The contents are distilled in Sweden. That is not a mistake but a reminder that the Øresund strait is narrower than most labels let on, and that Nordic spirits rarely stay inside one border.

Expert description

København Klassisk Vodka is a Swedish Vodka from Nordic Gin House, made from winter-harvested barley and bottled at 40%.

Nordic Gin House stand behind the whole København range, which holds gin in several styles, a single malt whisky and this vodka. The name is a greeting to the Danish capital, while the distilling happens at Bergslagens Destilleri in Sweden. The series built its reputation on the gin side, where the classic bottling in particular has taken prizes home.

Barley is a less common choice for vodka than wheat or rye. The grain brings a rounder and slightly fuller character with clearer cereal sweetness, and the winter harvest reinforces it: the long growing season gathers more starch in the kernel. This is a vodka that is soft rather than sharp, which is why it holds up neat.

Tasting notes

Nose

Pale and mild. Dry grain and a touch of white bread, with a very faint citrus note behind.

Palate

Round and soft with a cereal sweetness filling the middle. The alcohol reads as warmth more than bite.

Finish

Short and dry. The sweetness falls away quickly and leaves a clean, lightly floury impression.

Specifications

Name: København Klassisk Vodka
Producer: Nordic Gin House
Region/Country: Sweden
Type: Swedish Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Serving suggestion: As a Screwdriver with a slice of orange, or cold and neat in a small glass.

Flavour profile

Soft · Round · Cereal sweet · Mild

Did you know?

The København range also holds a Navy Strength Gin and a Single Malt Whisky. It is rare for a gin house to take the step across into whisky, and rarer still to do it under the same city name.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Not many bands have ended up with their own spirits range. Rammstein have a whole series, and the vodka is the most sober of them: wheat, several distillations and a black bottle without a single apology on the label.

Expert description

Rammstein Export Edition Vodka is a German Vodka made from wheat, distilled several times in Germany and bottled at 40%.

The series came out of a collaboration between the band and the Danish spirits house 1423 World Class Spirits, founded in 2008 and built around finding and releasing spirits from across the world. The band members took part in choosing what could carry the name, and beyond the vodka the range covers rum and whiskey among others.

The wheat sets the direction you can taste. Wheat-based vodka usually carries a softer, faintly sweeter character than the rye-based bottles from Poland, and repeated distillation pulls it further towards clean. The result is a vodka built to be mixed, not to be studied for hours.

Tasting notes

Nose

Neutral at first meeting. There is a faint sweet grain note and a touch of citrus, but the nose keeps a low profile.

Palate

Soft and smooth with a mild wheat sweetness. The alcohol reads as a clean, dry warmth without sharp edges.

Finish

Short and dry. The sweetness lets go quickly and only a light peppery impression stays behind.

Specifications

Name: Rammstein Export Edition Vodka
Producer: 1423 World Class Spirits
Region/Country: Germany
Type: German Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Multiple distilled from wheat
Edition: Export Edition
EAN no.: 5712718004359
Serving suggestion: Ice cold as a shot, or in a Moscow Mule where ginger and lime take the lead.

Flavour profile

Clean · Soft · Lightly grain sweet · Dry finish

Did you know?

The bottles are filled by hand in small batches in Berlin. That is also the city where the band came together, so the label points back to the place the whole story started.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

A pomegranate does not give itself up easily. The skin is tough, the seeds hide behind white membrane, and the juice stains everything it touches. In return those seeds taste of something entirely different from the peachy sweetness fruit spirits usually reach for.

Expert description

Ciroc Pomegranate Limited Edition is a French Vodka built on French wine grapes, infused with natural pomegranate flavour and bottled at 37.5%.

Beneath the aroma sits the familiar grape spirit from Maison Villevert, distilled four times in column stills and a fifth time in a tailor made copper pot still. Pomegranate is the most acid driven fruit the brand has worked with, and that acidity shows in the glass. The producer describes the profile as juicy red berries with a hint of fresh strawberry, carried by a silky smooth finish.

The expression belongs to Ciroc's limited releases and has never been part of the standing range. It appears for a while and then disappears again, which separates it from Apple, Coconut, Peach, Pineapple and Mango, the permanent members of the line up. The vodka is gluten free.

Tasting notes

Nose

Sweet, fruity pomegranate right at the front with a darker berry note behind it. There is a light floral edge found only in this expression.

Palate

Juicy red berries with clear strawberry through the middle. The acidity of the pomegranate cuts through the sweetness and gives the liquid a tautness the tropical variants do not have.

Finish

Silky and even. The berries fade out quietly and leave a lightly dry sensation rather than anything tacky.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Pomegranate Limited Edition
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
Edition: Limited Edition
EAN no.: 5010103946346
Serving suggestion: Cold over ice with a twist of lime peel, or topped with dry sparkling wine for a festive glass.

Flavour profile

Pomegranate · Red berries · Silky · Lightly tart

Did you know?

Pomegranate is one of a small handful of Ciroc releases that never became part of the standing range. The company in that category includes White Grape, Summer Citrus and Summer Watermelon, and what they share is limited volume and little chance of returning in the same form.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

For 125 years freight wagons were repaired in the workshop halls beside the railway station in Nyborg. The tracks are still there. Inside the buildings there is copper now, and the smell has shifted from oil and iron to fermenting wheat malt.

Expert description

Fionia Vodka is an Organic Danish Vodka from Nyborg Destilleri on the island of Funen, triple distilled from organic wheat malt and bottled at 38%.

Nicolai and Niels Rømer fitted the distillery into the old railway halls in 2017 and put a restaurant beside it. The house is today one of the largest producers of organic spirits in the country, and organic is not an option box here — it covers the whole range, from whisky through gin to rum.

Fionia is built on malt rather than unmalted wheat, and it shows. Malting releases sugar and leaves a bready character that three distillations do not scrub away entirely. Bottling at 38% instead of the usual 40% does the rest: a little less alcoholic bite, a little more room for the grain.

Tasting notes

Nose

Soft and pale. Fresh bread dough and a hint of lemon peel, with no sharp alcohol edge.

Palate

Light and gliding. Malt sweetness sits mid-tongue, followed by something herbal and a slender peppery warmth.

Finish

Clean and brief. A dry malt trace lingers while everything else lets go quickly.

Specifications

Name: Fionia Vodka
Distillery: Nyborg Destilleri
Region/Country: Nyborg, Funen, Denmark
Type: Organic Danish Vodka
ABV: 38%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled from wheat malt
EAN no.: 5708636500530
Serving suggestion: Cold in a small glass with fish and shellfish, or in a Vodka Tonic with a strip of lemon peel.

Flavour profile

Soft · Malty · Light citrus · Clean

Did you know?

Fionia is the Latin name for Funen. The range is called Fionia Spirits and also covers gin, white rum and dark rum, each carrying the same nod to the island on the label.

See our full range of Vodka brands

Listen to our podcast:

Ballard was a fishing harbour long before it turned into a district of coffee bars and design studios. The rain still falls at the same grey pace, and the wheat still comes from the hills east of the city. That is what ends up in the bottle.

Expert description

Our Vodka By Seattle is an American Vodka from Our/Seattle in Ballard, bottled at 40%.

Seattle was the third in the family. The distillery opened in April 2015 on Market Street in the middle of Ballard, after Berlin and Detroit had shown that a distillery can sit in a shopfront and still make serious spirits. Behind the site stand Nin Truong, Christa Thomas and Stephen Pleadwell — the first two are designers and run the studio WKND in the city.

The raw material is winter wheat from the Palouse, the rolling farming region in eastern Washington where the fields run like dunes and have been worked for over a century. The wheat gives a soft spirit, which the team blends and hand bottles in Ballard following the same recipe every Our/Vodka city shares.

Bottling at 40 percent makes it a little firmer than the European releases. That suits the local drinking culture, where vodka ends up in a brunch time Bloody Mary as readily as in an evening shot glass.

Tasting notes

Nose

Clean wheat with a coolly sweet note reminiscent of fresh cut straw. A small breath of vanilla sits behind it.

Palate

Soft on entry and quickly dry. The grain fills the middle without turning sweet, and a fine mineral stripe runs through.

Finish

Clean and medium. It closes dry with a trace of white pepper.

Specifications

Name: Our Vodka By Seattle
Distillery: Our/Seattle
Region/Country: Ballard, Seattle, Washington, USA
Type: American Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 37.5 CL
EAN no.: 835229008830
Serving suggestion: In a Vodka Gimlet with fresh lime juice, or cold and neat alongside smoked salmon.

Flavour profile

Dry · Wheat soft · Mineral · Clean

Did you know?

The Palouse, where the wheat comes from, is one of the most productive grain regions in the United States. Its hills were formed by wind blown dust over thousands of years, and the soil runs so deep that the fields can be farmed without irrigation — unusual in an area with so little rainfall.

See our full range of Vodka brands

Listen to our podcast:

Bagley Street sits in the part of Detroit where the brick facades carry murals and half the shopfronts have stood empty for years. Number 2545 became a distillery. Not as an investment, but as an argument that the neighbourhood was worth staying in.

Expert description

Our Vodka By Detroit is an American Vodka from Our/Detroit on Bagley Street, bottled at 40%.

Detroit came second in the line. After Berlin had shown that a micro distillery could work in the middle of a large city, Our/Detroit opened in August 2014 as the first outside Europe. The model came with it: the same recipe as the rest of the family, ingredients sourced as close by as possible, and a team of local partners with a free hand to run the brand the way they felt the city deserved.

The team behind it was local and women led, with Kate Bordine among the partners, and they chose to use the distillery as more than a production site. Mural competitions and neighbourhood events were held there, and sales were tied to the work of bringing life back to the surrounding streets.

The vodka itself is slightly stronger than its sister bottles from London and Berlin. The 40 percent gives more body and a clearer warmth, which makes it sturdier in a drink and more direct when it is served ice cold.

Tasting notes

Nose

Neutral with a pale grain character and a hint of green peel. The alcohol reads as a cool breath rather than a sting.

Palate

Firm and clean with moderate sweetness. The middle is dry, and a peppered warmth settles across the tongue.

Finish

Medium and dry. The warmth holds for a moment before everything withdraws.

Specifications

Name: Our Vodka By Detroit
Distillery: Our/Detroit
Region/Country: Detroit, Michigan, USA
Type: American Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 37.5 CL
EAN no.: 835229008816
Serving suggestion: In a Bloody Mary with plenty of horseradish, or ice cold in a shot glass alongside a burger.

Flavour profile

Dry · Firm · Peppered · Clean

Did you know?

Our/Detroit was run by a women led team — a rarity in American distilling, where women have long been heavily underrepresented among owners and production managers.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

In an industrial estate in Battersea sits a distillery that has turned the usual idea of vodka upside down. It does not buy spirit in and dilute it. It buys wheat, ferments it on site and then refuses to filter what comes out.

Expert description

Baller Vodka is an English Vodka from Doghouse Distillery in Battersea, London, distilled from scratch from English wheat, unfiltered and bottled at 40%.

Doghouse opened in Battersea in 2016 and calls itself the only distillery in London making its own base spirit from grain to bottle across several categories. That is rarer than you might think. Most gin producers worldwide, and a fair share of vodka producers, buy neutral spirit in and work on from there.

The wheat is English, and the house controls the whole road from wash to bottling. The decisive choice arrives at the end: Baller is not filtered. Filtration would pull the grain character out, and instead the wheat is allowed to stay in the glass as a soft biscuit sweetness with a spiced glint.

The names and labels belong to the same story. The house range is built around music genres, and the labels are drawn by artists rather than design agencies. Baller carries a double-sided label by a street artist, so the bottle works whichever way round it stands on the back bar.

Tasting notes

Nose

Mild and cereal-led. Fresh wheat bread and a touch of dried coconut, with no sharp alcohol edge.

Palate

Soft and full. Vanilla biscuit fills the middle, with a suggestion of clove and white pepper behind it.

Finish

Medium and smooth. The grain sweetness drops away calmly and leaves a round mouthfeel behind.

Specifications

Name: Baller Vodka
Distillery: Doghouse Distillery
Region/Country: Battersea, London, England
Type: English Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Distilled from scratch from English wheat, unfiltered
Serving suggestion: Neat over ice, or in an Espresso Martini where the biscuit sweetness carries the coffee.

Flavour profile

Vanilla biscuit · Soft · Unfiltered · Cereal

Did you know?

Baller was named Best Spirit in Great Britain at the 2019 Great British Food Awards and collected gold at the World Vodka Awards the same year. Doghouse also makes a Baller variant flavoured with chilli and bacon, which is exactly as direct as the name suggests.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Touko Laaksonen drew under the name Tom of Finland for decades in which his subject matter was illegal across most of Europe. Today his work hangs in museums, and it stands on a vodka bottle from his home country.

Expert description

Tom of Finland Vodka is a Finnish Vodka from Lignell & Piispanen in Kuopio, distilled five times from organic wheat and rye and bottled at 40%.

The grain is organic wheat and rye, a combination less common than it sounds. Wheat brings softness, rye brings spice, and together they land somewhere between the Polish rye style and the milder Scandinavian one. The water is arctic, and nothing at all is added, neither colour nor sugar.

Five distillations and a subsequent sheet filtration are what make it smooth enough that there is practically no burn. That is a technical point with a practical consequence: it can be drunk neat at room temperature without needing to hide behind cold.

The label is not decoration. Laaksonen drew his figures from the 1940s onwards, and they became iconic at a time when homosexuality was criminalised in Finland. A share of the profit from every bottle goes to the Tom of Finland Foundation, which works to preserve erotic art.

Tasting notes

Nose

Completely clean. A fine trace of rye bread crust and a hint of aniseed, with no sharp alcohol on the nose.

Palate

Silky with no burn. Vanilla and cream soda first, then a spiced rise with cracked black pepper and a touch of star anise.

Finish

Medium and mild. The spice fades slowly and leaves a soft, clean impression behind.

Specifications

Name: Tom of Finland Vodka
Distillery: Lignell & Piispanen
Region/Country: Kuopio, Finland
Type: Finnish Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 50 CL
Natural colour: Yes
Distillation method: Five times distilled from organic wheat and rye, sheet filtered, reduced with arctic water
EAN no.: 6430043095000
Serving suggestion: Neat and cool in a small glass, or in a Vodka Martini where the rye spice gets room.

Flavour profile

Organic · Silky · Rye-spiced · Black pepper

Did you know?

Drawings by Tom of Finland were printed on Finnish postage stamps in 2014, and the release became one of the most requested stamp designs the Finnish post has ever issued. The same artist now stands on the label.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Chilgrove is a sleepy hamlet in West Sussex at the foot of the South Downs, woodland all around and chalk beneath the ground. Nobody ends up there by accident. But the name sits on a bottle that did something no other English vodka had done before it.

Expert description

Chilgrove Vodka is an English Vodka from Chilgrove Spirits in West Sussex, distilled from grapes and bottled at 40%.

Grapes instead of grain is the whole explanation for why it tastes different. Neutral spirit made from grapes carries a fresh, lightly sweet fruit character, where wheat gives biscuit and rye gives pepper. When the bottle arrived in 2015 it was the first neutral vodka in Britain distilled using grape alcohol.

The water is chosen just as deliberately. It is natural mineral water filtered through the chalk the whole area rests on, and that chalk gives a dry, mineral undercurrent pulling against the sweetness of the grape. That tension is what the bottle lives on.

The house is small and production runs in small batches. Behind it stand Christopher and Celia Beaumont-Hutchings, who first made Chilgrove Dry Gin on the same grape base and then carried that base over into a vodka. It is one idea in two bottles.

Tasting notes

Nose

Clean and lightly fruity. Grapes and a touch of fennel, with a dry chalky tone behind.

Palate

Crisp and smooth. Fruit sweetness comes first, then dark cherry and a suggestion of cocoa, and finally white pepper.

Finish

Medium and mineral. The fruit withdraws and the chalk hangs on as a dry sensation.

Specifications

Name: Chilgrove Vodka
Producer: Chilgrove Spirits
Region/Country: West Sussex, England
Type: English Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Distilled from grapes in small batches, reduced with mineral water filtered through chalk
EAN no.: 5060383352412
Serving suggestion: Ice cold and neat in a small glass, or in a Vodka Martini where the grape fruit gets room.

Flavour profile

Grape fruit · Mineral · Smooth · Dry

Did you know?

The house gin was the first English gin distilled from grape alcohol, and the choice had a historical argument behind it. Dutch jenever, which English gin descends from, was originally made from wine spirit, and it took a wine shortage in Holland to push producers towards grain.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Beside Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumbria sits a distillery in a converted 1850s farmstead, with the River Derwent just outside and the fells behind. The Lake District is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and that is the landscape which ends up in the bottle.

Expert description

The Lakes Vodka is an English Vodka from The Lakes Distillery in Cumbria, distilled once from British wheat in a copper pot still and bottled at 40%.

Please note: the bottle is delivered in the house red gift box, made to a solid standard and ready to be handed on as it is.

A single distillation is an unusual choice for a vodka. Most producers run the distillate through a column again and again to end up as neutral as possible, but here it stays with that one pass through a handmade copper pot still. In exchange, time is taken over it, and the wheat is allowed to remain in the distillate.

It is therefore not an empty vodka. There is a clear, soft sweetness from the grain and a mouthfeel fuller than the strength suggests. The water comes from the distillery's own home inside the Lake District National Park, and the colour is natural.

The bottle follows the house design, the same one you know from its gin and whisky: a plain cut, heavy shoulders, no unnecessary decoration. The gift box is red and well made, and it is the reason this particular version is easy to pass on without further wrapping.

Tasting notes

Nose

Clean and almost neutral. A pale grain note with a hint of freshly baked bread.

Palate

Soft and lightly sweet. The wheat fills the middle, and a kick of white pepper appears at the side of the tongue.

Finish

Short and clear. The sweetness disappears quickly and leaves a dry, clean impression behind.

Specifications

Name: The Lakes Vodka
Distillery: The Lakes Distillery
Region/Country: Cumbria, England
Type: English Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Distilled once from British wheat in a copper pot still
EAN no.: 5060307840186
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a small glass, or in an Espresso Martini as the distillery itself recommends.

Flavour profile

Clean · Soft · Lightly wheat-sweet · White pepper

Did you know?

The Lakes Vodka was named the world's best vodka at the World Vodka Awards in 2019. The judges described it as very clean on the nose with a little sweetness and a peppery kick at the side of the tongue, recognition an English distillery founded in 2014 had no right to expect so quickly.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Beer has been brewed in Southwold on the English east coast since 1872. When the distillery arrived in 2010, nobody had to go looking for a wash to distil. It was already fermenting in the brewery next door.

Expert description

Adnams East Coast Vodka is an English Single Malt Vodka from Adnams Copper House Distillery in Southwold, distilled from 100% East Anglian malted barley and bottled at 40%.

Adnams is a brewery first and a distillery second, and that explains most of what this vodka is. The house makes its own wash from East Anglian malted barley, the same grain that goes into the beers, and distils it on in the Copper House Distillery. The grain is followed from local fields to the bottle, and that thinking runs through the whole spirits range.

Using malted barley rather than wheat or neutral molasses is a choice with consequences. Barley delivers an obvious malt sweetness that an ordinary vodka would have filtered away, which is why Adnams calls it a Single Malt Vodka. The character sits closer to a young malt spirit than to a Polish rye vodka.

In the glass that means body. The texture is soft and close to velvety, and there is a clear trace of caramel and toffee that is added nowhere but comes from the grain itself. It stands up to being drunk neat, and in a drink you can tell there is something behind the alcohol.

Tasting notes

Nose

Softly malty with the smell of freshly baked bread. A hint of caramel and cooked apple sits behind it.

Palate

Full and lightly sweet. The malt stands out clearly with caramel and toffee, and the texture is soft without turning fat.

Finish

Medium and warm. The malt sweetness hangs on, and a small dry grain note appears at the end.

Specifications

Name: Adnams East Coast Vodka
Distillery: Adnams Copper House Distillery
Region/Country: Southwold, England
Type: English Single Malt Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Distilled from the house's own wash of 100% East Anglian malted barley
EAN no.: 5016878600025
Serving suggestion: Neat in a small glass at cool temperature, or in an Espresso Martini where the malt sweetness carries the coffee.

Flavour profile

Malty · Full · Caramel and toffee · Soft texture

Did you know?

The same barley spirit is the foundation of the house's Copper House Dry Gin. Adnams calls it the botanical they do not talk about, because without the malt vodka underneath, the gin would not taste the way it does.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

No other spirits bottle has been poured this many times. The red label stands behind a bar in Tokyo, in a kitchen cupboard in Jutland and on a shelf in a ferry kiosk somewhere in the Baltic. Seventy centilitres of something made as neutral as it can possibly be, which is exactly why it fits in everywhere.

Expert description

Smirnoff Red Triple Distilled Premium Vodka 70 cl is a British Vodka made from grain, triple distilled and bottled at 37.5%.

This is the best-selling vodka in the world and the largest premium spirits brand on the planet. The recipe carries the number 21, and the distillate is filtered ten times through charcoal before it reaches the bottle. All of that work is about removal: fusel oils, heavier alcohols and any other residue that might hand the contents a personality.

Neutrality is rarely something you praise a spirit for, but here it is the design. The 70 cl bottle is the one the rest of the vodka shelf gets measured against, and it is also the one a large share of the classic vodka drinks were originally built around. It pushes back at neither tomato juice, coffee liqueur nor tonic.

Tasting notes

Nose

Very reserved. A cool chalk impression and a suggestion of charcoal if you give it time in the glass.

Palate

Mineral and light. Cracked black pepper through the middle and a flick of peppermint freshness that leaves as fast as it arrived.

Finish

Dry and peppery with a trace of chargrilled pepper. Short, but broader than you would expect.

Specifications

Name: Smirnoff Red Triple Distilled Premium Vodka 70 cl
Producer: Smirnoff
Region/Country: United Kingdom
Type: British Vodka
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled and charcoal filtered
EAN no.: 5011013400157
Serving suggestion: A Vodka Tonic with lime, or ice cold in a classic Vodka Martini.

Flavour profile

Clean · Mineral · Lightly peppery · Neutral

Did you know?

When the Bolsheviks seized the family distillery in Moscow in 1917, Vladimir Smirnov escaped the firing squad and fled through Constantinople to France. Outside Paris he built a new, small distillery and gave the family name a French twist. That is why the label reads Smirnoff and not Smirnov.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast:

Passion fruit tastes of two things at once: enough acidity to wake the mouth up, and a sweetness that lands afterwards. It is a fruit that can carry a whole drink on its own — and here it sits on top of a vodka from the grain fields of Skåne.

Expert description

Absolut Passionfruit is a Swedish Vodka carrying natural passion fruit flavour, bottled at 38%.

The base is the same as everywhere else in the house: winter wheat from the land around Åhus and water from a deep well in the same place. The flavour comes from natural aromas, and no sugar is added. That detail matters, because sugar is what makes the fruit in many flavoured vodkas turn flat and syrupy after the first mouthful.

Alongside the passion fruit sits a stroke of orange blossom. That floral note is why the bottle lifts a tonic rather than merely colouring it, and it gives you something to build on in drinks with ginger or lime. All of it bottled at 38%, the strength Absolut uses across its flavoured range.

Tasting notes

Nose

Clear passion fruit with acidity at the edge, and behind it a floral note leaning towards orange blossom.

Palate

Fresh, juicy fruit fills the mouth. The sweetness is held back and the acidity keeps everything upright.

Finish

Lightly sweet and fruity, but short. It leaves cleanly without depositing anything sticky.

Specifications

Name: Absolut Passionfruit
Distillery: Absolut
Region/Country: Åhus, Sweden
Type: Swedish Vodka
ABV: 38%
Size: 70 CL
EAN no.: 7312040350339
Serving suggestion: In a Vodka Tonic with lime, or in a Mule where the ginger meets the fruit.

Flavour profile

Passion fruit · Tangy · Floral · Lightly sweet

Did you know?

Passion fruit does not grow in Sweden. Everything else in the bottle does: the wheat comes from the fields around Åhus and the water from a well in the same place. The fruit aroma is therefore the only ingredient that travelled any distance to get there.

See our full range of Absolut

Listen to our podcast:

Some bottles are built for the other side of the bar. Merchant's Choice was put together for bartenders who need an English vodka that does its job and otherwise keeps out of the way of everything else in the shaker.

Expert description

Merchant's Choice Classic Vodka is an English Vodka distilled from British grain and bottled at 40%.

The brand comes from Symposium, an independent British spirits merchant that assembled a range of craft spirits with bar use in mind. Alongside the vodka there is a London Dry Gin in the same range, and the two are meant to stand side by side behind a bar rather than on a collector's shelf.

The vodka itself is distilled from grain in Great Britain and aims at a clean, crisp mouthfeel. There is neither botanical nor added flavouring in it; the whole ambition is that it should carry a cocktail without drawing attention to itself.

It is not empty for all that. A clear citrus note sits at the front, and beneath it a soft vanilla that means it can also be drunk neat if it is cold enough. Pepper arrives only right at the very end and reads more as a sensation than an actual flavour.

Tasting notes

Nose

Pale and clean with obvious citrus peel. A hint of vanilla sits underneath it.

Palate

Crisp and smooth with sharp citrus notes up front. The vanilla comes in halfway and rounds the edges off.

Finish

Short and dry with a discreet press of pepper. No bitterness is left behind.

Specifications

Name: Merchant's Choice Classic Vodka
Producer: Merchant's Choice
Region/Country: England, Great Britain
Type: English Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Distilled from British grain
EAN no.: 5021692001149
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a small glass, or as the base of a Vodka Collins or a Cosmopolitan.

Flavour profile

Clean · Crisp · Citrus-led · Soft vanilla

Did you know?

Vodka is one of the most tightly defined spirit types in law: the distillate has to be purified to at least 96% alcohol before it is diluted back down. That is why the difference between two vodkas so often lies in the water and the filtration rather than in the raw material.

See our full range of Vodka

Listen to our podcast: