Smoke in a glass usually means peat, Islay and a cask that has stood for years. This one arrives from somewhere else entirely: from English oak, from a farm in Herefordshire and from water left sitting in the smoke for five days before it ever met the spirit.

Expert description

Chase Smoked Vodka English Oak Limited Edition is an English Vodka from Chase Distillery in Herefordshire, distilled from the farm's own potatoes and bottled at 40%.

Chase Distillery was founded in 2008 by William Chase. By then he had already built the Tyrrells crisp brand out of his own potato harvest and sold it again, and he chose to stay in the field: the potatoes are grown at Rosemaund Farm, where they are also fermented and distilled. From soil to bottle, all of it happens inside the same fence.

The smoked version came about by turning the process around. Instead of smoking grain or resting the spirit in a charred cask, the water is smoked over English oak for five days and then blended with the potato vodka. The smoke comes in through the back door, carried by water, which gives it a very different structure from the peat smoke of a Single Malt Whisky.

It divides people. Some compare it to a reposado tequila or a mild mezcal because of the vegetal sweetness beneath the smoke, and there is something in that. The potatoes lay down a creamy weight for the smoke to rest on, which is why the bottle works best with a couple of ice cubes and nothing else involved.

Tasting notes

Nose

Cold ash and toasted oak first, then a light note of vanilla. Beneath it sits something earthy, close to freshly boiled potatoes.

Palate

Creamy and broader than expected. The smoke arrives midway and reads dry rather than sooty, with a mild sweetness and a green, vegetal tone in the background.

Finish

Dry and smoky, with good length for a vodka. A touch of pepper turns up at the end as the sweetness falls away.

Specifications

Name: Chase Smoked Vodka English Oak
Distillery: Chase Distillery
Region/Country: Herefordshire, England
Type: English Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Edition: Limited Edition
EAN no.: 5060183131927
Serving suggestion: Pour it over a couple of large ice cubes and drink it with nothing alongside.

Flavour profile

Smoky · Creamy · Dry · Vegetal

Did you know?

Chase took the Best Vodka award at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2010 — the same year the smoked version appeared. It is rare for a farm distillery under two years old to beat the entire established field.

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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.

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A green apple bites back. That is the whole point of this bottle: not ripe, soft apple juice, but the sharp jaw twinge you get from the first bite of an apple that is still a little too firm.

Expert description

Ciroc Apple is a French Vodka built on French wine grapes, infused with natural apple flavour and bottled at 37.5%.

The base is the same vodka as the unflavoured expression: Mauzac Blanc and Ugni Blanc fermented into wine, distilled four times in column stills and a fifth time in a copper pot still. Only afterwards is the apple flavour added. The order matters, because the spirit has already been cleaned up by the time the flavour arrives, so the apple settles on top of the grape rather than mixing into it.

The grape base is no accident for this particular variant either. Apple and white grape share a good deal of the same fresh acidity, which is why the apple note reads bright and sharp rather than like confectionery. The vodka is gluten free, as is the rest of the range.

Tasting notes

Nose

Freshly cut green apple with the skin left on. A cooler, almost stalky green note sits behind it and keeps the sweetness in check.

Palate

Crisp and tart from the first sip. Apple fills the front of the tongue while the grape base provides a soft cushion underneath. The sweetness is clear but never sticky.

Finish

Cleansing and short. The acidity hangs around for a moment, then everything dries out neatly and leaves the mouth ready for the next sip.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Apple
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
EAN no.: 5010103938235
Serving suggestion: Ice cold with fresh lime and ginger beer, or in an Appletini with a dry vermouth.

Flavour profile

Crisp apple · Fresh acidity · Lightly sweet · Clean finish

Did you know?

The apple variant reached the market in 2015 with green apple as its reference point. Ciroc's own recommended serve is called the Pomme Spritz, pomme being French for apple, mixing the vodka with pressed apple juice, lime, pomegranate juice and ginger beer.

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Coconut is one of those flavours that almost always gets overdone. Sun cream, cake batter, white syrup. The ambition here is different: the coconut should read like something just grated off a fresh nut, not something poured from a bottle with a parasol attached.

Expert description

Ciroc Coconut is a French Vodka built on French wine grapes, infused with natural coconut and tropical fruit flavour and bottled at 37.5%.

The spirit itself is identical to the unflavoured Ciroc. The grapes are fermented into wine, run four times through column stills and a fifth time through the copper pot still at Maison Villevert. The flavours go in afterwards. The producer describes the aroma as freshly grated coconut and vanilla, and that is exactly the line the bottle holds.

Coconut and grape make more sense together than you might expect. The grape base already carries a lightly oily texture, and it amplifies the creamy sensation the nut brings along. The liquid is clear in the glass rather than milky, and it is gluten free.

Tasting notes

Nose

Freshly grated coconut flesh with a layer of soft vanilla laid over it. Further in sits a green, almost milky note from the young nut.

Palate

Creamy without turning heavy. Coconut occupies the whole middle while a light tropical fruit sweetness pushes in from the side. The alcohol barely registers.

Finish

Soft and persistent. Vanilla lingers longest, and right at the very end the grape base reappears as a dry line.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Coconut
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
EAN no.: 5010103995641
Serving suggestion: Over crushed ice with lime juice and lime soda, or as the base of a Pina Colada with real pineapple.

Flavour profile

Coconut · Creamy · Tropical · Vanilla sweet

Did you know?

Coconut was one of the very first flavour variants in the range. It arrived in 2010 alongside Red Berry, and the pair opened the whole line that later produced Peach, Pineapple, Apple and Mango.

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A properly ripe mango can barely be cut. The flesh gives way under the knife, the smell fills the kitchen, and you end up eating it over the sink. That is the image this bottle works from.

Expert description

Ciroc Mango is a French Vodka built on French wine grapes, infused with natural mango flavour and bottled at 37.5%.

The foundation is once again the grape spirit from Maison Villevert, distilled five times and bottled without any ageing. The mango goes on after distillation, and the producer highlights the mouthfeel in particular: there is a clear, almost pulpy weight that sets it apart from the more citrus driven expressions in the range.

Mango is one of the hardest fruits to pin down in a spirit, because the aroma easily turns perfumed. Here it is held down by the dryness of the grape base, which cuts through the sweetness and pulls it back towards something more genuinely fruity. The vodka is gluten free.

Tasting notes

Nose

Ripe mango with the skin on, sweet and almost resinous. A small lift of lime sits underneath and keeps the aroma awake.

Palate

Full and thick in feel. The mango spreads across the whole tongue with tropical sweetness while the grape base slowly draws it dry again towards the end.

Finish

Warm and fruity with moderate length. The sweetness falls away evenly and leaves a lightly tart edge behind, closer to the skin than the flesh.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Mango
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
EAN no.: 5010103939874
Serving suggestion: In a Mango Tango with lime juice and mango puree, or topped with dry sparkling wine as a Mango Mimosa.

Flavour profile

Ripe mango · Full bodied · Tropical sweetness · Soft

Did you know?

The mango variant arrived in 2016 and the launch was run with DJ Khaled as its public face. It came during a stretch where Ciroc released a new flavour almost every year, each one paired with its own ambassador.

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Late summer, a peach that is one day past perfect, and juice running down the wrist. That is the sensation this bottle chases. Not tinned fruit, but the short window where the peach is at its peak and about to give up entirely.

Expert description

Ciroc Peach is a French Vodka built on French wine grapes, infused with natural peach flavour and bottled at 37.5%.

The base is the five times distilled grape vodka from Maison Villevert, and peach has been laid over it along with a set of lighter orchard notes. The producer highlights the rich, smooth texture, and it shows: of the whole Ciroc range this is the expression that fills the most mouth.

The fruit was chosen to work with the grape rather than against it. Stone fruit and white grape share a floral, faintly honeyed character, which is why the peach does not sit on the spirit like a foreign object. The vodka is gluten free.

Tasting notes

Nose

Ripe yellow peach with the skin on, and behind it a bright note of apricot and white flowers. There is no tartness in the aroma, only fruit sweetness.

Palate

Rich and smooth with clear stone fruit. The sweetness is round and broad rather than sharp, and a faintly bitter kernel note sits behind it to keep things interesting.

Finish

Soft and reasonably long. The peach lets go slowly, and a dry grape note arrives at the end to tidy up after it.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Peach
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
EAN no.: 5010103934374
Serving suggestion: In an On the Beach with cranberry and orange juice, or cold with soda water and a slice of peach.

Flavour profile

Ripe peach · Rich · Juicy · Soft finish

Did you know?

Peach was the third flavour in the range and arrived in 2011, the year after Red Berry and Coconut. Ciroc's own serve for it is called On the Beach and consists of nothing but the vodka, cranberry juice and orange juice. No peach liqueur is needed, because the fruit already sits in the bottle.

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Pineapple has two sides. The sweet golden core, and the sharp acidity right out by the skin that prickles slightly on the tongue. This bottle tries to hold on to both at once.

Expert description

Ciroc Pineapple is a French Vodka built on French wine grapes, infused with natural pineapple flavour and bottled at 37.5%.

Underneath the flavour sits the same grape vodka as the rest of the range, distilled four times in column stills and a fifth time in the copper pot still. The producer calls the pineapple the most versatile expression in the line up, which is not far off: it handles citrus soda, orange juice and more pineapple on top equally well.

The acidity the pineapple brings is why this variant rarely becomes cloying. Where coconut and peach add weight, pineapple pulls the other way and sharpens the drink. That makes it the obvious Ciroc flavour when you are mixing for a crowd. The vodka is gluten free.

Tasting notes

Nose

Freshly cut pineapple, distinctly golden and slightly green at the edge. A lightly sour note sits behind it, closer to the skin than to the flesh.

Palate

Juicy and lively. Sweetness leads but is quickly overtaken by a tropical acidity running down the sides of the tongue. The grape base keeps the middle soft.

Finish

Fresh and reasonably short. The acidity clears up after the sweetness and leaves a light bite that makes the next sip easy.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Pineapple
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
EAN no.: 5010103937146
Serving suggestion: With lemon lime soda and a wedge of lime, or in a French Fizz with pineapple juice, lime juice and raspberries.

Flavour profile

Juicy pineapple · Tropical · Fresh acidity · Lightly sweet

Did you know?

The pineapple variant reached the market in 2014. The fruit has since also formed the basis of Ciroc Summer Colada, a limited edition where pineapple and coconut share a bottle, and which owes its balance precisely to the acidity pineapple brings.

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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.

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Some evenings run out of vodka long before they run out of conversation. This format is built for exactly those. Big, heavy and made to stay in the middle of the table while everyone takes a turn pouring.

Expert description

Ciroc Premium French Vodka in the large format is a French Vodka distilled five times from French wine grapes and bottled at 40%.

The format changes nothing about the liquid, but it changes how the bottle gets used. 175 cl covers roughly 43 drinks at 4 cl, and that is precisely where a grape based vodka earns its keep. It carries enough fruit acidity to keep a long drink alive through a whole evening without anyone reaching for more lemon juice every round.

The spirit comes from Mauzac Blanc and Ugni Blanc, fermented into wine first and then run through four column distillations. The fifth pass happens in a traditional copper pot still at Maison Villevert in southern France, built along the same lines as the stills used for armagnac. That step is what delivers the soft, faintly oily texture that makes the vodka work neat and in volume alike.

Tasting notes

Nose

Fresh and fairly discreet. Grapefruit peel on top, a dry, almost wine like note beneath it and a trace of almond blossom.

Palate

Round and generous through the middle, where the white grape steps clearly forward. There is a light sweetness with nothing syrupy about it and a cooler mineral line running through.

Finish

Clean and short, with a dry bite right at the end. It leaves nothing heavy sitting on the palate, which matters over a long session.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Premium French Vodka
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 175 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
Serving suggestion: Fridge cold in a Vodka Soda with lime, or as the base of a batched cocktail for the whole room.

Flavour profile

Fresh · Round · Dry grape character · Mineral

Did you know?

Ciroc struggled out of the gate and moved fewer than 40,000 cases a year in its first seasons on the market. By 2014 the brand was passing two million cases annually. Very few vodkas have made a jump that steep in that short a time.

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Behind every bar stands a bottle nobody touches on a Tuesday. It does not come out because someone ordered a drink. It comes out because it fills the room the second it lands on the shelf.

Expert description

Ciroc Premium French Vodka in the six litre format is a French Vodka distilled five times from French wine grapes and bottled at 40%.

Six litres equals more than eight standard 70 cl bottles. This is not a format for a home bar. It belongs on the back wall of a cocktail bar, at a corporate reception, or on the table where everyone is meant to see what is being served. The glass is correspondingly heavy, and the bottle needs both hands or a fixed cradle.

The liquid is identical to the standard bottling. Mauzac Blanc from Gaillac and Ugni Blanc from Cognac are fermented into wine, run through four column distillations and finished in a copper pot still at Maison Villevert in southern France. Nothing is aged, nothing is added, and the spirit is cut to 40% before bottling. The advantage of the format is not the flavour but the staging.

Tasting notes

Nose

Quiet and cool on first approach. Lime peel and white blossom arrive first, followed by something lightly mineral, close to wet flint.

Palate

Smooth and full with clear grape character. The sweetness is restrained and dries out along the way, while a point of pepper holds the middle in place.

Finish

Dry and mineral, short in duration. Nothing tacky is left behind, which counts when it is being poured in long rounds.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Premium French Vodka
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 600 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
Serving suggestion: Decant into a chilled carafe and serve in a tall glass with ice, lime and soda water.

Flavour profile

Smooth · Mineral · Dry grape · Clean finish

Did you know?

Ciroc has moved outside the vodka category as well. June 2018 brought Ciroc VS Brandy, a blend of aged French brandies, part of it distilled in copper pot stills and matured in French oak. Same fruit, this time with cask time behind it.

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High above the Tarn valley in Gaillac the grapes come off the vine while the nights are still cold. They never reach a wine bottle. They are pressed, fermented and pushed through five distillations until nothing but clear spirit remains. And still, the vineyard is somehow left in the glass.

Expert description

Ciroc Premium French Vodka is a French Vodka distilled five times from French wine grapes and bottled at 40%.

Two white grape varieties do the work. Mauzac Blanc grows in the high vineyards around Gaillac in south west France, Ugni Blanc comes from Cognac. The fruit is cold macerated at around 8 degrees so the aromatics are drawn slowly out of the skins, then the must is cold fermented into wine. Distillation only begins once that wine is finished. The method belongs to the wine trade rather than to the brewhouse.

The first four runs happen in column stills, taking the spirit up to roughly 96%. The fifth and final run takes place in a tailor made copper pot still at Maison Villevert in southern France, and that is where the character is set. Nothing is aged and nothing is added before the spirit is cut with water to 40%. Since no grain enters the recipe, the vodka is gluten free.

Tasting notes

Nose

Citrus peel and a light floral lift. Underneath sits something sweet and juicy that points clearly towards grape rather than grain.

Palate

Soft, almost oily across the tongue. Citrus arrives first, then a mild white grape sweetness, and finally a trace of white pepper.

Finish

Short and clean cut. The citrus note withdraws slowly and leaves no burn behind in the throat.

Specifications

Name: Ciroc Premium French Vodka
Distillery: Ciroc
Region/Country: Cognac, France
Type: French Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
EAN no.: 5010103916738
Serving suggestion: Cold in a small glass, or in a Vodka Martini where the citrus has room to speak.

Flavour profile

Citrus fresh · Soft · Lightly grape sweet · Clean

Did you know?

The name joins the French words cime, meaning summit, and roche, meaning rock. It points at the high vineyards around Cordes-sur-Ciel in Gaillac, a medieval town founded in 1222 that sits so far up its cliff that locals call it the village in the clouds.

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The northern lights never hold still. They change colour while you watch and vanish before you have found the camera. The Aurora bottle attempts the same trick in glass: turn it a quarter of a rotation and the surface slides from green to violet to copper.

Expert description

Crystal Head Aurora is a Canadian Vodka distilled five times from English wheat and bottled at 40%.

Aurora reached the market in 2016 as the second expression from Crystal Head. Where the original is built on corn, the raw material here is English wheat, and that moves the flavour noticeably. Wheat delivers a tighter, more peppery spirit, while corn pulls towards creamy sweetness. The spirit is blended with Newfoundland water and nothing is added along the way.

The purity comes from five distillations and seven filtrations. The last three filtrations pass through layers of Herkimer diamonds, the semi-precious quartz crystals the house has used from the start. The bottle gets its metallised surface through a process that lays the colour unevenly across the glass, which is why no two bottles look quite the same.

Tasting notes

Nose

Crisp and dry. Delicate floral notes sit on top with a discreet breath of anise beneath them.

Palate

Warm and clearly peppercorn driven from the first sip. A small sweetness sits underneath, but the wheat leads all the way.

Finish

Dry, clean and warming. The pepper releases slowly and nothing sticky is left behind.

Specifications

Name: Crystal Head Aurora
Distillery: Crystal Head Vodka
Region/Country: Newfoundland, Canada
Type: Canadian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled
EAN no.: 62704041159
Serving suggestion: Cold in a Vodka Martini, where the peppercorn note is allowed to carry the drink.

Flavour profile

Peppery · Floral · Dry · Warming

Did you know?

No two Aurora bottles are identical. The iridescent metallised surface settles differently on every single unit, so the play of colour varies from bottle to bottle and shifts depending on the angle the light arrives from.

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The whole idea shrunk down to the palm of your hand. The same skull shape, the same lead free clear glass, the same vodka inside — only in a format that fits a coat pocket or sits at the top of a Christmas hamper.

Please note: The bottle is supplied with a red ribbon.

Expert description

Crystal Head Miniature is a Canadian Vodka distilled four times from corn and bottled at 40% in a 5 cl skull bottle.

The contents are exactly the same as in the full size bottle. The raw material is peaches and cream corn, distilled four times into neutral spirit and then blended with water from Newfoundland. The vodka is finally filtered seven times, three of those passes running over Herkimer diamonds. No glycerol, no citrus oils and no sugar are added.

This is the smallest format Crystal Head makes. The house moulds bottles in five sizes, from 5 cl all the way up to 3 litres, and the miniature is the one most people meet first. It holds just enough for two proper tastes and stays small enough to end up as an ornament on the shelf afterwards.

Tasting notes

Nose

Neutral grain aroma with a fine dusting of citrus. There are no sharp edges to watch out for.

Palate

Silky with a suggestion of sweetness and vanilla. The corn supplies body without turning heavy.

Finish

Short, sweet and creamy. It closes without bite, which is rather the point of a taster.

Specifications

Name: Crystal Head Miniature
Distillery: Crystal Head Vodka
Region/Country: Newfoundland, Canada
Type: Canadian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 5 CL
Distillation method: Four times distilled
EAN no.: 627040411452
Serving suggestion: Cold as a taster in a small glass, or poured over ice with a strip of lemon peel.

Flavour profile

Soft · Creamy · Lightly sweet · Neutral

Did you know?

Crystal Head deliberately makes no flavoured vodka at all. The house treats the spirit as a blank canvas for the drinker to build on, so there are no vanilla, berry or citrus expressions in the range — only different raw materials and different bottles.

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Black glass shuts the light out. No label, no transparency, just a skull shape in glossy onyx standing like a shadow among all the clear bottles. Inside, Mexican agave meets water from Newfoundland — two places with nothing whatsoever to do with one another.

Expert description

Crystal Head Onyx is a Canadian Vodka made from Blue Weber agave grown on a single farm in Mexico and bottled at 40%.

Onyx arrived in 2020 as the third expression in the range. The first was built on Canadian corn, the second on English wheat, and here the raw material is agave — the same plant behind Tequila. The agave comes from one single farm, and the spirit is then blended with Newfoundland water like the rest of the family. No oils, no sugars, nothing else added.

Crystal Head filters through Herkimer diamonds, semi-precious quartz crystals mined in Herkimer County in New York State. Whether the stones do anything chemically is open to argument, but the house has stuck with the method since 2008. What matters with Onyx is that the raw material is not distilled away. The agave sits waiting in the middle of the mouth.

Tasting notes

Nose

Freshly cut grass and white pepper, with a thread of citrus behind it. Drier and greener than a skull bottle usually promises.

Palate

Soft opening with a touch of spice and sweetness, until the agave arrives with its earthy grip. Sweet without ever turning sugary.

Finish

Medium. Green grass, pepper and citrus peel hang on while the sweetness slowly withdraws.

Specifications

Name: Crystal Head Onyx
Distillery: Crystal Head Vodka
Region/Country: Newfoundland, Canada
Type: Canadian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
EAN no.: 627040411872
Serving suggestion: Cold in a small glass, or in a long drink with lime and grapefruit soda where the agave has room.

Flavour profile

Green · Peppery · Agave sweet · Dry finish

Did you know?

The black bottle is a tribute to the stone itself. Onyx is described as a protective stone, and Crystal Head points out that it lets no light through at all — the darker the stone, the more energy it is credited with. Glass and cap are therefore held in the same deep black.

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In September 2008 the first pallet stood ready in southern California. 5,400 cases. They vanished so fast that retailers began rationing customers to one bottle each, and the rest of the United States had to wait until the following year. Nobody had seen a bottle shaped like a head before.

Expert description

Crystal Head Vodka is a Canadian Vodka distilled four times from corn and bottled at 40%.

Behind the bottle stand actor Dan Aykroyd and artist John Alexander. The idea came from the story of the thirteen crystal skulls said to have been held by native peoples of the Americas — the Navajo, the Aztec, the Maya — and to project positive energy. The two insisted that the bottle was not a skull but a head: a symbol of life rather than of death.

Production takes place in St. John's, Newfoundland, at one of the last government owned distilleries in the world. The raw material is peaches and cream corn, distilled four times into neutral spirit before the spirit is cut with local water down to 40%. The vodka is then filtered seven times, three of those passes running over Herkimer diamonds. Nothing is added — no glycerol, no citrus oils, no sugar.

Tasting notes

Nose

Calm and grainy with a fine citrus edge. There is no spirit sting even when you go in close.

Palate

Corn sweetness settles in the middle of the tongue, soft and almost milky, with vanilla laid over the top.

Finish

Creamy and sweet, but short. It leaves neatly, without bite and without bitterness.

Specifications

Name: Crystal Head Vodka
Distillery: Crystal Head Vodka
Region/Country: Newfoundland, Canada
Type: Canadian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Four times distilled
EAN no.: 0712475339485
Serving suggestion: Cold in a small glass, or in a White Russian where the corn sweetness meets the coffee liqueur.

Flavour profile

Soft · Creamy · Vanilla sweet · Neutral

Did you know?

The legend of the thirteen crystal skulls is the entire reason for the bottle's shape. The story says the skulls must be brought together again to grant humanity insight. Aykroyd and Alexander borrowed the image but reversed its meaning: their version is a head, not a skull, and is meant to read as a symbol of life.

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Put it in a window in the afternoon. The light hits the glass at an angle and the skull throws colour across the worktop — red at one end, violet at the other. This is not a bottle you can set down discreetly.

Expert description

Crystal Head Rainbow is a Canadian Vodka distilled four times from Canadian corn and bottled at 40% in a rainbow coloured skull bottle.

The release is a limited edition made to mark Pride and to celebrate diversity and equality. Crystal Head works with LGBTQ+ communities year round and uses the bottle as a canvas: the decoration is applied through a process the house developed for itself, and the colours sit directly on the glass rather than on a label. Crystal Head bottles carry no paper label at all.

The liquid is the original vodka. The corn comes from Canadian fields, the spirit is run four times and then blended with water from Newfoundland. No glycerol, no citrus oils and no sugar are added, and filtration happens seven times, with three of those passes running over Herkimer diamonds.

Tasting notes

Nose

Neutral and grainy with a fine citrus note laid on top. The aroma is discreet and free of any alcohol sting.

Palate

Silky the whole way. A suggestion of sweetness is followed by clear vanilla, without ever turning perfumed.

Finish

Sweet and creamy. It closes gently and leaves a lightly milky impression behind.

Specifications

Name: Crystal Head Rainbow
Distillery: Crystal Head Vodka
Region/Country: Newfoundland, Canada
Type: Canadian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Four times distilled
Edition: Pride, limited edition
Serving suggestion: Cold in an Espresso Martini, where the vanilla has something to push against.

Flavour profile

Soft · Vanilla sweet · Creamy · Neutral

Did you know?

There is not a single piece of paper on the bottle. Crystal Head has never used labels — all text and all decoration sit directly on the glass, and on the Rainbow edition that means the colours are part of the bottle rather than something that can be peeled off.

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Lift it with two hands. A 175 cl skull in heavy moulded glass is not something you pour from with a flick of the wrist, and that is exactly why it ends up in the middle of the table rather than at the back of the cupboard. The colours handle the rest.

Expert description

Crystal Head Rainbow is a Canadian Vodka made from Canadian corn, distilled four times and bottled at 40% in a rainbow coloured 175 cl skull bottle.

The large format is the same Pride edition as the 70 cl bottle, simply in the size you bring out when there are several glasses to fill. The vodka inside is the house original: corn from Canadian fields, four distillations, water from Newfoundland and seven filtrations, three of which run through Herkimer diamonds. Nothing added.

The glass itself is worth a moment. The shape was drawn by American artist John Alexander and is moulded at Bruni Glass in Milan, and in the large format the detail sharpens: cheekbones, teeth, eye sockets. The rainbow decoration is applied straight onto the glass so the colour follows the curved surfaces instead of lying flat like a label.

Tasting notes

Nose

Mild grain character with a bright touch of citrus peel. The aroma is restrained and entirely free of sharpness.

Palate

Round and soft with clear vanilla. Sweetness from the corn fills the middle without turning thick.

Finish

Creamy and short. It closes with a soft pull and leaves the glass ready for the next mouthful.

Specifications

Name: Crystal Head Rainbow
Distillery: Crystal Head Vodka
Region/Country: Newfoundland, Canada
Type: Canadian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 175 CL
Distillation method: Four times distilled
Edition: Pride, limited edition
Serving suggestion: Pour it cold into Moscow Mule mugs with ginger beer and lime for a larger gathering.

Flavour profile

Round · Vanilla sweet · Creamy · Light

Did you know?

The bottle took more than two years to develop. John Alexander drew the shape, Dan Aykroyd advised along the way, and production was placed with Bruni Glass in Milan. When the first prototype was finally finished, the glassworks itself called it the most complex bottle they had ever produced.

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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.

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Pour it out and you get blue. Taste it and you get orange. Cuba Orange is one of the few bottles where colour and flavour deliberately disagree, and that is exactly why it ends up in so many drinks.

Expert description

Cuba Orange is a Danish Vodka Spirit Drink from Spritfabrikken Danmark in Kolding, made with triple distilled vodka flavoured with sweet oranges and bottled at 30%.

The clear blue colour is not a mistake but the whole point. It makes it easy to build drinks that look like something without keeping blue curacao on the shelf. Mixed with clear soda the glass turns turquoise, and with orange juice it lands somewhere between green and brown.

On the palate this is ripe orange rather than orange peel. The sweetness is obvious, the acidity is held back, and the base is vodka distilled three times. The strength of 30% is why the label reads spirit drink made with vodka instead of vodka.

The house classic is called Isbjørn and consists of Cuba Orange and Sprite, while Viper uses lemon soda. The producer also points to a less obvious route: a splash in coffee, topped with whipped cream and grated chocolate.

Tasting notes

Nose

Sweet orange straight away, more juice than peel. Behind it sits a light candied edge and a touch of sugar.

Palate

Juicy and round. The orange fills the middle with barely any acidity, and the vodka stays below the surface the whole way through.

Finish

Short and sweet with a last brush of citrus before the sugar lets go.

Specifications

Name: Cuba Orange
Producer: Spritfabrikken Danmark
Region/Country: Kolding, Denmark
Type: Danish Vodka Spirit Drink
ABV: 30%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled
EAN no.: 5706844501059
Serving suggestion: With clear soda over plenty of ice, or a splash in coffee topped with whipped cream and grated chocolate.

Flavour profile

Sweet orange · Citrus · Sweet · Mixable

Did you know?

The name Cuba has nothing to do with the island. It was chosen in 1998 because it suggested beach, party, colour and salsa, and the entire range is developed and produced in Denmark.

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In 1995 a man stood in a kitchen in Kolding, burning out one blender after another while chasing a vodka with flavour. Cuba Pure Vodka is the bottle where he kept his hands off the flavour. Clean, cool and ready to be mixed with whatever you have on the shelf.

Expert description

Cuba Pure Vodka is a Danish Vodka Spirit Drink from Spritfabrikken Danmark in Kolding, built on triple distilled vodka and bottled at 37.5%.

The range behind the bottle is the largest Danish selection of flavoured vodka, and it started in a private kitchen. Pure is the odd one out. No fruit, no colour, no sweetness. What you get is the base that every colourful sibling is built on top of.

The vodka is distilled three times and filtered, and you can taste it on the edges. Very little bite is left, and that is the point. The producer suggests everything from juice and soda to energy drink as a mixer, and the bottle holds its ground in a Moscow Mule without being flattened by the ginger.

The rest of the range sits at 30% and is sold as spirit drinks made with vodka. Pure sits higher, which makes it the driest and most neutral member of the family. If you want it neat, give it time in the freezer first.

Tasting notes

Nose

Very discreet. A trace of sweet grain and a hint of citrus peel, otherwise clean and cool with no sharp spirit fumes.

Palate

Soft and gently sweet through the middle. No peppery bite, just a rounded grain note and a faint touch of vanilla before it moves on.

Finish

Short and clean. The warmth drops away quickly and leaves no bitterness behind on the palate.

Specifications

Name: Cuba Pure Vodka
Producer: Spritfabrikken Danmark
Region/Country: Kolding, Denmark
Type: Danish Vodka Spirit Drink
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a Moscow Mule with ginger beer and fresh lime, or simply mixed with apple juice.

Flavour profile

Clean · Soft · Neutral · Mixable

Did you know?

EU rules demand at least 37.5% alcohol before anything may be called vodka. Cuba Pure Vodka lands exactly on that line, while its coloured siblings sit at 30% and therefore have to be labelled spirit drink instead.

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There is a particular red you only meet in late summer and in this bottle. Cuba Strawberry is strawberry without a season, poured into a tall glass with plenty of ice and something fizzy to follow.

Expert description

Cuba Strawberry is a Danish Vodka Spirit Drink from Spritfabrikken Danmark in Kolding, flavoured with ripe strawberries and bottled at 30%.

The bottle belongs to the colourful half of the range, where flavour leads and alcohol stays in the background. That is exactly why the label reads spirit drink made with vodka rather than vodka: 30% falls below the strength that the category demands.

The strawberry is sweet and ripe rather than tart, and the colour does part of the work in the glass. The producer recommends it chilled, ideally shaken with ice or lengthened with soda and juice. It turns up in the house Strawberry Mojito, where lime and mint pull the sweetness back into place.

Served lukewarm the berry quickly turns sticky. Cold and over plenty of ice it is one of the easiest bottles to build a pink drink on, and it handles both citrus and carbonation without splitting.

Tasting notes

Nose

Ripe strawberries straight away, close to boiled sweets. Behind them sits a faintly creamy tone and a soft breath of sugar.

Palate

Sweet and full with the berry in front all the way. The vodka lies underneath as a soft floor and gives structure without letting the alcohol poke through.

Finish

Short and sugary. The berry hangs around for a moment, and then the glass is empty of flavour again.

Specifications

Name: Cuba Strawberry
Producer: Spritfabrikken Danmark
Region/Country: Kolding, Denmark
Type: Danish Vodka Spirit Drink
ABV: 30%
Size: 70 CL
EAN no.: 5706844500007
Serving suggestion: Shaken with ice and topped with sparkling water, or in a Strawberry Mojito with lime, mint and cane sugar.

Flavour profile

Ripe strawberry · Sweet · Soft · Candied

Did you know?

The whole range was developed in a private kitchen, where several blenders burned out along the way. The first variant was ready in March 1998, and 100 litres were driven to a trade fair in Herning, where more orders were placed than could be produced.

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On 15 June 1219, legend has it, a cloth fell from the sky above a Danish army in Estonia and turned a battle that was slipping away. The cloth became Dannebrog, the Danish flag. This vodka is distilled on the very ground where it was all supposed to have happened.

Expert description

Dannebrog Vodka 1219 is an Estonian Vodka from Remedia in Tallinn, distilled five times from 100% Estonian winter wheat and bottled at 40%.

The Battle of Lyndanisse took place in 1219 under Valdemar II, and the site is Tallinn today. The city's name is generally traced back to the Estonian Taani-linn, meaning Danish castle. The link between Denmark and Estonia therefore sits in the name of the city itself, long before anybody thought of distilling vodka out of the history.

Remedia calls the bottle an Ultra-Premium Small Batch Vintage Vodka. Behind the words sits something concrete: the grain is 100% Estonian winter wheat, the distillation runs five times, and production happens in small portions, with each bottling carrying its own year.

The texture is pale and clear, and this is a vodka where the spice gets the upper hand over the sweetness. The bottle is kept in a taut, almost sober design with nothing trying to convince anybody, and the litre format makes it the sort of bottle you set out when people are coming.

Tasting notes

Nose

Clean and dryly grainy with a faint thread of aniseed. There is no harshness worth mentioning.

Palate

Light and dry with the fine sweetness of wheat. Fennel and aniseed appear mid-palate, and a clear press of pepper sits underneath the lot.

Finish

Medium with a neat warmth. Aniseed, fennel and pepper hold on while the grain withdraws.

Specifications

Name: Dannebrog Vodka 1219
Distillery: Remedia
Region/Country: Tallinn, Estonia
Type: Estonian Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 100 CL
Distillation method: Distilled five times, small batch
EAN no.: 5712421120018
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a small glass alongside herring, rye bread and something pickled.

Flavour profile

Dry · Spiced · Aniseed and fennel · Clean close

Did you know?

Dannebrog is regarded as the oldest national flag still in use. The legend of 1219 was first written down several centuries after the battle, yet it has held up so well that it can still sell a bottle of vodka in Estonia.

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Put a brushed aluminium bottle in the freezer and a quarter of an hour later it is cold all the way through. Glass needs an evening. That is the kind of practical logic Danish design usually gets praised for, and Danzka has lived off it since 1989.

Expert description

Danzka Premium Danish Vodka is a Danish Vodka made from 100% whole wheat grain, distilled through six columns and bottled at 40%.

The name is a piece of wordplay, but the recipe is plain. The wheat becomes a spirit that runs continuously through six columns, then through three filtrations, before being brought down with soft demineralised water. No botanicals, no added sugar, no theatre. Everything rests on the cleanliness and on the light citrus note that lingers afterwards.

The bottle deserves its own paragraph. Aluminium conducts heat far faster than glass, so it chills in the freezer in a fraction of the time and stays cold in the hand while you pour. It also cannot shatter in a suitcase, which explains a great deal about why Danzka has spent decades on travel retail shelves across Scandinavia.

The one litre bottle is the version you buy when something is being made for several people. It does not run dry the first time a round of Moscow Mules is called for, and it sits lighter in the hand than the volume suggests, precisely because the metal is thin. The brand was bought in 2013 by the German family firm Waldemar Behn, which has kept both the recipe and the shape of the bottle.

Tasting notes

Nose

Clean and coolly neutral on the first pass. Behind it sits a dry grain note and a clear stroke of lemon peel.

Palate

A soft opening with almost no bite. The wheat lays down a mild sweetness in the middle, citrus cuts up through it, and a light peppery warmth arrives last.

Finish

Short and dry. The lemon peel holds longest and no sweetness is left behind.

Specifications

Name: Danzka Premium Danish Vodka
Producer: Danzka
Region/Country: Denmark
Type: Danish Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 100 CL
Distillation method: Continuous distillation through six columns, triple filtered
Serving suggestion: Ice cold from the freezer in a small glass, or in a Moscow Mule with lime and ginger beer.

Flavour profile

Clean · Soft · Citrus · Lightly grain sweet

Did you know?

The name is built from the word Danish and a Slavic ending. The letter s has been swapped for a z and ka hung on the back, so the word sounds Eastern European without being it. Everything else about the vodka is Danish — only the name leans east.

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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.

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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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Once the wine has been pressed, a heap is left behind: skins, stems and seeds. It is called pomace, and it is usually sold on for animal feed or carted away. Here it is not waste but raw material. This entire vodka begins with what the wine trade normally throws out.

Expert description

Discarded Grape Skin Vodka is a Scottish Vodka made from discarded Chardonnay grape skins, blended with wine alcohol and bottled at 40%.

There are two reclaimed ingredients in the bottle. The first is the pomace — skins, stems and seeds from winemaking — which is distilled and becomes the base. The second is more surprising: when wine is dealcoholised to make alcohol free wine, the alcohol is left over as a by-product, and it still carries a great deal of the grape's aroma. That Chardonnay wine alcohol is blended in, and it gives the bottle both its name and its fruit.

Behind Discarded Spirits Co. stands William Grant & Sons, and the whole range works on the same principle. There is a rum made with banana peel and a vermouth built on cascara, the dried husk of the coffee cherry. The packaging is fully recyclable, and the philosophy is plain: use what would otherwise be burned or sent to landfill.

In the glass that means you are not getting a neutral vodka. There is a clear vinous character, a luscious mouthfeel and a fruit that points towards pear and the tropics rather than grain. This is a vodka for people who rather like the base spirit having a point of view.

Tasting notes

Nose

Fresh and crisp with green apple first. Then a deeper almond croissant tone and a bright lift of lychee.

Palate

A luscious, fruit-driven mouthfeel. Williams pear fills the middle, with guava and starfruit around it, and there is no grain sweetness weighing it down.

Finish

Dry and spiced with pink peppercorn. The fruit drops away and the pepper stays put.

Specifications

Name: Discarded Grape Skin Vodka
Producer: Discarded Spirits Co.
Region/Country: Scotland
Type: Scottish Vodka from Chardonnay grape skins
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Distilled from discarded pomace and blended with Chardonnay wine alcohol
EAN no.: 5010327414645
Serving suggestion: In a Grape Skin Spritz with sparkling wine and soda, or in a Martini with lemon peel.

Flavour profile

Vinous · Fruit-driven · Luscious · Pink pepper

Did you know?

Pomace has been turned into spirit for centuries in southern Europe. Italian grappa and French marc are made from exactly the same press residue, and they exist because farmers could not afford to let anything go to waste. Discarded is therefore not doing something new — it is doing something old again, this time as a vodka.

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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.

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Hokkaido sits at the northern end of Japan, where snow stays on the ground for months and winter runs long enough that you start thinking in terms of purity and cold all by yourself. Eiko is distilled up there, and the name means glory.

Expert description

Eiko Vodka is a Japanese Vodka from Hokkaido, triple distilled and filtered four times, bottled at 40%.

Japanese vodka is still a small category next to whisky and shochu, but the craft is the same one Japanese distilleries have built their reputation on: many stages, tight control and a willingness to spend longer than strictly necessary. Eiko goes through distillation three times and then through the filters four times, one stage more than most vodkas receive.

Combining several distillations with an extra filtration removes the heavier compounds from both ends of the process. What remains is a vodka that barely bites. In return you have to go looking for the aroma: it is delicate and closes up if the bottle comes straight out of the freezer.

It has also collected silverware at the major competitions, among them a Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2019 and a category win at the World Vodka Awards in 2018. A reminder that Japan makes more than whisky.

Tasting notes

Nose

Delicate and lightly sweet with a trace of lemon peel. No alcohol prickle, but not much to grab hold of either if it is served too cold.

Palate

Soft and smooth with a clear liquorice note that slides into mild sweetness. Pepper arrives right at the end and stays very discreet.

Finish

Short and clean with a light peppery cross. The sweetness drops away quickly and leaves the mouth dry.

Specifications

Name: Eiko Vodka
Producer: Eiko
Region/Country: Hokkaido, Japan
Type: Japanese Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Triple distilled, filtered four times
EAN no.: 50708550
Serving suggestion: Lightly chilled in a small glass so the delicate aroma has room, or in a Vodka Martini with a twist of lemon.

Flavour profile

Soft · Clean · Liquorice-tinged · Discreetly sweet

Did you know?

Eiko means glory or honour in Japanese, and the packaging takes the name literally by putting a samurai on the bottle. It is not decoration but a direct translation of the word into a picture.

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Number 29 in the periodic table is copper. That is not a flourish invented for a label but the single thing this whole vodka rests on: the metal in the still, the spiral in the bottle, and the reason the spirit needs no filtration afterwards.

Expert description

Element 29 Vodka Copper Edition is an English Vodka from Element 29, distilled from English wheat in a copper pot still and bottled at 40%.

The still has a name and an age. She is called Angela, was hand-hammered by John Dore & Co in their London workshops in 1903, and has therefore passed a hundred years of service. A pot still of that kind distils more slowly than a modern column, but in far closer contact with the metal.

And that is the point. Copper conducts heat evenly and at the same time binds the sulphur compounds that would otherwise lay a note of struck match and boiled vegetables into the spirit. Remove them on the way through and there is nothing left afterwards to cover up, so the house neither filters nor adds flavouring.

The raw materials are English wheat and spring water from Sussex. The Copper Edition bottle drops a copper spiral into the glass itself as a nod to the still — decoration rather than part of the process, but it makes the bottle hard to miss on a shelf.

Tasting notes

Nose

Fresh and clear with a distinct lift of pepper. Behind it sits a trace of anise and a dry grain note.

Palate

Full and broad with the natural sweetness of wheat through the middle. A fine herbal thread runs across it, which keeps it from turning round and dull.

Finish

Clean and dry, with the pepper returning briefly right at the end.

Specifications

Name: Element 29 Vodka Copper Edition
Producer: Element 29
Region/Country: England
Type: English Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Distilled in a copper pot still, neither filtered nor flavoured
Edition: Copper Edition
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a small glass, or in a Vodka Martini where the pepper gets room.

Flavour profile

Peppery · Dry · Grain-sweet · Herbal

Did you know?

John Dore & Co was founded in London in 1835 by the Irishman Aeneas Coffey and is regarded as the oldest distillery engineering business in the world. That is the same Coffey who gave his name to the Coffey still — the basic shape of virtually all continuous distillation since.

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Most distilleries filter through charcoal, sand or ceramic. Here the alcohol vapour passes through gold. Not as decoration on the label, but as a physical part of the final distillation, up in North Zealand a stone's throw from Fredensborg.

Expert description

ELG Vodka is a Danish Vodka from Stone Grange near Fredensborg, distilled from wheat and bottled at 40%.

Behind the ELG name stands Henrik Elsner, a trained bio-organic chemist who built the Stone Grange distillery from 2009 onwards. The name sounds English, but neither the address nor the production is: everything happens on Fredensborgvej, and the house also makes gin, aquavit, absinthe, vermouth and liqueur.

The vodka is wheat based and run on a German hand-built copper column still. During the final distillation the alcohol vapour is led through two specially developed filters of 24 carat gold. The point is not luxury but chemistry: gold is close to chemically inert and gives up neither metallic flavour nor oxidation products to the spirit, the way less noble metals can.

The result is a vodka that does not try to be anonymous. The wheat is allowed to lay down a mild grain sweetness that holds all the way across the mouth, and none of the sharp edges are there that otherwise make people drown vodka in juice. It stands up to a small glass on its own.

Tasting notes

Nose

Pale and clean. A light sweetness from the wheat sits there with a hint of lemon peel, without any kind of harshness.

Palate

Round and smooth with an obvious softness from the outset. Grain sweetness fills the middle, and only right at the end does a small lift of white pepper arrive.

Finish

Short, dry and clean. The sweetness lets go quickly and leaves no bitterness behind.

Specifications

Name: ELG Vodka
Distillery: Stone Grange
Region/Country: Fredensborg, Denmark
Type: Danish Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Copper column, filtered through two filters of 24 carat gold
Serving suggestion: Ice cold in a small glass, or as the base of a Bloody Mary where the grain sweetness can carry the spices.

Flavour profile

Soft · Clean · Lightly grain-sweet · Round

Did you know?

Stone Grange also makes brandy and marc from grapes off the distillery's own vineyards. Danish vineyards rarely turn up in the same sentence as distilled spirits, yet here they end up in the bottle.

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