Review: Western Son South Texas Prickly Pear Vodka
Western Son South Texas Prickly Pear Vodka is one of seven handcrafted flavor infused vodka’s made at the Western Son Distillery. This distillery is housed in a former panty factory in Pilot Point Texas. The other flavors include Hill Country Peach, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Piney Woods Blueberry, South Plains Cucumber, Hill Country Apricot, and Big Stripe Watermelon. South Texas Prickly Pear is made from their Texas vodka base made from yellow corn and water filtered through reverse osmosis. The vodka is distilled ten times through a 20 foot column still and quadruple filtered. Natural Prickly Pear essence is blended with the original vodka base before bottling at 60 proof. A Prickly Pear is a cactus species native only to the Americas. Read more 
Review: Three Olives Cucumber Lime Vodka
Three Olives Cucumber Lime Vodka was just released. Three Olives Fresh Watermelon Vodka was also launched. Cucumber is a surprisingly popular vodka with over a dozen cucumber flavored vodka’s already on the market. Lime is clearly cucumbers favorite dance partner as Three Olives is the forth cucumber lime flavored vodka. At one time Three Olives made over 30 flavored vodka’s. A lot of these flavors can still be found at major liquor stores. It is unclear as to how many of these flavors are still made, but the recently updated Three Olives website only shows 12 varieties. Read more
Review: Three Olives Fresh Watermelon Vodka
Three Olives Fresh Watermelon Vodka was just released along with their other new flavor, Cucumber Lime. At last count Three Olives had 32 flavors in their lineup. It is unclear as to how many are still made as their website no longer displays their available offerings. Three Olives Fresh Watermelon Vodka is made from English winter wheat and demineralized water from Lake Vyrnmy. It is distilled four times and triple filtered. The vodka base is shipped to Lawrenceburg Indiana where natural flavors and certified color are added. This is not Three Olives first watermelon flavored vodka as they released one in 2006. That version was made with imitation watermelon flavor. Read more
Review: Stoli Crushed Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka
Stoli Crushed Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka is one of two new vodka varieties Stoli just released in their new Crushed line of flavored vodka. The other flavor is Crushed Pineapple. These are the first new flavored vodkas Stoli has launched since 2012. This follows Absolut introducing Absolut Lime, their first new flavor in four years. Three Olives will be releasing a Watermelon and a Cucumber Lime flavor later this summer. There is no doubt there are far fewer flavored vodka’s varieties on the market today, but distillers are focusing on new flavors in 2017 to drive growth. Stoli has completely redesigned their flavored vodka with the Crushed line. Corn and buckwheat replace the winter wheat used for the vodka base, and real juice and color have been added. The bottles shape and labeling have been updated and the vodka has been reduced to 60 proof. Why? Real juice seems to be the new buzz word in flavored vodka, replacing natural flavor. Much of the credit for this goes to Deep Eddy and their release of Deep Eddy Ruby Red in 2013. For the record Charbay and Belvedere both used real grapefruit in flavoring their grapefruit vodka prior to the release of Deep Eddy Ruby Red, but Deep Eddy got the real juice ball rolling. Color is also growing in popularity in flavored vodka’s. Once reserved for the bargain basement vodka brands, color is now seen as more natural looking, even though certified color is added to most colored vodka’s. Stoli Crushed Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka starts with a vodka base made from 88% corn and 12% buckwheat. The vodka is triple distilled and quadruple filtered. Pure artesian spring water is blended to reduce to 80 proof. Real juice, natural flavor, and certified color are blended before bottling at 60 proof. Read more
Review: Stoli Crushed Pineapple Vodka
Stoli Crushed Pineapple Vodka was just released along with Stoli Crushed Grapefruit. Unlike their other flavored vodkas, that are made from a winter wheat vodka base, Stoli Crushed is made with a blend of 88 percent corn and 12 percent buckwheat harvested from the fertile farm fields of the Tambov region of Russia. The vodka is triple distilled and filtered four times through quartz, sand, and birchwood charcoal. Pure natural spring water from the Latvijas Balzams artesian well in Riva Latvia is blended with the vodka to reduce to 80 proof. Real juice, natural flavors, certified color and FD&C Yellow No. 5 are added before bottling at 60 proof. While this is Stoli’s first Pineapple flavored vodka, Dole Pineapple has been infused with Stoli Vodka for years and sold as a Doli Stoli at one of my favorite steakhouses, The Capital Grill. Read more
Review: High Noon Lemon Vodka
High Noon Lemon Vodka was just released in Denver Colorado, Madison Wisconsin, and Charleston South Carolina. Test marketing in limited markets has been used for years in the food and beverage industry. Also released is High Noon Ruby Red Grapefruit, and the unflavored High Noon Vodka. The High Noon brand is owned by E&J Gallo, the makers of New Amsterdam Vodka. New Amsterdam Vodka was launched in 2011, and in its first year over one million cases were sold. New Amsterdam continues to be one of the fastest growing vodka brands in the US. High Noon is produced and bottled at the Holladay Distillery in Weston Missouri. This is the distillery that also produces 360 Vodka. High Noon Lemon Vodka is made with a vodka base made from Midwest grown corn. Real Lemon juice and natural flavors are added. As an indication of High Noon’s target market their website claims High Noon Lemon Vodka is made with Vodka, Lemons, Sunshine, Trips to the Beach, Sweet Shades, Big Waves, Fluffy Towels, and Light Breezes Perfect for Chuckin a Frisbee. Read more
Review: High Noon Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka
High Noon Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka was just released along with a Lemon and an unflavored vodka. My first thought when I saw this bottle, and read the label that stated it was produced and bottled in Weston Missouri was, did 360 Vodka change it’s name? It is made at the Holladay Distillery operated by McCormick Distilling Company. This is the same distillery that makes the 360 brand of vodka, but High Noon is the newest member in the growing line of spirits under the E&J Gallo umbrella. The others include New Amsterdam Vodka and Gin, Camarena Tequila, Rum Haven Coconut Rum, E&J Brandy, and Shellback Rum. High Noon is currently only available in Denver, Charleston, and Madison Wisconsin. High Noon Ruby Red Grapefruit starts with their unflavored vodka base made from hand selected Midwest corn. Natural flavor including real fruit juice is added. No artificial flavors, preserves or corn syrup are added before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Skyy Infusions California Apricot Vodka
Skyy Infusions California Apricot Vodka was released in March. It is finally arriving on store shelves in the Midwest. With 94% of the apricots grown in the USA coming from California, it’s no surprise the apricots used to produce this vodka are grown there. This is Skyy’s 18th flavored vodka in their Infusions product line. Several years ago I was asked to predict the next three new flavors of vodka. The three I selected were Apricot, Cantaloupe, and Banana Cream Pie. This was at the height of the popularity of Pinnacle Whipped Vodka. Since then Grey Goose introduced Le Melon, their Cavaillon melon flavored vodka. In February 2016 Belvedere launched Peach Nectar Vodka, a vodka infused with American Peaches and Polish Apricots. This was followed by Western Son Apricot and Seagrams Apricot Vodka. I’m still waiting on that Banana Cream Pie flavored vodka, and I’m a little surprised no one has released a Celery flavored vodka. Skyy Apricot starts with a vodka base made from Midwestern grown wheat that is quadruple distilled in Pekin Illinois. Upon arriving in San Jose California the vodka is blended with water filtered through reverse osmosis. The vodka is then triple filtered through California limestone. The vodka is infused with California grown apricot and other natural flavors before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Ciroc Summer Colada Vodka
Ciroc Summer Colada Vodka is a limited edition vodka available in very limited quantities at liquor stores and top hotspots nationwide. It joins a flavored vodka lineup that includes Amaretto, Apple, Coconut, Mango, Peach, Pineapple, and Red Berry. The vodka base for each of these flavors comes from a blend of Ugni Blanc and Mauzac Blanc grapes. The juice is made into a wine. The wine is distilled four times in stainless column stills by Master Distiller Jean-Sebastien Robicquet at his 500 year old family owned Maison Villevert Distillery. A fifth distillation follows in a traditional custom copper pot still at Distillerie de Chevanceaux in the South of France. Coconut, Pineapple, and other natural flavors are infused before bottling at 70 proof in an all white bottle. The Ciroc brand was first launched in 2003, but it wasn’t until Diageo partnered with Sean Combs in 2007 that the brand blew up. Combs is responsible for managing all Ciroc lifestyle branding and marketing initiatives. Read more
Review: Deep Eddy Orange Vodka
Deep Eddy Orange Vodka was just released. This is their sixth flavored vodka. The other flavors include Ruby Red Grapefruit, Lemon, Peach, Sweet Tea, and Cranberry. They all start with Deep Eddy Straight Vodka as the base. It is made from sweet corn and spring water from deep aquifers in Texas Hill Country. It is column distilled ten times in a 20 foot column still and slowly filtered six times over charcoal. Deep Eddy Orange is made with the freshest blend of oranges grown by farmers across America. Read more