Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Vodka’ Category

14
Dec

Review: Gallant Vodka

Gallant Vodka recently arrived at Total Wine and More.  With 193 stores in 23 states Total Wine and More is a significant force in the adult beverage market.  While they stock all of the most popular brands they also have dozens of brands most shoppers may not have heard or seen before.  Some of these brands come from small craft distillers and some come from large private label distilleries.  Gallant Vodka is produced and bottled on the banks of the Charente by A De Fussigny.  The distillery, A DE Fussigny, dates back to 1814.  While this distillery is best know for crafting Cognac, they also distill vodka.  One of these brands is Gallant, another is Summum Vodka.  Gallant Vodka is made from French winter wheat, and pure Gensac spring water sourced from the Cognac region of France.  After the spirit is distilled it is slow filtered for seven days to remove impurities. Read more »

29
Nov

Review: Pinnacle Pumpkin Spice Vodka

Pinnacle Pumpkin Spice Vodka is a seasonal Limited Edition vodka recently released by Beam Suntory.  In 2012 Pinnacle launched their first seasonal vodka flavor, Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie.  At one time Pinnacle offered 5 fall and winter seasonal vodka varieties.  To say Pinnacle has been a little slow producing new flavors is an understatement.  Since July 2015 when Pinnacle introduced Pinnacle Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka they have only created Pinnacle Strawberry and Pinnacle Pumpkin Spice.  The vodka base is made from French grown wheat and pure French spring water.  The spirit is distilled five times at Distillerie de la Tour in France.  The vodka is shipped to Frankfort Kentucky where natural and artificial flavors are infused before bottling at 70 proof.  Read more »

26
Nov

Review: Western Son Gulf Coast Lime Vodka

Western Son Gulf Coast Lime Vodka was released June 2018.  This is one of eight vodka varieties produced at the Western Son Distillery in Pilot Point Texas.  They also produce 2 gins, and a new line of canned cocktails.  Western Son Lime is made from yellow corn.  It is distilled ten times through a 20 foot column still and then quadruple filtered.  Water filtered through reverse osmosis is blended with the spirit to reduce to proof.  Natural lime essence and natural flavors are blended with the vodka base before bottling at 60 proof.  Read more »

11
Nov

Review: Haku Vodka

Haku Vodka was just launched in the US by Beam Suntory.  They also released Roku Gin, a gin made with 6 Japanese botanicals.  Haku translates to white in English, to represent white rice.  It is made from 100% Japanese white rice in Kagoshima Kyushu, a region historically famous for its rice spirit making.  The process begins with white rice fermented with Koji mold to create a mash.  Koji mold is also used to make sake.  The mash is distilled through pot stills.  The rice spirit is then distilled through two different processes in a pot still and column still.  The spirit is then blended and filtered through bamboo charcoal in Osaka Japan.  Bamboo charcoal has three times more porous cavities per gram than other wood charcoal.  The curved lines on the Haku bottle represent the streams glistening through Japanese nature, and represent Japan’s four seasons.     Read more »

6
Nov

Review: Party Animal Vodka

Party Animal Vodka was launched February 2018.  Kate Cullen the brand founder and CEO first came up with the concept of creating a vodka that stood for a cause while she was a college student at Chapman University in Orange California.  A portion of every bottle purchased will be donated to various wild and domestic animal foundations.  Party Animal is made from Idaho Russet Potatoes and pristine water originating in the Teton Mountains.  It is distilled and bottled by Distilled Resources in Rigby Idaho.  This wind and solar powered distillery also produces the previously reviewed Square One, Blue Ice, American Harvest, 44 North, and Zodiac vodka’s. Read more »

29
Oct

Review: Black Fig Vodka

Black Fig Vodka is one of two whole fruit flavor infused vodka’s produced by Black Infusions at the Bend Distillery in Tumalo Oregon.  The other flavor is Golden Apricot.  This distillery also produces Crater Lake Vodka.  Black Fig Vodka was awarded a Double Gold Medal and named the best flavored vodka at the 2017 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.  Black Fig is made from a vodka base of corn and is distilled 5 times in a copper column still.  The spirit is filtered five times through carbon and again through lava rocks.  Pure Cascade Mountain water is blended to reduce to proof.  Whole Northern California grown dried figs are then infused with the vodka base for 4-6 weeks.  A light filtering follows to retain the natural flavor and amber hue.  Black Fig is then hand bottled onsite. Read more »

25
Oct

Review: Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka

Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka is now made with NON-GMO corn.  The previous bottling only specified Midwest grown grain, but it was also made from corn.  Monsanto created the first commercially available corn with genetically engineered modifications in 1996.  Some estimate over 80% of the corn grown in the US today has been genetically modified.  If you have shopped for corn recently, you will see a premium charged for NON-GMO corn.  Smirnoff is not passing that added expense to it’s customers.  Smirnoff is the worlds best selling vodka, and the history dates back to the 1860’s when Piotr Smirnov opened his distillery in Moscow.  He was the first to use a charcoal filtration system.  Smirnoff No. 21 is distilled in the US, possibly Connecticut, and bottled in Plainfield Illinois.  The spirit is triple distilled and ten times filtered.  I’m interested in seeing not only how the new Smirnoff No. 21 tastes, but also how it compares with the previous version.  So as not to influence my review I will sample and review the new Smirnoff NO.21 before I sample an unopened bottle of the previous Smirnoff No, 21 Vodka.   Read more »

19
Oct

Review: Corbin Sweet Potato Vodka

Corbin Sweet Potato Vodka is crafted with 100% estate grown sweet potatoes by forth generation farmer David John Souza.  He named the vodka after his son Corbin.  Ten varieties of sweet potatoes are grown on the family farm.  David spent a decade experimented with each variety of sweet potato using several different distilling techniques in creating Corbin Sweet Potato Vodka.  He found some sweet potatoes tasted better and others produced more alcohol.  He found the perfect balance by blending three varieties of sweet potatoes.  It takes over ten pounds of sweet potatoes to produce one bottle of spirit.  Each potato is hand selected and cured for 12-16 months.  The potatoes are ground and cooked for 6 hours, and then fermented with yeast for five days.  The spirit is small batch distilled in a 2 column Alembic copper still and filtered slowly through a carbon blend.  The spring water used in production is recycled back to the farm for irrigation and the spent mash is used as fertilizer or cattle feed. Read more »

18
Oct

Review: Three Olives Eggnog Vodka

Three Olives Eggnog Vodka was just released.  This is the first Limited Edition vodka Three Olives has created, and the industries first eggnog flavored vodka.  Being first isn’t new to Three Olives as they produced the first Cherry, Grape, Chocolate, and Vanilla flavored vodka.  Eggnog joins Three Olives Original and 22 other flavor varieties.  Three-O Eggnog is created from a vodka base made from English winter wheat and demineralized water sourced from Lake Vyrnmy.  It is distilled four times and triple charcoal filtered.  The vodka base is then shipped to Lawrenceburg Indiana where flavors are infused before bottling at 60 proof.  Read more »

12
Oct

Review: Ciroc Black Raspberry Vodka

Ciroc Black Raspberry Vodka was just released by brand partners Diageo and Sean Diddy Combs.  This is the tenth flavor variant of Ciroc I have reviewed.  One of the flavors Ciroc Amaretto, no longer appears on the Ciroc website.  Like Summer Colada, Ciroc Black Raspberry is a Limited Edison flavor.  Black Raspberries are different from Blackberries.  Black Raspberries are more fruity and less tart than a blackberry.  They are also lower in sugar content, contain more fiber, and have three times the antioxidants found in blackberries.  The vodka base is made from 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 tailor made copper pot still at the historic Distillerie de Chevanceaux in the South of France.  Black Raspberry and other natural flavors are infused before bottling at 70 proof. Read more »