Review: North Shore Sol Chamomile Citrus Vodka
North Shore Sol Chamomile Citrus vodka was introduced 2011. It is one of three vodka’s crafted in Lake Bluff Illinois by the husband and wife team of Derek and Sonja Kassebaum. Their other vodka’s include their unflavored North Shore and a Tahitian Vanilla flavor. They also create 3 gins, an absinthe, and an aquavit along with several limited addition spirits. Their Sol Chamomile Citrus vodka starts with their North Shore vodka as a base. North Shore is made in small batches by hand in a custom made still from Southern Germany. They use Midwestern grown wheat and corn and minimally filtered Lake Michigan water. It is then infused and distilled with hand peeled oranges, lemons, limes, Roman and German chamomile blossoms, Ceylon cinnamon, and allspice. Read more 
Review: Stoli Blakberi Vodka
Stoli Blakberi vodka was introduced April 2008. This is my last post for 2014 and it seems like a good time to say goodbye to this vodka as I also say goodbye to 2014. While I’ve seen no formal announcement, Blakberi no longer appears on the Stoli website and I rarely see it on store shelves, so if you are interested I’d grab a bottle sooner rather than later. Blakberi is crafted with wheat and pure Artesian well water. It is triple distilled and filtered four times. Natural blackberry flavor is infused before bottling at 70 proof Read more
Review: Stoli Ohranj Vodka
Stoli Ohranj vodka was introduced in 2005. It is one of 17 vodka flavors currently crafted by Stoli in Latvia with wheat and pure Artesian well water. It is triple distilled with the heads and oily tails removed leaving only the heart of the vodka. It is filtered four times, first through quartz sand and finally through charcoal from Russian birch. Natural orange flavor is infused before it is bottled at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Absolut Raspberri Vodka
Absolut Raspberri vodka was introduced September 2004. It was the sixth vodka they launched. It is one of twenty flavored vodka’s Absolut currently crafts for the US market. They start with Swedish winter wheat sourced from 450 local farms and pure deep well water from naturally filtered aquifers in Ahus Sweden. A continuous distillation process is used before all natural ingredients including locally grown Swedish raspberries are infused. No sugar is added before bottling at 80 proof. Read more
Review: UV Cherry Vodka
UV Cherry vodka was introduced in 2008. It is one of 22 flavors currently available nationwide. It is crafted with vodka made with Midwest grown yellow corn and purified water from deep aquifers in Princeton Minnesota. It is distilled four times then filtered with activated carbon before natural flavors including Michigan grown Morello cherries are added. Morello cherries are sour and have dark skin. They are primarily used in making cherry pie and cherry preserves. Read more
Review: Effen Cucumber Vodka
Effen Cucumber vodka is one of five vodka flavors Effen creates in Holland starting with a 120 year old recipe. They start with Dutch grown wheat and pure spring water that has been further filtered through reverse osmosis. A low temperature continuous rectification process is used to avoid caramelization of the sugars . This eliminates the bitter after taste found in some vodka’s. The vodka is then filtered five times through active carbon in a bottom-up filtration process. Natural cucumber and vanilla flavor is added before bottling at 75 proof in their trademark rubber wrap around bottle. Effen was not the first cucumber flavored vodka nor the last. I last counted 9 different cucumber vodka’s on the market today. Read more
Review: Pinnacle Grape Vodka
Pinnacle Grape vodka was launched in 2006. It is one of over 40 flavors Pinnacle creates with vodka made with French grown wheat and pure French spring water. The vodka is distilled five times before it is shipped to Frankfort Kentucky where all natural flavors are added before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: 2Nite Sicilian Orange Vodka
2Nite Sicilian Orange vodka is one of five 2Nite vodka varieties currently crafted in Lombardy Italy. The other four include Alpine Mint, Caffe Espresso, Tuscan Peach, and an unflavored vodka. Each is made with GMO-free organically grown Tuscan semolina wheat and pure glacial water from the Italian Alps. The spirit is quadruple distilled and filtered four times through crushed Italian marble before natural Sicilian orange flavor is infused. Hand painted Italian glass bottles are then filled with the 80 proof vodka. Read more
Review: Finlandia Mango Vodka
Finlandia Mango vodka was the first mango flavored vodka when it was introduced in 2004. It is one of ten flavored vodka’s Finlandia currently creates in Kaskenkorva Finland. They start with pure glacial spring water and the finest six row barley. A continuous distillation process with more than 200 distillation steps that leaves no impurities to filter is used. All natural mango flavor is infused before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Svedka Grape Vodka
Svedka Grape vodka was introduced June 2011. When launched it was their sixth flavored vodka. While Svedka currently features twelve vodka varieties on their website, Grape is not one of them. I still see the occasional bottle of Grape Svedka at liquor stores and it is still sold on the web, but availability is limited and it will soon be gone. It is made with ice cold water from Swedish underground springs and four pounds of Swedish winter wheat are used for each 750ml bottle. They use a continuous distillation process and then run the vodka through high performance purification columns five separate times to remove impurities. Natural West Coast grown Concord grape flavor is added before bottling at 70 proof. Read more