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 