Review: Strange Flavoured Vodkas

The last decade has seen an explosion in flavoured vodkas with beverage companies coming up with increasingly inventive flavours to try and tap into a more adventurous fan base. In the last few years, we have witnessed, what can only be described as, strange flavoured vodkas, hit the shelves and bars, so we asked out resident reviewer, The Cocktail Geek, to give us his verdict on some of the more popular concoctions available.

Sacred London Dry Vodka

From the distillery famous for producing acclaimed spirits literally from the back room of the distillers home, comes a unique vodka that is just one botanical away from being a gin. The missing botanical is of course juniper, and in a masterstroke of marketing Sacred own the IP rights to the term “London Dry Vodka”. You can see where they are coming from, since the rest of the botanicals are classically ginny; nutmeg, cubeb, angelica, cardamon, liquorice and frankincense, all macerated for at least six weeks before being distilled at low temperature under vacuum. The resulting spirit is delicate yet warming and complex. The similarities to gin are more than fleeting, but the absence of piney juniper means that this is clearly in a different category. Slightly sweet upfront, it is perhaps the finish that most suffers the loss of roundness that juniper offers gin..

Scorppio Vodka

Distilled five times from neutral grains spirit and with the addition of a captive-bred scorpion which has undergone a “special treatment” to render it venom-less. Of course there is a usual talk of such products being good for those in need of a little romance, but this vodka is surprisingly enjoyable and shouldn’t immediately be dismissed as a gimmick.Very smooth and quite sweet, with a peculiar smell reminiscent of wet rodent bedding must be what scorpions smell of. Little to go on on the finish but there is a distinct creamy and somewhat anise-led note to it. Slightly greasy an a touch floral too. This might not sound like a recipefor success but somehow it’s not awful.

Absolute Wild Tea and Elderflower Vodka

From one of the largest players in the vodka market comes just one of many line extensions. Apparently the ingredients are all natural, which means they’ve done an impressive job of making this vodka taste like an accident in a chemical factory. Concentrated elderflower, over brewed stewed tea, tannic bitterness and saccharin sweetness dominate, resulting in a spirit that tastes little better than bathroom cleaner. Frankly terrible.

Adnams North Cove Oak Aged Vodka

Using the same recipe as that for their Longshore Vodka (distilled from East Anglian malted barley, wheat and oats), Adnams then age this vodka in medium-toast Russian oak casks for 6 months. The result is  wonderfully buttery, with plenty of vanilla and a delicate spice. The grains shine through too, making this vodka taste very much more like a young whisky than the neutral spirit that some seek. For flavour fanatics though, this is a stellar stuff.

Oddka Spirit Drink

Oddka, from the people behind Wyborowa Vodka isn’t really a vodka a all. It’s not strong enough for starters, and probably has enough bad stuff in it to make it a questionable choice for a foodstuff anyway. There’s a whole range of weird flavours on offer but we could only bring ourselves to try two. Electricity was first up; this is stuff to make a Jagerbomb taste refined. Slightly raspberry hinted but horrendously chemical-laced it is approximately as pleasing as being hit by a real bolt of lightening. The salty caramel popcorn meanwhile tastes precisely as you’d expect it should, and whilst too watery to be truly enjoyed by even the sweetest-toothed, a splash on ice cream might not go amiss.

Electricity Salted Caramel Popcorn

V Gallery Vodka

Another range of spirits that fall closer to the liqueur category than vodka, but who cares when you’ve got flavours such as toffee fudge and marshmallow to choose from. The former is sweet, really sweet, but it’s also go the guilty pleasure thing going on for sure. The latter is just sweet, and that’s not worth shelling out for. Mango meanwhile ramps up the flavour scale, and whilst is cloying on its own, poses respectably mixing opportunities. The best of the lot though is the cucumber which captures a wonderfully rounded flavour of the whole vegetable. Drink over ice with a splash of soda and a sprig of mint and you’ve gotten yourself easy peasy summer quaffing.

Toffee Fudge Marshmallow Mango Crush Cucumber

The Cocktail Geek