Innovation

It is a great shame that in recent years vodka has often been hijacked by PR and marketing departments whose contribution has only been to encourage the production of products with less and less character in the name of purity. Brands have fought to lay claim to being the one to distill their vodka the greatest number of times, whilst the use of everything from white rose petals to crushed marble, to diamonds polished on the lips of virgins (OK, I made that last one up) to filter the distillate has often been nothing more than marketing guff. The result has been a spirit category increasingly given the cold shoulder by spirit and cocktail enthusiasts as they seek products to delight the senses. Of course not all vodka is like this, there are some great flavoured vodkas on the market and products such as those from Vestal are helping to reinvigorate interest in this spirit at the quality-seeking end of the market.

 

 

Many vodka producers would do well to take a look at what their friends over in the world of gin are doing; ironic really considering gin is effectively a flavoured vodka, but this category is really making a big deal out of innovation, and in most cases not just for the sake of it. Gin itself has been around for donkeys years but it is notable that renewed interest in this fine spirit has sparked (or perhaps been sparked by) producers seeking novel approaches to making their product stand out. Whereas much of the supposed innovation with vodka has been to create the purest (read blandest) spirit possible, the focus in the world of gin is for the most part a lot more wholesome.

The classic London Dry style of gin as personified by classics such as Tanqueray continue to stand the test of time and are often considered to be the benchmark from which others are compared. Such gins are however pretty big operations and as the foodie world has become interested in those most yucky of words boutique and artisan, it is perhaps understandable that spirits such as that produced by Sipsmith with their still called Prudence in a garage in Hammersmith have captured the hearts of many. Even smaller scale is Sacred gin which is quite literally a homemade product. Funnily enough, products such as these almost market themselves; their exceptional quality and the passion of the people behind them is so evident that there simply isn’t any need for marketing nonsense as is so often seen with vodka.

The innovation in gin extends further however, brands such as Gin Mare with their Mediterranean gin using olives, basil, thyme and rosemary manage to maintain the juniper essence that makes a gin whilst introducing novel flavours that push boundaries. The chaps at Master of Malt have taken the juniper thing one step further and have released a range of gins that contain only juniper from a single source. You can have a gin and tonic using juniper from Albania, or a Martini flavoured with Italian juniper, either way these products encourage consumers to think about what they are consuming and enjoy the different flavour profiles. With other brands gins under vacuum (Oxley) and several experimenting with the effects of barrel ageing, there is plenty going on in the world of gin to show that innovation can and should be the product of craftsmen and women, not the marketing department.

The Cocktail Geek