Vodka Tasting

Vodka

In the course of a few short years Saucyman went from masculinely drinking dark beer out of a bottle, to sipping cocktails without a precipitous drop in testosterone. Much of that ‘lifestyle’ change can be attributed to the discovery of vodka.

A personal discovery, vodka, or the ability to distill vodka has been utilized for about a millennia or so. Like many things old and common, it is hard to pinpoint its exact origins. Some texts credit the vodka-loving Russians with the invention of the distilled drink, the etymology of Vodka is a derivative of the Russian word for water, voda. Other sources are not so quite so sure, crediting, the area that is now known as Poland as the spirit's birthplace. Other sources bestow its invention (separately) to Vikings, returning crusaders, Lithuanians and monastic orders.

Whatever its muddled origins, thanks to the modern bureaucratic state, there is a conclusive legally binding definition of vodka. In the states, the much more fun sounding than it actually is Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, classifies vodka as a ‘Colorless, odorless, tasteless spirit'. Across the Atlantic, the EU adopted standards defining "Vodka is a spirit drink produced from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin.” This standard was set in the summer of ‘007 after a tug of war that pitted traditional producers against renegades who were labeling and selling pomace brandies as vodka.

The difference in standards can be attributed to a difference in how citizens view their agencies. Europeans look for the government to confer respectability on products while in the US, any regulatory input is viewed as stifling free trade and socialist malfeasance.

Although sugar beets, wood pulp and purportedly coal in the former communist Poland can be used to produce that ethanol bump, most vodka is made from wheat, rye or potatoes. After distillation vodka is filtered and bottled without aging. The combination of charcoal filtration and going into a bottle without being aged in a barrel produces a spirit that is low in fusel oils and congeners – these two substances, along with over-consumption are commonly believed to be the cause of many hangovers.

Because of the vodka’s rather neutral taste, the spirit lends itself well to cocktails and infusions. The golden age of cocktails in the 50s brought about a rapid growth in vodka sales – Smirnoff sales in the states went from 30,000 cases in 1946 to over a million cases annually by 1955. That is an increase of, well, a lot in a decade.

What the 1950s were to cocktails, the ought-oughts of the new millennia are to infusions: Vanilla, pepper, apple, ginger, lemon, cranberry, pomegranate flavored vodkas are available in even the most unfashionable downscale neighborhood liquor marts. Often using artificial flavors, these infusions are sold as at premium price and minimum taste.

St. George Spirits, where the Saucyman Bay Area Taste Sensation Weekend ™ ended, are the makers of Hangar One Vodka, and they produce a fine set of flavored alcohols. For a trip to a decommissioned Naval Air Station in Alameda and $10, a lover of food and drink can taste 12 craft distilled liquors. (For an additional $10, you can taste their new absinthe, for more info check out their website.)

The tasting included 5 vodkas, 4 of them infused. I had high hopes for the The Kaffir Lime Leaf infusion, but such is the problem with expectations, they’ll crush you. The vodka was fine, I was hoping for a nuanced flavor, but the taste was lime-like rather than the subtle exotic hint of lime you get from the leaf in Thai curries. While, the Buddah’s Hand Citron Vodka was a pleasant surprise – Lemon infused anything, often tastes like lemon pledge, St. George's avoid this trap by using the freakishly beautiful Buddah’s Hand Citrus, resulting in subtle lemon flavor without invoking memories of polishing furniture.

While drinking vodka neat/straight or as part of two extra dry vodka martini lunch is viewed with suspicion bordering on an intervention. Mixing a flavored vodka into a drink the subtle flavor is often lost – Hangar One’s Raspberry Vodka did enhance the berry like notes found in blood oranges in Saturday nights pre-dinner cocktail - So much so that we would be tempted to see if either Mandarin Blossom Vodka or Buddah’s Head could round out the citrus flavor of the always tasty greyhound.

More on vodka and potato vodka in future blogs: The trip to St. George’s is highly recommended. Despite not being a huge fan, the scotch was subtle instead peaty, the Eau de Vie's were excellent, a hard thing for a prideful Oregonian to admit. The Qi tea liqueurs were, well different – the black tea version was preferred over the white - fermented honey doesn’t belong outside the mead hall in Gilgamesh.