Words by Colin Hamdpen-White
There are many different vodkas and not all vodka is created equal. I judge on the World Vodka Awards and the best vodkas are the purest. The best vodka should have very little flavour, or none at all, but still retain some character. This is a neat trick, and the vodkas below manage to be pure, yet distinctive and interesting.
Black Cow
This was created in the west of England by Jason Barber, a farmer who uses only whole milk to make his vodka. The whey is used to make the vodka and the curds make his award-winning cheese. This vodka is very pure, and has a creamy, beautifully smooth mouthfeel.
ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Buy here: £24.75
Black Death
Tracing its history back to 1906, when it was created by the Sigurdsson family in Iceland, this vodka is now made in England from beets. It became world-known when, in 1992, it was banned for a while in the USA for “promising poison and plague but delivering only vodka”. It is very clean and crisp.
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 700ml
Buy here: £23.90
Aylesbury Duck
Although Aylesbury is in England, this vodka comes from California and uses Canadian soft winter wheat to give a crisp clean vodka with touches of citrus. When they reduce the vodka to bottling strength, they use water from a well in Mendocino county in northern California. Not sure what that does to help, but the vodka certainly tastes great!
ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Buy here: £29.85
Three Sixty
This vodka comes from Germany and is made by the twelfth generation of the Schwarze und Schlitichte family whose business started in 1664. The vodka is exceptionally pure with a creamy, smooth mouthfeel. This is achieved by distilling the spirit four times after which it is filtered in the most decadent manner by passing it though a diamond dust before being bottled. It seems diamonds are a vodka’s best friend.
ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Buy here: £25
Vestal
This vodka is made by an Englishman in Poland. He has very fine single potato variety vodka but he also creates this blend of varieties for under £25 and thankfully is a brilliant vodka. Made from Asterix and Russet Burbank potatoes this vodka has lots of character. It has been created with mixing in mind and makes a fabulous Martini. It is distilled and filtered only once to retain the flavour and character of the potatoes.
ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Buy here: £25.95