The Best Vodka To Buy For Christmas

Aval Dor Vodka

Cornwall’s first single estate distillery, Colwith Farm, created its first vodka in 2014 using Colwith Farms' potatoes. Aval Dor being Cornish for ‘potato’ the vodka was then aptly named Aval Dor Vodka. Produced in small batches, the vodka is distilled in a copper batch still and blended with mineral water from an aquifer deep beneath the farm. The use of these local ingredients gives Aval Dor Vodka a real sense of terroir which is something that has only recently been embraced in the world of vodka. An intense, floral and spicy vodka, with silky viscosity and a saline minerality on the finish it is definitely one to try.

But wait. If you’re in the mood for something a little more festive you can check out the Aval Dor Christmas Pudding vodka and the Aval Dor Spiced Christmas Edition gin too!

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Buy now: £40

CRYSTAL HEAD

Deemed by many as the worlds ‘purest’ vodka, Crystal Head sources it’s water from a natural aquifer hidden on a remote island named St John Newfoundland (basically the most Eastern point in North America). Peaches and cream corn are distilled four times before being filtered seven times and finally triple-filtered through a cone of Herkimer Diamonds. Sounds kind of classy, tastes kind of beautiful.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Buy now: £40 // $50

BELVEDERE HERITAGE 176

A brand we’ve known for a long time and for all of the right reasons, this Polish gem is the newest expression to grace our spirit shelves from Belvedere. Polska Rye and purified water are what go into the bottle; nothing more, nothing less. What’s most intriguing is how they’ve decided to revisit a malting process that is centuries-old to perfect the taste. Allow me to geek out for a second – this is essentially done by steeping the barley, drying it in a kiln so it then becomes malted and thus allowing it to be fermented as the starches are broken down into fermentable sugars. I told you I was going to go a little geeky… The end result? A fabulous malted rye spirit. Full-bodied with so much texture, there are pure notes of honey, almonds, walnuts and distinct baking spice.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Buy now: £36 // $35

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 now for £22

THE REID SINGLE MALT

In 2011 a talented craftswoman by the name of Desiree Whitaker thought to herself, ‘you know what? I want to own a distillery”. So, doing what any ambitious spirit-lover would do, she went about building. Fast-forward 9 years and she’s got a portfolio of stunning drinks, all of which call New Zealand their home and have travelled internationally to grace our glasses. The subject of today’s conversation, their Reid Single Malt vodka is produced from 100% malted barley, giving a pure, smooth flavour profile. You can expect to find hints if pear drops, biscuits, toffee and a huggingly sensational mouthfeel as the texture wraps itself around your tongue. Not gonna lie, I’m kind of in love with the bottle too. Simple, yet elegant.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 44%
Buy Now £54

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 now for £25.95

ABSOLUT ELYX

This bounty is distilled from a single estate in southern Sweden and produced from soft winter wheat that gives the unique and distinct profile on taste. Forget burn, this is smooth as smooth can be, with baked bread, dry spice and an incredible nuttiness showcasing macadamia nuts, walnuts and hazelnuts upon taking a sip. Vibrant, sophisticated and quite frankly, sexy. Drink neat or knock up a martini for a little tipple treat.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 42.3%
Buy Now: £35 // $35

Don’t forget to check out our rum and gin gift guides too!

7 Vodkas to Embrace Lockdown 2.0

Ah, Lockdown 2.0. It seems the inevitable is upon us. Alas, all we can do is try and keep our spirits high, drink less but better and crack on with it. One thing I’ve been delving into a lot more recently is vodka! It seems working from home has allowed my mixology skills to flare and having just judged around 200 of these wonders a few months ago, I’ve been inspired to jump back into my vodka discovery days.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of 7 extremely versatile vodkas that work perfectly for creating everything from Martinis and Bloody Mary’s to simply drinking them neat. How should you drink your vodka? However you bladdy want to!

Ramsbury Vodka

Tucked away in the fertile lands of Wiltshire, Rambsury vodka is produced from the estates very own Horatio wheat and chalk filtered water – both of which are taken from their own land. Horatio wheat is typically used to bake biscuits, giving it an incredibly smooth profile and complex character. Dried fruits, cocoa and caramel are found on the palate with a creamy texture on the mouthfeel. It’s all a bit oo-la-la if you ask me, in a good way. This in a Bloody Mary… woah! 

Size: 700ml
ABV: 43%
Buy for £35

Belvedere Heritage 176

A brand we’ve known for a long time and for all of the right reasons, this Polish gem is the newest expression to grace our spirit shelves from Belvedere. Polska Rye and purified water are what go into the bottle; nothing more, nothing less. What’s most intriguing is how they’ve decided to revisit a malting process that is centuries-old to perfect the taste. Allow me to geek out for a second – this is essentially done by steeping the barley, drying it in a kiln so it then becomes malted and thus allowing it to be fermented as the starches are broken down into fermentable sugars. I told you I was going to go a little geeky… The end result? A fabulous malted rye spirit. Full-bodied with so much texture, there are pure notes of honey, almonds, walnuts and distinct baking spice.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Buy Now £42

The Reid Single Malt

In 2011 a talented craftswoman by the name of Desiree Whitaker thought to herself, ‘you know what? I want to own a distillery”. So, doing what any ambitious spirit-lover would do, she went about building. Fast-forward 9 years and she’s got a portfolio of stunning drinks, all of which call New Zealand their home and have travelled internationally to grace our glasses. The subject of today’s conversation, their Reid Single Malt vodka is produced from 100% malted barley, giving a pure, smooth flavour profile. You can expect to find hints if pear drops, biscuits, toffee and a huggingly sensational mouthfeel as the texture wraps itself around your tongue. Not gonna lie, I’m kind of in love with the bottle too. Simple, yet elegant.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 44%
Buy Now £54

Absolut Elyx

 This bounty is distilled from a single estate in southern Sweden and produced from soft winter wheat that gives the unique and distinct profile on taste. Forget burn, this is smooth as smooth can be, with baked bread, dry spice and an incredible nuttiness showcasing macadamia nuts, walnuts and hazelnuts upon taking a sip. Vibrant, sophisticated and quite frankly, sexy. Drink neat or knock up a martini for a little tipple treat.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 42.3%
Buy Now £35

Crystal Head

Deemed by many as the worlds ‘purest’ vodka, Crystal Head sources it’s water from a natural aquifer hidden on a remote island named St John Newfoundland (basically the most Eastern point in North America). Peaches and cream corn are distilled four times before being filtered seven times and finally triple-filtered through a cone of Herkimer Diamonds. Sounds kind of classy, tastes kind of beautiful.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Buy Now £40

Grey Goose

Arguably one of the most famous vodkas in the world and for good reason. Grey Goose couldn’t be any ‘Frenchier’ (not quite sure if that’s a word but hey, we’re going with it).

Firstly, they use soft winter wheat grown on the doorstep of their distillery. This is then distilled in Picardy before being sent to Cognac for filtration. But wait, there’s more. The water they use to make this beauty is filtered through limestone from the Champagne region, you know, just if you had any final doubts of its authenticity.  

A chap called François Thibault is the cellar master, and given he’s been doing this for as long as he has, you can trust you’re in safe hands. De-mineralisation of the water, 5 column stills for distillation and a bunch of other purification and rectification methods are all part of the process. To top things off, the inside of every bottle is washed once with Grey Goose alongside every cork being macerated in the vodka too.

The result? Delicate floral aromas on the nose with a sweet, creamy toffee and brioche flavour. Throughout my journey, I have never been let down by this vodka. Long may that continue! 

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Buy Now £35

Chase Vodka

Here’s a vodka from England and it’s the only one to be produced from 100 per cent estate-grown potatoes. Celebrating their 10-year anniversary this year, they’ve perfected the vodka craft. Forget mashed, roasted or baked – this is the kind of potato creation you want to be sipping on. Creamy black pepper, macadamia nuts with a light earthy potato from start to finish, this vodka works perfectly with a little elderflower liqueur

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Buy Now £32

Enjoyed this? Check out our favourite vodka’s for under £30!

Super-Premium ‘Vodka’: Belvedere Heritage 176

Words by Helena Nicklin

The drinks industry is a fascinating place to be and we are constantly tasting drinks that delight and surprise. One such tasting happened with the launch of this wonderful spirit from Belvedere, the sophisticated vodka brand owned by luxury goods company LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey). Enter stage right, Belvedere Heritage 176. Why the inverted commas around vodka in the title? The Heritage 176 is only distilled to 92% pure alcohol rather than the 96% that legally defines the spirit as vodka, hence why you’ll see ‘spirit drink’ on the label. For all intents and purposes however, it is essentially a particularly tasty vodka.

Tasting Vodka’s Past

The vodka industry has seen a plethora of artificially flavoured, sickly sweet vodkas flooding the shelves over the past few years but happily, it looks as though those days are coming to an end and there is now a strong movement back to the authenticity of the liquid in the bottle. Alone however, vodka has always been a spirit that tends to split the judges. To some, it’s an uninteresting, inoffensive, neutral spirit. Others are fascinated by the subtle complexities that the various raw materials give it. I was always somewhere in the middle if I’m honest until I met some premium brands that made me think twice about how beautiful fine vodka can be in its simplicity. 

The Belvedere Heritage 176

Belvedere itself is a premium brand that deserves to be taken seriously. While vodka can be made with just about anything you can ferment, from potatoes to all kinds of cereals, Belvedere is made in Poland purely with local rye over their eight farms to add character and spice. It has a citrusy finesse and a vanilla creaminess that makes it fine enough to sip alone as well as add to cocktails. They’re leading the way for more characterful vodkas, with two other, single estate releases  (Smogóry Forest and Lake Bartężek) focussing on rye from different ‘terroirs’, taking their lead from the wine world. 

Their new baby, Belvedere Heritage 176, is made using Polska rye and purified water with nothing else added. More importantly however, it’s made the old fashioned way, by producing a malted rye spirit. In a nutshell, this involves controlling the germination of the barley by steeping it, then drying it in a kiln to become ‘malted’ barley, where it can then be fermented as the starches have been broken down into fermentable sugars. While malt whisky lovers will be very familiar with this process, sadly this traditional method has all but died out with the vodkas in Poland (and other spirits worldwide) as it's much quicker and cheaper to use additional enzymes (diastase and amylase) to do this job of breaking down the starch. The Belvedere Heritage 176 is bringing the process home with this traditional malting method, heating the barley to a whopping 176 degrees (hence the name) to dry it, which gives it additional, bolder, rich aromas and flavours of walnut, toffee fudge, cream and vanilla with a subtle, spicy kick and seductive viscosity.  So strong is the resulting rye spirit from the distillation, only 2% of it is needed in the blend (with the regular vodka) to give it this moreish character. 

How to drink Belvedere Heritage 176

Such is the character of this spirit, it is enough to have it alone over ice, maybe with a twist of lemon. It will however, make a fantastic addition to any cocktail, especially vodka martinis, but here’s a super simple recipe that blew us away with its subtle, sweet notes of fudge, citrus and macadamia nut cream:

Ingredients

50ml Belvedere Heritage 176
5ml Honey syrup (3 parts good honey stirred with 1 part boiling water)
4 Dashes Walnut Bitters (we love Fee Bros Black Walnut Bitters)
Lemon peel twist

Method
Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass and stir well for a solid minute. Pour into a tumbler with ice - preferably one large block rather than smaller shards - and garnish with the lemon twist. Utterly delightful.

ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Find here: £34.95

Enjoyed this? Make sure you check out One Drink, Three Ways: Belvedere Organic Infusions or The Best Value Vodkas For Martinis.