Review: Vinn Baijiu

Vinn Baijiu, made from 100 percent brown rice, has characteristics that make it feel like it’s somewhere between vodka and white whiskey.

Review: Vesica Vodka

The taste is rather clean, with a definite sweetness and mild warmth. It feels fairly smooth and silky, and is rather light bodied. Other flavor notes include walnut, earth, a touch of sour and pepper, and even traces of mint.

Review: Cinco vodka

The taste of Cinco Five Star Vodka is initially sweet, with vanilla, wheat, with a bit of a peppery bite. Somewhat chalky, with minerals and salts on the palate.

Liquid Vodka

Liquid Vodka tastes of grain, walnut, filberts. It’s bittersweet and likely rounded, with a moderately heavy body. There’s no real burn or warmth on the taste — that’s saved for the nose and finish.

Square One Botanical

Square One Botanical Organic Vodka is infused with enough botanicals that it smells and tastes similar to a flowery and citrus-laden gin.

Shakers American Rye Vodka

The taste is nutty, grainy, with some bitter/mineral taste I can’t quite pinpoint. This is so grainy it’s reminiscent of a white dog. It feels chewy on the palate, and a little yeasty.

Shakers American Wheat Vodka

The mouth feel is a bit heavy and viscous with almost an oily feeling. There’s only light alcohol on the taste, with some sweet, some bitter and some trace of mineral salt tastes. There are hints of malt, as well. This is full and a bit heavy, as vodkas go.

Tales of the Cocktail Small Batch Roundup

While big names like Diageo, Bacardi and Pernod seem to dominate Tales of the Cocktail, there are some small batch producers in the mix, too. Some nice stand-out spirits we tasted included the following.

Sensory Analysis With an Absolut Scientist

One of the most fascinating seminars we attended at Tales of the Cocktail was Per Harmansson’s Sensory Analysis seminar. Harmansson is a leading sensory analyst from Sweden and Director of Sensory Analysis for Absolut vodka. He led attendees through an examination of sensory experience as well as an in-depth vodka tasting.

Sobieski at Tales of the Cocktail

We went to enjoy the lunchtime circus in the room taken over by Sobieski and Imperial Brands. Definitely not craft distilling, given their huge presence in Europe, but when at Tales of the Cocktail…

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