Do you lot remember a few years back when that volcano erupted in Iceland? The name of that volcano was Eyjafjallajökull and it disrupted air travel all over Europe and Asia the likes of which had not been seen for such a small volcanic eruption.
When most of us heard that we thought: Woah, volcano! And what a hell of a name that is! Amazing!
The people at Reyka Vodka said: Who wants to go collect rocks from the volcano to distill our vodka with?
Where that is not 100% accurate as I cannot prove that they used those rocks BUT it would not surprise me if that exact sentiment went into crafting this vodka.
Hello, alcoholics! Welcome to another installment of booze reviews! I am your writer this week (William Henri Neve IV) and I, along with the Buffalo and Justice, decided to try some icelandic volcanic rock distilled vodka. Reyka Vodka is the name and on the outside this seemed like a manly endeavor. Everything about it makes you think of Vikings fighting volcanos…or maybe that is just me.
What they say: “Small batch vodka hand crafted in Iceland. Traditionally distilled & filtered through ancient arctic lava rocks.”
Coupled with symbols showing what they are using in a slightly cartoonish way, this vodka talks a big game and it makes you want to prove it right by drinking it and tasting a damn good vodka. It delivers.
For insight, this was done while Justice was preoccupied with a female and myself and John were drinking other things. This vodka in all of the excitement of doing a podcast and joking around and drinking heavily was able to still stand out and show its teeth. This vodka would be the one that you question her being “The One” as far as long-term relationships are concerned. This vodka would be the guy that makes you dames out there keep falling for him and you keep coming back and when he gives too much you get a headache but still come back for more. Not a perfect metaphor but I am not stopping damn it!
We enjoyed this, and you will too.
Taste: 7.67–Very nice and smooth for the first few seconds. Not the best but certainly above average.
Aftertaste: 6.17–It really has a significant drop-off in taste, it’s really not as good as other vodkas. Like it’s almost there’s something there in aftertaste that just shouldn’t be there
Burn/Smooth: 8–This is pretty damn smooth. One of the few vodkas you can stand to drink just on ice.
Aroma: 7.33–It smells kinda standard – but a little bit sweeter. Not a bad smell at all, but it’s still there as a vodka smell.
Honesty: 7–It’s just small batch vodka, and all they do is describe the rocks they use, and the steps of the vodka, Granted the labeling the bottling, and all the other aspects bring it to a nice score.
Mixability: 6.5
Vodka Tonic: 6.0– Liquid and tonic, You barely get a sense of the vodka in an even ratio – which is nice because it means you can add more vodka and get drunk faster.
Russian: 7.0– That’s a good Russian. Yup.
Value: 6.83 –Like the issue is that though it’s certainly a bit more price-y it’s still a nice value.
Google Shop Average: $22
Website: http://reyka.com/
Reviewer Scores:
William Henri Neve the IV: 7.0
Justice: 7.0
BuffaloJern: 7.0
Want to compare this spirit against our archives? Visit our statistics page.
Metric Score: 49.5/70 |+| Metric Average: 7.07 |+| Reviewer Average: 7.0
New to Honest Booze Reviews, or just wondering how we score? See our FAQ/Review Policy.
Final Thoughts:
Vodka so good you wouldn’t put it on tires (see Top Gear Volcano car Episode). When we made our ranking system for alcohols, this is the kind of thing we had in mind when we said the number 7. Solid.Strong. Makes you want more. That is what a 7 is in our rankings. Anything below a 7 we might not suggest to others but at a 7 or above we tend to hold high regard and buy again and again (and again).