Greetings Comrade! It has been over 6 years since we reviewed the Platinum version of Russian Standard. It was actually our second review on this site. We’ve come a long way since then, but in the backs of our minds we were still always annoyed at the vodka claiming to be filtered by silver, because chemistry doesn’t work that way you ninnies.
This is the actual standard and while this certainly is a much harsher product overall, if you are looking for a pretty decent mixer, and don’t want to spend the 10 extra hard earned dollars, you haven’t gone terribly wrong with this. Oh sure there are still the better options, but you have to admit this has the look.
What they Say: “In 1894 Dmitry Mendeleev, the greatest scientist in all Russian, received a decree from the Tsar to create the Imperial quality standard for vodka. The ‘Russian Standard’ was born. Today in St. Petersburg, our state-of-the-art distillery allows us to bring this vodka heritage into the 21st Century. Using winter wheat from the Russian Steppes and pure glacial water from Lake Ladoga, we have created the genuine taste of Russian vodka that is once again being celebrated throughout the world.”
Taste: 8.5 – So here’s some bonus points. At first that tastes like nothing. Like nothing at all.
Aftertaste: 4.0 – However it soon tastes like a mess of vodka and charcoal.
Burn/Smooth: 6.0 – There’s a bit of creamy to help it down, and at firs tit’s easy, but that charcoal makes this not smooth.
Aroma: 3.5 – Not going to lie, that smells like cheap vodka. We realize Russian Standard is an old flame of HBR, but the regular version is not endearing.
Honesty: 7.0 – In fairness the text isn’t terribly wanky. We also applaud the idea of creating a standard, of which this has some good points. (And doesn’t get into the nonsense of the platinum) The bottle and look also help this so we’re willing to give it decent marks here.
Mixability: 6.75
Vodka Tonic: 7.5 – That’s actually a really good vodka tonic, well done.
Screwdriver: 6.0 – Fairly standard, but still good screwdriver.
Value: 6.5 – So that is a full 10 dollars cheaper, and while it does as good a job mixing, and some of the same faults – it’s actually a good price point per value to compare to some of the others at this tier.
Google Shop Average: $17
Website: http://www.russianstandardvodka.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 6.0
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Metric Score: 42.25/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.04 |+| Reviewer Average: 6.0
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Final Thoughts: The review score was basically – yeah this is just a full point lesser than the platinum, and it seems happily the metrics agree almost exactly with that sentiment. The Russian Standard is a good standard, and as far as vodka’s go it proves that just going to Russia gets you that 1 point above the true standard of 5. That being said though, go get a better vodka.
