What we have here is much like a snow leopard. Powerful and beautiful, but there are certainly some spots. (Get it?) Before we begin or get into the spirit itself we’ll let them lead by example and before the fold ask you to give to the Snow Leopard Trust to save an endangered species: https://www.snowleopard.org/
It’s always nice to see those who create spirits to take their work and feed it back into the good of the world, and even more so when it’s great in a cocktail. However this isn’t the best Russian on this site, and sorry to say – that to goes to the actual Russian’s instead of this Polish/American collaboration.
What they Say: (We’ll let the image explain)
Taste: 3.0 – There’s a sharp medicinal like taste. At first blush it’s quite bad, but there’s something strange happening after.
Aftertaste: 7.5 – That gets very creamy and lingers for a long while. The original taste carries on though ruining it a bit. The creaminess though cannot be overstated, and it makes the future mixing of 1 drink something to look forward too.
Burn/Smooth: 6.0 – It does have a bit of burn, but much like the taste it’s fairly short, and the cream smoothes things out. You’ll feel a wave though long after like a lingering heat.
Aroma: 8.0 – It’s for the most part odourless, and what little is it isn’t horrifying either. There’s no added benefit, but as far as a clean vodka – not bad.
Honesty: 10.0 – This isn’t a dollar, or some cash-in for the troops like some have done. This is a man who cares about saving Snow Leopards and is using 15% of his profits to send to the Snow Leopard Trust. The design is solid, and the message is good. While there’s not much about the vodka other than ‘great tasting’ it doesn’t need to because that’s not their mission and we respect that.
Mixability: 7.25
Vodka Tonic: 5.5 – It’s an okay vodka tonic. It basically does its job and simply disappears.
White Russian: 9.0 – There’s a multi-layered creaminess going on here, and we fucken love it. Full stop this is some damn fine drink.
Value: 3.0 – Sadly the honesty and cocktails are just waiting for the other shoe to drop. While it’s nice to know that 15% of profits go to conservation, and with Russian Standard Platinum offering a cheaper white Russian – maybe you should conserve your money and donate directly.
Google Shop Average: $38
Website: https://us.snowleopardvodka.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 7.0
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Metric Score: 44.75/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.39 |+| Reviewer Average: 7.0
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Final Thoughts: It’s hard to agree with the idea of building a ‘mission’ compared to a legacy or empire, when you make a product, and put your face on it. The main issue here is this just needs to be a slight bit cheaper so that you could count it as the best vodka for your cocktails where it’s meant to either disappear or accentuate a Russian.
