Vladivar – baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more. (Not apologizing for that joke because it was awesome). We said that there would be more gin on this UK trip and trust me there will be a month of gin reviews. Before we dive into that though we needed to talk about this vodka. It was a random buy for a vodka sauce (no seriously) which explains why it looks like a cheap random old USSR country vodka.
But it’s not. It’s Scottish of all things. Now we are not opposed to other countries making our vodka that lack communism cred. That being said – it’s not like we knew this was Scottish when we bought it. As for the quality of what we got – well you know how the saying goes. “If it’s not Scottish it’s crap.”
What they Say: “Vladivar is a crisp & smooth vodka with a sophisticated flavour. Valdivar maintains a tradition of distilling excellence overseen by third generation master distiller and is made from 100% pure grain, triple distilled and charcoal filtered”
Taste: 8.0 – That is pleasantly refreshing, and that sense of creaminess from the smell carries over.
Aftertaste: 4.5 – The heat and vodka-ness is still there though. It’d have been nicer though if it simply carried that taste through.
Burn/Smooth: 5.5 – There is a twinge of burn, and for a long time there lingers a warmth that is unusual, but welcome.
Aroma: 7.0 – You get a good vodka creaminess there, with just an undertone that this is going to be vodka. This is how 90% of vodkas should smell.
Honesty: 6.5 – So it’s weird that a scottish vodka looks so much like it’s from the Eastern bloc. While that makes sense, and despite our policy of ‘the closer you get to Russia, statistically the better the vodka’ we are always pleasantly surprised when someone from another part of the world gets it fucken right. Like there’s a lot of good here, but it’s soured.
Mixability: 6.25
Vodka Tonic: 6.5 – That’s a pretty good vodka tonic.
Screwdriver: 6.0 – Your bog standard screwdriver, but still enough there to put it a bit over.
Value: 6.5 – So here’s the dilemma. While that is a damn good price for the contents, like really good. The availability of this is rather low (esp. back in the states)
Google Shop Average: $15
Website: http://www.vladivar.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 7.0
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Metric Score: 44.25/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.32 |+| Reviewer Average: 7.0
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Final Thoughts: I will admit that score is slightly inflated because for me having a decent rocks sipping vodka (it does work as such), and that it’s so damn cheap here in the empire means that compared to other options this has become a fan favorite.
