Akvinta Vodka - An Unusual Spiritual Direction
Review by Iain P W Robertson
When a new brand boasts on its label that it is filtered five times, naturally, using charcoal, marble, silver, gold and platinum, it opens your eyes. When that product is Vodka, from Akvinta’s headquarters in the Croatian city of Zagreb, thereby announcing that it is the world’s first Mediterranean pure spirit, you will either doubt its integrity (after all, is Vodka not the premise of the Russian courts?), or ponder whether or not, like Champagne, it is a novel usurper.
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Despite sharing its etymology with uisge-beatha, the product better known as Scotch Whisky, which has ‘lent’ its production core to Japan, China and other nations of the world, traditionally Vodka is a northern European alcoholic drink, which is what makes Akvinta’s extraordinary introduction so beguilingly attractive, not least to this reviewer.
Therefore, armed to the teeth with antipathy, having placed the first sample in the freezer to chill it to Siberian levels, I allowed it to pass across my palate. The result was outstanding. Of course it is spirity. This is almost pure ethyl alcohol. However, there are fascinating highlights of peach and a heady note that is not normally the preserve of vodka that is non-flavoured.
Notably missing from its character is any harshness or bite at the back of the throat. Instead, a charmingly smooth and unctuous impression is introduced. The spirit simply spreads across the palate, leaving a creamily flavoursome and thoroughly unexpected but very clean after-taste. That arises from the quintuple filtration process.
My second sample was poured across rough ice chunks and the result was broadly similar, although it left a slightly warmer glow. Of course, vodka is the perpetual great mixer and, whether creating a Harvey Wallbanger, a Screwdriver, Moscow Mule, either Black or White Russians or any one of the forty or so known cocktails, not to try the third sample as a component of a clinically mixed concoction would be terribly remiss.
Adding freshly squeezed orange juice (Screwdriver) creates a refreshing anytime cocktail, while the more sophisticated Black or White Russians were equally fascinating but perhaps should remain as nocturnal or ‘sundowner’ drinks. Regardless, Akvinta Vodka serves as a superior base that matches the traditional brands for alcoholic strength, while enhancing the proposition with a level of uplifting purity that warrants its recent Gold Medal in the Drinks Business Vodka Masters reckoning. If you love vodka, then Akvinta should be the new name on your lips.
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