Are you overwhelmed by the plethora of gins on the shelf? Are you looking for something cleaner, subtler and, dare I say it, more sophisticated? Well, you’re not alone. According to Alice Lascelles, drinks journalist and author of The Martini: ‘A lot of bartenders I know admit their Martini of choice is actually a Vodka-tini these days – I think many feel very fatigued by the whole gin boom.’
Despite, or perhaps because it’s Britain’s best-selling spirit, vodka has something of a dubious reputation among drinks lovers, thought to be good only for adding alcohol to cocktails. But in recent years, a number of local brands have emerged, producing spirits that taste of their raw ingredients.
Many, such as Spirit of Birmingham and Vela from Copper Rivet Distillery in Kent, have a whisky heritage. ‘Our vodka has nearly as much flavour as our whisky,’ explains the latter’s Master Distiller Abhishek Banik. And no wonder – it’s made from the same mash bill (mix of base ingredients for initial fermentation) distilled to a higher strength.
Abhishek Banik, Copper Rivet Distillery
Other distillers simply use what’s around them. According to Chris Fraser, he started Dutch Barn Vodka in Yorkshire ‘after discovering an abandoned orchard where apples were going to waste’. Comedian Ricky Gervais became a co-owner in November 2023, Fraser says, ‘because he wanted to work with a sustainable spirits business that’s actually doing some good’.
Raw materials
All these new-wave distilleries put sustainability at the heart of their proposition. Also in Kent, Pleasant Land, for example, uses surplus apples, many of which aren’t supermarket grade.
That’s what’s great about vodka: you can make it from anything, even milk, as Black Cow in Dorset does – it makes an epic Espresso Martini. However, the best way to drink most of these terroir vodkas is neat or, as Lascelles suggests, in a Vodka-tini.
So are we likely to see a vodka explosion like we did with gin? Probably not, as making high-strength alcohol from scratch is expensive. Banik says the column still at Copper Rivet cost £250,000, though the brother and sister team at Spirit of Birmingham manage with a high-tech £60,000 iStill operated out of a garage. With all of the leftover apples available come autumn, I’m tempted to get one.
One to try
Spirit of Birmingham Vodka
Made from a mash bill of mostly traditionally floor-malted Maris Otter barley along with unmalted barley, malted oats, rye malt and chocolate malt, this has a distinct chocolate taste with cinnamon, ginger and dark cherry – it’s craft beer in vodka form. I’d just drink it on the rocks. Alcohol 43%
