Bainbridge Distillers Tasting Notes

Bainbridge Legacy Organic Wheat Vodka 40%

Tasted: Oct 2014

Nose: Pungent. Opens with a light white wine vinegar note, some slightly herbal wheat and hints of creamy spirit. With time the aromas become a little whisky-like.

Palate: Intense but soft. Very darkly wheated with a touch of ‘off the still’ oiliness. Hints of earth and creamy vanilla come through.

Finish: Long and wheaty with an earthy after-taste.

Conclusion: Quite impressive with plenty of spirit character. 

Bainbridge Legacy Organic Vodka 40%

Soft White Wheat

Re-Tasted: Jan 2014

Nose: A pungent and oily nose displaying a distinct young barley spirit character. Quite deep with a touch of sweet rose petal.

Palate: Light, soft and lightly oily. Like the nose it displays plenty of barley ‘spirit’ notes along with a touch of herbal spice/ cardamom.

Finish: Good length with quite a tart, cleansing, citrus finish.

Conclusion: An excellent spirit which displays a good degree of ‘real/ unfiltered’ character. 

Bainbridge Organic Vanilla Vodka 40%

Tasted: Oct 2014

Nose: Toffee, caramel, a little menthol and vanilla…. And that’s it!

Palate: Oily and bitter with burnt caramel and herbal notes. Not particularly pleasant.

Finish: Lightly mentholated, soapy and bitter.

Conclusion: Grim!

Blaum Brothers Tasting Notes

Blaum Bros Vodka 40%

Wheat/ Rye

Tasted: Oct 2014

Nose: Pungent and oily with a touch of dark rye and creamy vanilla. Earthy and slightly herbal. With time a light smokiness appears.

Palate: Oily, youthful and lightly creamy with dark rye and a touch of white wine vinegar. Very spicy – intense dark rye spice along with a touch of liquorice.

Finish: Long and creamy with some not too bitter spice notes.

Conclusion. Pleasantly spicy but balanced by the creamy spirit character.

Blaum Bros Vodka 40%

Wheat/ Rye

Re-Tasted: Dec 2014

Nose: Youth, pungent and oil with plenty of ‘spirit character’. Quite elegant with a crisp, citrus intensity and a developing Turkish Delight-like note.

Palate: Soft, earthy and oily. Like the nose it displays plenty of character. It has a good sweet/ sour balance, even if it does have a light cheesy note, which gets wrapped up in the Turkish Delight notes.

Finish: Long and lightly spiced.

Conclusion: I like the fact it had plenty of spirit character – even with the light cheesiness! Although I’m not sure what varietal it was made from.

Blaum Bros Hellfyre Vodka with hot peppers added 40%

Jalapeno, habanero and black peppercorn

Tasted: Dec 2014

Nose: Green chilli’s and that was about it!

Palate: Green chilli pepper, spice and, er, more spice!

Finish: Long and would you believe……. Spicy!

Conclusion: A gimmick perhaps? It does make you sweat though!

New Amsterdam Spirits Company Tasting Notes

New Amsterdam 40%

Tasted: Nov/ Dec 2013

The nose is quite starchy and lightly oiled with a lovely, light cerealy spirit note. With time it becomes a little soapy with hints of apple.  

The palate is clean and crisper than the nose with plenty of milky vanilla and a touch of spice. Good length with light bitter/ sweet notes. A very interesting, natural nose with plenty of ‘spirit’ character. The palate is not quite as complex but the finish is lovely and spicy

Leopold Brothers Tasting Notes

Silver Tree Small Batch Vodka 40%

Tasted: Aug 2008

Is a family owned and operated small batch distillery located in Denver, Colorado that produces world class liqueurs, flavoured whiskies, rum, gin, absinthe and vodka. What is interesting about their vodka is that it is produced from a blend of potatoes, malted barley and summer wheat. 

Master distiller Todd Leopold personally handcrafts every spirit in a 40 gallon hand-hammered pot still that is apparently so small that you can literally wrap your arms around it. This artesian Vodka is distilled seven times, and only produced in small batches rather than by continuous distillation. Each batch fills approximately 300 bottles, and each bottle is numbered by hand according to the batch that produced it. 

It probably has the most interesting nose of all the vodka’s (that were tasted back in 2008!) – It has almost a whisky-like character with a barley/ cereal note along with a lovely softness/ oiliness and a late earthy note. The palate is very much like the nose with a lovely smoothness and a suggestion of creaminess. It is very long with a definite spicy finish.

High West Distillery Tasting Notes

High West Vodka 7000 40%

Distilled from oats

Batch 1K04 Bottle No 377

Tasted: Aug 2012

A lovely, soft, rounded and nutty nose with creamy vanilla notes, which mingle rather pleasantly with the mineral grain spirit and a late herbal freshness. The aromas are more akin to lightly oaked new make whisky or an oak aged Vodka, which isn’t a bad thing. 

Full on the palate with some slightly floral grain, but it’s wonderfully creamy with a touch of vanilla and nuts. Very long and still creamy with a slight, grainy bite to the finish. It’s interesting how the oats give it this impression of oak ageing due to the vanilla notes they impart.

Flag Hill Distillery Tasting Notes

General John Stark Vodka 40%

Tasted: Aug 2008

The interesting thing about this Vodka is that the raw materials are not grain, rice or potato, but apples. According to the distillery it takes three bushels of apples to make three gallons of cider to distil into one 75cl bottle of Vodka. So with approximately 100 apples to the bushel, they believe that there are 300 apples in each bottle. They distil their Vodka three times, then blend it with spring water and finally it is cold filtered through charcoal and bottled by hand. 

So why is it called General John Stark? Well it honours a New Hampshire legend. Apparently he was a famous American General that led the first New Hampshire Regiment in the American Civil War and saw action at Bunkers Hill and at the battles of Trenton and Princetown with General George Washington. He also led the New Hampshire forces at the battle of Bennington during the War of Independence. He is also known for his famous drinking toast of “Live free or die; death is not the worst of evils” 

So what does it taste like? The nose is quiet dense and soft with hints of citrus, vanilla and botanicals. There are no harsh edges to the aromas and it is balanced by a granity crispness. The palate is dense and has a pleasant sweetness along with a hint of citrus and that granity crispness. Lovely intensity with a slight oily finish.