By
George Brozowski
I
was about to have a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moment
but at that time I didn't know it. I have to admit that when
the three bottles of Vodca Exclusiv arrived it made me immediately
turn to Google Earth to find out where in the heck Moldova
was. Turns out it's a landlocked state in Eastern Europe,
located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north,
east and south. I know more about Romania since that's where
my favorite anti-hero, Count Dracula, hails from and it seems
that most of my favorite B horror movies are also filmed there.
But hey if it's next to Romania it's got to be an interesting
place.
These
Moldovans must know something about hooch since the average
annual adult per capita consumption, in terms of pure alcohol,
in 2003-2005, was 18.2 litres, the highest in the world. These
are my kind of people. They must really know how to party
on a Saturday night.
Of
the three bottles, one was a good old fashioned Plain Jane
and the other two were infused with orange and raspberry.
Just like Spiderman, my Spidey sense came alive at the sight
of those two infused bottles. I have rarely, possibly even
only once in my life, tasted infused
vodka that was spectacular, all the others were,
to put it kindly, unpalatable. I crossed my fingers and forged
ahead but it was difficult to ignore my Spidey senses tingling
away.
The
unflavored vodka has a slight wheat note
in the nose as well it should since it is made of winter wheat.
It is a bit earthy and full bodied with barely a hint of ethanol
and very inviting. Wow, it's quite clean on the palate with
a slight bread back taste. It is creamy with a suggestion
of minerals. It has a generally smooth finish with a bit of
a spice note that is very short lived. This is a very good
premium tasting vodka that is actually better than some super
premiums out there. The final point that won me over was the
incredible price of $9.99 per 750 ml, and $18.99 for a liter.
You have got to be kidding me! They're practically giving
the stuff away. At less than 1/3 the cost of Grey Goose and
only the tiniest little difference in taste, if you're looking
to save money without lowering your standards then this is
definitely the way to go.
On
to the orange flavored Vodca Exclusiv. My
spidey senses were in overdrive. The nose at first is a bit
off-putting in that it seems too acidic, to bright and almost
chemical in nature. A second longer whiff brings out a bit
of something that could be called orange but more than likely
a distant cousin or maybe a Mandarin Orange of some sort but
certainly harvested well before it was mature. The hint of
orange I perceived in the nose seems to lose its way on my
tongue and is replaced by what I can only describe as pure
citric acid. The flavor of orange is muted and pushed deeply
into the cellar only to slowly struggle, stumbling back up
the stairs, but it continues to be dominated by the acid.
The finish is sharp and leaves me wondering if I had just
tasted a bad batch of Tang. As a footnote, a good batch of
Tang, in the latest newest formulation contains the artificial
sweeteners Sucralose, acesulfame potassium, and Neotame not
to mention citric acid, ho2cch2c(oh)(co2h)ch2co2h, calcium
phosphate, potassium citrate, orange juice solids, (whatever
in the hell those might be), ascorbic acid, alpha tocopherol
acetate, niacinamide, and your good old everyday butylated
hyrdoxyanisole. I'm not saying any of that crap is in this
vodka but if I were you I'd stick with the unflavored Vodca
Exclusiv.
On
to the Raspberry, my spidey senses seem to
have overloaded and blown a fuse and now are either not working
or telling me not to worry as much. The nose has no acid and
no ethanol up front and is fruity and creamy and actually
reminds me ever so gently of raspberries, go figure. I had
the rare privilege of going to a strawberry and raspberry
farm several years ago and hand picking a half dozen baskets
that I took home and made raspberry jam. Okay so I'm lying,
actually it wasn't me but my girlfriend of the moment who
knew how to perform this culinary miracle. However I didn't
just stand there and watch her work, I helped, I opened the
bottle of wine.
On
the palate there is again the suggestion of raspberries but
it seems to be dominated by notes that are way too bright
and acidic. Surprisingly it has a smooth finish almost reminiscent
of the unflavored vodka but leaves the tongue tingling far
too long. This one is much closer to good but still no cigar.
Again stick with the unflavored Vodca Exclusiv. I think that
if these Moldovan mad scientist/distillers, high up in the
Carpathian Mountains, experimented a bit more they just might
get it right. After all they have an excellent base vodka
to begin with.
For
more Rants & Raves click
here.
www.exclusiv-vodka.com