By
George Brozowski
In
a place far, far away and in a time long, long ago
I was introduced to Skyy Vodka. In this particular case the
place far, far away was a city called San Jose, California
and the time long, long ago was 1997 which by my reckoning
of time and location is ancient history and from a previous
lifetime, and no it did not involve a girl named Leia, her
name was Debbie.
Being
asked to taste drive Skyy Vodka is like asking
someone to re-evaluate a former lover or revisit a beloved
restaurant and try to critique it as though it was the first
time you had ever visited and tasted their entrees. Or maybe
it's like being asked to pretend you had never seen the child
you raised and you have to objectively evaluate that child.
I doubt these things can actually be accomplished but I'm
willing to give it a go.
I
have been drinking Skyy Vodka now for a long
time and consider it to be one of the top of a handful of
super premium vodkas available at a really reasonable price
point. When you can get a 1.75 liter bottle of Skyy in the
low $20's why pay $50 or $60 or more for essentially the same
thing? After all, Vodka is supposed to be, by definition,
an odorless, colorless, tasteless, pure distilled spirit and
that really is what most of the top tier Vodkas are. Sure,
I'll buy some of that expensive stuff every now and then for
the Holidays or someone's birthday but then I'm just being
shallow and trying to impress through brand recognition and
fancy packaging.
Don't
get me wrong, some spirits really are worth their weight in
gold, just not Vodka. The most expensive Vodka in the world,
the Russo-Baltique Vodka sells for $1.3 million Dollars per
bottle and comes in a 24K solid gold package accompanied by
a free SUV. In my opinion the spirits that are valuable and
worthy of higher price tags are the Scotches, Bourbons and
Cognacs to name just a few spirits. These are all aged and
blended and made with rare ingredients and worth every penny
of a price north of $100 or even $1,000 per bottle.
OK,
so now that I have warned you that I am coming into this tasting
prejudiced and opinionated, I will do my best to be as objective
as possible. Yeah right!!
Skyy
Vodka is made from American grain and produced through
their proprietary four-column distillation and then put through
a three step filtration process, all very hush, hush and of
course top secret. The nose is clean with no odor of alcohol
or even any odor of anything. I suppose if I let my imagination
run wild I might come up with a nuance of vanilla but I'd
be lying through my teeth.
There
is just no discernible nose, just as it should be. On the
palate there is a bit of warmth and a slight hint of pepper,
a very, very slight hint, but again everything lives up to
the traditional definition of Vodka. The finish is very smooth
and short leaving a clean mouth feel. I do believe it just
doesn't get much better than this, it just gets weirder, more
expensive, more flavorful and goes right off the tracks as
far as honest to goodness Vodka is concerned.
This
Vodka is an excellent every day Vodka as well as a wonderful
special occasion treat. If you're crazy or have a misplaced
sense of ego or a fat wallet you can certainly pay a lot more
for Vodka that's basically as good as this or you can just
buy Skyy and blow your savings on other vices.
For
more Rants & Raves click
here.
http://www.skyy.com/
