Flavored Vodka

Where it started

Flavoring vodka is centuries old. Poland's GI file says many types of flavored vodka were made in old Poland with spices, fruit or herbs, recorded in cookery books such as Stanisław Czarniecki's Compendium ferculorum of 1682.⁴ By the early 20th century flavored vodkas were so popular that the file counts several hundred types on the interwar Polish market.⁴ One survives as its own EU geographical indication: herbal vodka from the North Podlasie Lowland, aromatized with bison grass.⁵

Where and how it's made

In the U.S., plain vodka may contain only small amounts of sugar and citric acid; "Addition of any other flavoring or blending materials changes the classification to flavored vodka or to a distilled spirits specialty product."¹ Flavored vodka falls under the flavored spirits class: a base spirit that already meets its own standard, plus natural flavors, wine or sugar, bottled at not less than 30 percent alcohol (60 proof).² The label names the base spirit and the most predominant flavor or flavors, so a cherry vodka reads "Cherry Flavored Vodka."²

The EU sets a higher floor. Flavored vodka is "vodka which has been given a predominant flavour other than that of the raw materials," at no less than 37.5 percent.³ It may be sweetened, blended, flavored, matured or colored, with less than 100 grams of sweetening per liter.³ Its legal name may be the flavor plus the word vodka.³ Plain EU vodka, by contrast, may not be colored and may carry no predominant flavor.³

Polska Wódka covers flavored vodka too: 37.5 to 70 percent, natural flavorings and in certain cases colorings, and no more than 100 grams of sugar per liter of pure alcohol.⁴ The bison grass GI requires a macerate of bison grass from the North Podlasie Lowland, at least 37.5 percent, at most 4.5 grams of sugar per liter, and an odor of freshly dried hay.⁵ Its macerate is aged in oak casks for one month.⁵

How to taste it

Taste it neat at room temperature first to judge whether the flavor tastes like the fruit or like a sweet. Then use it long, with soda and a wedge of the matching fruit, so sugar and flavor are diluted. Pairings: a citrus vodka with oysters, a pepper vodka with a Bloody Mary and grilled shrimp, a bison grass vodka with apple juice.

Styles and what the label means

• Citrus and fruit — labeled "[Fruit] Flavored Vodka" in the U.S.²
• Herbal and botanical — bison grass, dill, pepper and other plants. vodka →
• Sweet and dessert — vanilla, chocolate, whipped cream; EU caps sugar below 100 grams per liter.³
• Infused at home — fruit or peel steeped in neutral vodka.
• Vodka bases — the base spirit still matters under the flavor. vodka-base-materials →