Premium vodka tasting in Hong Kong separates the wheat from the chaff
Premium vodka is big business, but is there a discernable difference in quality or is it just marketing spin, asks Robin Lynam
Is it possible, without looking at the fancy bottles, to make any meaningful distinction between different premium vodkas, or even between those spirits and much cheaper house pouring brands? We thought we'd find out.
SCMP Food and Wine Editor Mischa Moselle convened a six-man panel comprising the two of us, spirits competition judge Ron Taylor, Altaya Wines private client sales manager James Rowell and two laymen, Post reporter Charley Lanyon and insurance industry executive Rohan Muralee.
We met at Mamoz in Causeway Bay and prepared to puzzle our palates tasting 10 vodkas blind.
Producers are allowed to add glycerol to add texture, so that’s probably what you can taste
Moselle had compiled a representative sampling of non-flavoured vodkas, including Absolut, Smirnoff No 1 Red Label and Stolichnaya Red Label - all typically priced at under HK$200 per bottle - and more expensive brands Grey Goose, Belvedere, Russian Standard Platinum, Royal Dragon Elite, and Ketel One.
Also included were small batch premium vodkas Smirnoff 55 Black Label and Ciroc, which is distilled from grapes and is technically an eau-de-vie, but is labeled and marketed as a vodka.
That's quite a spread in terms of cost. Several of the panel members said they kept Stolichnaya as their house pouring vodka at home.
Russian Standard Platinum and Ciroc cost almost four times as much as Stoli, but you can pay much more. Moselle said he had considered including Royal Dragon Imperial, which goes for HK$888 at City'super, but thought the flecks of gold leaf floating in it might be a bit of a giveaway.