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With the spirit market booming and seemingly a new product hitting shelves each day, it’s difficult to keep everything straight. Bundle that with the move toward craft this and small batch that, and it’s easy to overlook some of the industry’s heavy hitters. So as a refresher, we like to revisit the big names across all categories on occasion. And today that brings us to Absolut Vodka.
Absolut hails from the small community of Ähus, Sweden. It’s there that Absolut sources its two ingredients: winter wheat and spring water. And it’s there that the raw materials are crafted into one of the world’s best selling spirits. All that said, let’s give it another look.
On the nose, Absolut Vodka is clean, with mild grain aromas and just a hint of sweetness. Take a sip, and more of that sweetness comes through, like a soft, creamy vanilla. It’s smooth and silky on the palate, and after a few seconds on the tongue, we started getting some pepper and dried fruit notes–something pleasantly unexpected that we don’t recall from our previous experiences with Absolut. And moving on, it finishes clean and dry for an overall easy-drinking experience.
We’ve visited quite a few distilleries over the years, and the well-established companies always have one thing in common. Their goal is to continually reproduce a consistent product. Sure you’ll find lots of tinkering–limited releases, flavored expressions and the like–but the flagship products must be replicated on a mass scale. That isn’t easy.
In small, upstart distilleries, spirits often experience subtle differences from one batch to the next. That’s considered charming. But when spirits brands engage in large scale production, quality control is the name of the game, as consumers expect the same drinking experience each time they buy a bottle. There’s no margin for error.
When you’re using quality ingredients, sound techniques and generally producing things the right way, plenty of “craft” goes into the process, no matter how much you’re producing. You can see that in your better spirits brands, and you can see it here with Absolut.
