The Brand
Absolut is the second biggest selling brand of vodka in the world behind Smirnoff selling around 25 million cases per year.
It is no coincidence that Absolut is another brand that goes in for flavour variety in a big way. In fact it was Absolut that really kicked off with the gimmick, marketing led flavours before Smirnoff properly got involved (although they have certainly made up for lost time).
The Absolut brand is a long-serving one having initially been established in 1879 using a new distilling process of the time called rectification to produce an ‘absolutely’ clear, pure vodka. The vodka is made in the town of Ahus in Sweden and uses locally grown wheat and water in the process.
The Taste
Absolut is a middle of the road vodka that does have a fair few hard core followers that swear by it over, for example, Smirnoff. Some of the flavours I can definitely vouch for as being popular with drinkers and useful in cocktails, namely Absolut Raspberry (a winner with lemonade) and Absolut Vanilla (very versatile and useful addition to the Mixology table).
A Cosmopolitan cocktail adopts just that in attitude by mixing alcohol with alcohol and topping up with just a dash of juice. If you want to intoxify your guests then this is the one to serve up! Short and strong, small sips are recommended to avoid peaking too early in a room spinning, dizzy head, hazy eyes drunken disaster!
The perfect drink to soften the blow of autumn onset. This is a sweet twist on a classic drink with a mild poke of spice.
Warming heat of vodka plus silky smooth chocolate equals heavenly, boozy simplicity in a glass.
This is both a popular and potent classic cocktail with vodka being just one of 5 spirits that make up the toxic mix of alcohol.
A strawberry summer slush is the perfect concoction to chill you out in the heat of the sun whilst relaxing on a beach somewhere exotic! Or if you don't happen to be sunning yourself in a picture perfect, sun-drenched location then you can enjoy the drink whilst daydreaming about your next jaunt!
Lab Soho is a lively, friendly cocktail bar with an edge of sticky about the place like it needs a good clean. You could argue that this adds to the character and appeal depending on what you look for in a bar. The cocktail range is vast and they taste fairly decent too but be prepared to wait if it’s busy and potentially then be faced with a glass full of crushed ice.
The Brand
Absolut is the second biggest selling brand of vodka in the world behind Smirnoff selling around 25 million cases per year.
Vodka and Ice Tea and Iced Tea Vodka are two very different things. One is basically a cocktail while the other is a vodka infusion. Really the latter is just tea flavoured vodka that has been either artificially flavoured or infused using tea leaves. Brands of tea flavoured vodka are detailed below.
Blavod: 80% proof, neutral grain vodka.
The distinguishing feature of Blavod vodka is that it is black. It isn’t unique in its blackness as there are now a few copycats but it is definitely the most well-known brand of black vodka and claims to be the only ‘premium black vodka on the market’.