Vodka Tasting (February 25th, 2022)
This was our 1st Vodka Tasting. I was looking for variety in terms of countries, and how they’re made, how they’re sourced. We had Russia, Canada, US, Japan, and Latvia represented. We also had many different sourcing’s from which to make vodka, we had maize, wheat, rye, milk sugars, rice and blue agave. The bottles in question were ;
| TT Label | Description | Country | Sourcing | Proof | Rating | Price (CAD$) |
| B | Nikka Coffey | Japan | Maize and Malt | 80 | 6.8 | $60.00 |
| D | Vodkow | Canada | Milk Sugars | 80 | 7.3 | $33.00 |
| G | Beluga Noble | Russia | Wheat Grain | 80 | 7.5 | $50.00 |
| C | Crystal Head Onyx | Canada | Blue Agave | 80 | 5.1 | $70.00 |
| E | Suntory Haku | Japan | Rice | 80 | 6.2 | $50.00 |
| F | Wheatley | USA | Wheat | 82 | 5.5 | $30.00 |
| A | Stolichnaya Elit | Latvia | Wheat and Rye | 80 | 5.4 | $60.00 |
| H | Vodkow Maple Cream | Canada | Vodka and Cream | 34 | 8.3 | $30.00 |
This was our most popular tasting to date, and the one with the most people on Zoom. We had 24 people voting! The closest we’ve had to that, was our Japanese Whisky tasting in March of last year, it had 21 racks, but not all voted, some only took racks. The vodka tasting had 24 people voting on Zoom.
In terms of participants, we had Dennis from Ireland who received his test tubes this time in time for the tasting, unlike the Canadian whisky tasting. He did have to wrestle the customs official for them though, and something about catching them out the window. We had a return of the ice hut in Madoc, Ontario. This time it was a very animated group, 6 in total, in the ice hut, it looked a little cozy in there with 6, and seemed to get more and more animated, as the vodka tasting progressed. We don’t have any fish stories from the ice hut this time. We had 9 new participants for this tasting, definitely a record of new participants! Welcome all!! I hope you had a good time, and will return!
This tasting enjoyed a bit of an “a cappella” performance. It seemed Dennis, and later Lele, were inspired to sing a song for us. I’m not sure Lele ever did finish her song though, after 2 attempts. We’ll have to get her to finish it next time. Dennis did show us he has a hidden talent for singing.
The night started off a bit later, given the number of people, but it went rather quickly. It seemed that within an hour we had done 5-6 of the 8 tubes. I wasn’t listening to Marcia enough. Marcia is our official time keeper, and pacer. By 9:30pm the entire tasting was done, and the Zoom was shut down, I think that’s a record for our shortest call. Not sure how that works, most people ever, and yet shortest call. Is it the vodka?
The ratings were interesting, the most expensive vodka got the lowest rating. This is not unusual in our tastings, and is counter intuitive, but seems to ring true with our group.
The Russian vodka did prevail, but the Canadian one made from milk sugars (Vodkow), was very close behind, in fact I’m sure it’s not a statistically significant difference, but it did officially come in 2nd by 5 points. This happens when some people give it a 1.
The Winners!
1st Place (7.5, $50)
2nd Place (7.3 $33)
3rd Place (6.8, $60)
The next tasting is Irish Whiskey on Thursday March 17th, St Patrick’s Day.
Let me know, if you’re in for it!
The Survey Results
| A (Elit) | B(Nikka) | C(Crystal) | D(Vodkow) | E(Haku) | F(Wheatley) | G(Beluga) | H(Cream) | |
| Neil | 7 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| Wayne | 4 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 10 |
| Mike K | 8 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| Emilie | 5 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| Marcia | 7 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Erin | 7 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 3 |
| Stephanie | 6 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 9 |
| Tim O | 6 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| Priya | 5 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 9 |
| Helen T | 2 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| Sophie | 2 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Dennis C | 5 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 9 |
| Nicole B | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 9 |
| Bradley | 7 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 |
| leelee | 2 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 8 |
| Matt | 6 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 2 |
| Ange | 6 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Mike MD | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 9 |
| Dane | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| Renee | 7 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| Chris B | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| John L | 4 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 9 |
| Adam | 7 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 8 |
| Kelly J | 2 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 10 |
| Total | 130 | 163 | 123 | 174 | 149 | 133 | 179 | 199 |
| Avg Rating | 5.4 | 6.8 | 5.1 | 7.3 | 6.2 | 5.5 | 7.5 | 8.3 |
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