wondering about trees
This is a review of Georgievskaya Birch vodka from Russia. I sampled it in Russia in 2010. It’s a clear infusion, 40% alcohol, and it turned out to taste much better than the bottle design suggested.
So this is my first vodka review, and it took place in Vladivostok in the Far East of Russia.
We are looking at Georgievskaya Birch vodka, which was infused with birch. This made me wonder: when people say birch, are they talking about the wood, the blossom, the pollen, the leaves, or the bark? I think this question is interesting because most of us probably have no clue what birch is supposed to taste like. At least I don’t.
So here I am, waiting for my first taste of birch ever. Will I be able to recognize a flavor that I don’t know?
mysterious marketing
I didn’t manage to find much information about Georgievskaya Birch vodka online. I did find a Twitter account, though, which went on a tweeting spree about the true nature of vodka in the summer of 2012 and then stopped:
Was I looking in the wrong places? A search using the Russian name Водка Георгиевская didn’t yield any convincing results either.
Georgievskaya Birch vodka is smooth
Anyway, the vodka was pretty smooth. It didn’t burn too much on the way down, so that’s a good thing. The aftertaste was interesting. It lingered on, and there was something special about it, but I wouldn’t know if it was really the flavor of birch or something else. Come to think of it, I think I’m allergic to the pollen from birch trees. This vodka didn’t cause any allergic reaction in me, though, so that was good.
The bottle design looks pretty rough – there’s an illustration of a birch blossom on it, but that’s it. The pricing was okay (around 14€ for 700ml).
why birch, though?
I think Georgievskaya Birch vodka could have been interesting in a mixed drink – I didn’t try that though. I never found out why this Russian distillery chose to add birch flavoring to their vodka, but it reminded me of what a friend who had done a trip along the Trans-Siberian Railway once told me: “You will see birch trees,” she said, “nothing but birch trees for hours and hours on end…”
The good thing is that now you can even drink them!
Overall, Georgievskaya Birch vodka tastes much better than the bottle suggests. Too bad I can’t seem to find any more information about it.