so hot and so sweet

This is a review of Korona vodka from Azerbaijan. I sampled it in Azerbaijan in 2018. It’s clear, 40% alcohol, and it was pretty good.

You can probably imagine that my final night in Azerbaijan was fun. I mean, I didn’t drink a lot, or at least I wasn’t planning on it. And yet I had to try every one of the vodka bottles I had bought. This one, called Korona, was the third and final one.

which is which

The shop owner looked at me funny when I gathered all my bottles and walked out. I had asked him to recommend a few brands, and I had added that they didn’t have to be all top-shelf. I wanted something good, something mediocre, and something less good. Right after walking out of the shop I couldn’t remember which was which.

the gold crown shtick

This 500ml bottle of Korona cost me 7 Manat. So it was about 5,5€ for 700ml. A solid ten, just like all the others in Azerbaijan.

The design of the bottle, well, it was a bit like that of Russian Garant – another ugly brother of Imperial Collection Gold. I didn’t care for the Trumpian “gold-gold-gold-crown-crown-crown” shtick. Also, the bottle had a cork cap. This seemed to be rather popular in Azerbaijan.

sugar and chili

When I poured this, there was a faint smell of apple that I liked very much. Of course these vodka smells can be simple phantoms or olfactory associations that our brains make for us, but they can still be pretty awesome.

The taste was a surprise as well. Korona was very hot and very sweet at the same time. Yes, hot and sweet. As if someone had mixed sugar and chilli. I liked it.

Korona has some sort of caramel aroma

The aftertaste was great, too. It was hot, and it weighed heavily in the mouth and the throat, but there was something like a caramel aroma to it.

Overall, Korona vodka is one of the better vodkas that come in ugly bottles.