quelle surprise!
This is a review of Ostoya vodka from Poland. I sampled it in Germany in 2015. It’s clear, 40% alcohol, owned by Pernod Ricard, and I thought it was awesome.
Here we have Ostoya vodka. There’s a label on the bottle that says THE ESSENCE OF POLISH NATURE and NOBLE WHEAT GRAIN. Big words. Incidentally, Poland is one of the countries that claims to have invented vodka – the other main contenders are Ukraine and Russia.
the Polish secret
The first thing I noticed was that Ostoya vodka didn’t seem to be very popular outside of Poland. Not many stores in the UK, in Germany, or in the US carried it, even though it had an official website that looked nice and catered to customers in Polish and English.
The website talks at length about the Bieszczady Mountains and about how the vodka is “inspired” by them. It doesn’t claim that the production has anything to do with those mountains, though.
I found out that Ostoya vodka is managed by Wyborowa, and that it’s owned by Pernod Ricard. Their product page says that Ostoya vodka has only been around since 2015, and that it is supposed to be the FIRST WHEAT VODKA FROM POLAND.
I also found a Facebook page (almost 25,000 followers) and a tiny YouTube channel (34 subscribers).
[online search from April 11th 2022]
It would be interesting to find out how Ostoya vodka has been performing on foreign markets since its birth in 2015.
the classy one
Anyway, back to our review. This bottle of Ostoya vodka was among the findings that I had brought home from Poland a few months earlier. I usually don’t drink much, so the bottle just sat there for a while, looking a bit more classy than its brethren.
Sometimes I would look at it in passing. And then I decided to give it a try.
Ostoya vodka is one of the best
I was surprised to find out that Ostoya vodka was one of the best vodka brands I had ever tried. I’m not kidding: this stuff tastes incredibly smooth. Really. I had it neat and at room temperature, and it went down like rain water. The aftertaste was aromatic, long-lasting, and a bit sweet.
I found myself thinking of flowers.
The price was good (13€/700ml), but it was slightly higher than your average Polish vodka. The bottle design fits into the top shelf pattern created by brands like Grey Goose, Belvedere, or Snow Queen. It basically says: “if the bottle looks like this, then it’s good stuff”.
I thought Ostoya vodka was prettier than Snow Queen and not quite as pretty as Belvedere.
Remember the name: Ostoya vodka. You have to try it!