Stolichniy

Azerbaijan

maybe get a new name?

[40%, sampled in Azerbaijan]

This one is the fourth and final contender of the Sheki vodka experiment. It’s called Stolichniy, and if the name reminds you of the formidable Stolichnaya, then you’re probably already a bit worried that it might turn out to be a disappointment.

clumsy design

This one cost 5 Manat for 500ml, so again it was a 4€/700ml deal. It sure is affordable to get wasted in the Caucasian Mountains.

The bottle design looked old in a bad way. And I don’t mean old-old, but rather old in the sense that the designers had wanted it too seem old maybe a decade or two ago. It looked clumsy. Also, it was another bottle with a cork cap.

The whole thing had an air of something that you would drink in order to get drunk.

the softness

There was a strong smell when I opened the bottle, something like industrial alcohol that was rather off-putting. I hesitated to take a sip, but when I did, the taste was cold and soft, and the vodka went down easily. It was much better than I had been expecting.

The aftertaste on the other hand was weak and somewhat boring. There wasn’t any significant warming sensation, and just a faint aroma of metal.

Overall, Stolichniy vodka was better than the bottle design suggested and worse than the name promised.