The Best Spicy Vodkas

This Ukrainian vodka is grain-based and flavored with honey, herbs, and red chilies. Bottled at 40% ABV.

Wheatley Vodka is distilled at the Buffalo Trace Distillery under supervision by master distiller, Harlen Wheatley and his team. Primarily a wheat-based vodka, there are other grains that are used in its production. Distilled in a "micro-still", the vodka is triple-filtered and bottled at 82 proof.

This Polish vodka is made from 100% rye. After column-distillation it is twice charcoal-filtered. Bottled at 40% ABV.

Established in 1938, Stolichnaya or Stoli as it is most often called, was first introduced to the US in 1972. This grain-based (wheat and rye) vodka is manufactured and bottled in Latvia using a rectified spirit tankered in from Russia. It is filtered through Russian birch charcoal and quartz sand. This is bottled and sold at an ABV of 37.5-40% depending on your location.

Central Standard is a craft distiller in Milwaukee. The vodka is distilled from Wisconsin rye in the model of Poland and Russia’s vodkas. Their stills low-reflux design is meant to enhance the grain’s natural flavors.

Available beginning April 2018, this flavored extension from Belvedere is made with ginger, lemon, and a touch of grapefruit. These ingredients are macerated into their 100% non-GMO Polish rye vodka. It is 100% natural with no sugar added.

Introduced in 2011 as the second extension in the Chopin portfolio. It is made from 100% golden rye grown in the Podlasie countryside in eastern Poland. Distilled in a copper column-still.

Blaum Bros is a craft distillery housed in Galena, Illinois. A true artisanal affair, the brothers use only local grains that are milled and fermented on location. Hellfyre is created by macerating jalapeños, habaneros, and black peppercorn in their very competent vodka. The vodka is made of wheat and rye and a return to a historic grain-focused style.

Based in California’s Sonoma County, Hanson is an organic vodka based on grape distillate. A fifty-plate still creates a very pure spirit that is then filtered seven times. The habanero infusion is made from organic produce. It is non-GMO and gluten free.

The multi-step process required for this vodka starts with filling a still with jalapeño, lime peel, and a non-GMO base spirit which passes through a chamber packed with fresh cilantro. The resulting spirit is then separated into parts and individually macerates with even more peppers: Serrano, habanero, red and yellow sweet bell before being carefully blended back together. Then this concoction is lightly-filtered and still maintains a slight green glow.