Absolut Lime

I'm on the fence about this one but gravitating towards actually deeply enjoying it. Mainly, I can't decipher whether I like it's approach to be both sweet & bitter without any tartness and my brain cannot decide if it tastes somewhat artificial or it's just the smell that seems fake. Certainly the aroma would lead you to believe this is flavored nonsense. You get clear lemon zest, limeade, and it brings back memories of the smell of powdered limeade premixes my family would buy when we couldn't afford real, fresh squeezed limeade. I would even go so far as to say it smells like the Minute Maid Lime sorbet. Taste wise it strikes an interesting balance between sweetness and bitterness. When sweet it reminds me of a key lemon pie and careless afternoons with citrusy sorbets. The bitterness is close to what I would expect an extract from lime & lemon peels to taste like. It's the kind of bitterness you seek in a Vodka Tonic imbued with a bit of lime juice & zest. Towards the mid palate there is a taste almost reminiscent of a tart granny apple and the finish does include bitterness of the ethanol kind. Still, this is quite a refreshing vodka just begging to be mixed in a tonic or actual citrusy summer drink. This would go over well at a summer party being a versatile drink that can sub in a variety of cocktails while still providing a fun citrusy twist. Not bad!

Nose - lime zest, limeade, grass, apple skin, black pepper, vanilla, sour grain, dry floral notes, green lollipop, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - green lollipop, underripe apple, lime juice, sour grain, floral notes, black pepper, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium short with lime candy, sour grain, and grassy floral flavors. Lime flavors and aromas are present, but take a backseat to sour apple and a floral perfume note. I’m also getting a strong flashback to being in the dentist’s office as a child and picking out one of those cheap, green lollipops. Once you find that note, it’s hard to ignore. Overall this isn’t great, but I like it much better than the Mandarin expression. Still this is meant to be a mixer, but it’s absolutely not undrinkable. I’d rather have Jim Beam Original, but could see drinking this alongside standard Absolut and not having a strong preference between them.

Nose: Lime zest, lime juice, a hint of ethanol and a tinge of vanilla. Palate: Citrus with a sweet foundation – not sugary sweet, more like grain sweetness. There is no development or complexity, but it remains fresh and fixated on lime/citrus notes. The texture is creamy and smooth. Finish: Very short. A little lingering citrus zestiness and a mild buzz of ethanol, but certainly nothing metallic or unpleasant in the aftertaste. A sweetness, if anything. I’m not a vodka drinker so just about the only time I taste one is when I’m rating it. Neat unflavoured vodka leaves me completely cold and I was not sure what I would make of a flavoured version, but I was both surprised and impressed. Some people have said the lime flavour tastes artificial but I did not notice that - it smells and tastes like lime essence, but a good one. I bought this as part of a 4-sample tasting pack (along with Citron, Vanilla and Raspberry versions which I’ll be rating in due course). I doubt very much whether I’d ever buy a full bottle of any but I have to admit that over a couple of cubes of ice this is refreshing and perfectly palatable. The official notes are on target. It also works quite nicely with tonic as a gin alternative. It’s no doubt versatile in many mixed drinks and I can’t see anything to criticize. It is very much a one-note song – no, actually it’s more like a long, sustained perfect single note on a wind instrument. Disarming, simplistic, but surprisingly hard to get right. My experience with this style of thing is so limited I can’t make any comparisons, but my gut feeling is that if you have a need for flavoured vodka in your bar you could do a lot worse than this. Tasted from a 50ml retail sample. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Well balanced taste

Lovely