Beluga Transatlantic Racing Special Edition Vodka

Honestly, I did not notice much difference between Beluga standard and transatlantic editions. Both are great.

Absolutely fantastic, favorite in a lineup. Lots of chocolate with smooth mouthfeel.

Rating: 15/23 N: Not much on the nose. It isn't sweet. If anything, it might be a tad briny and dry earthy. P: I think of Beluga as very approachable with a rich sweetness. That is not what this is. My first impression is fishiness with a bit of brine. This thing actually tastes like the sea! What a bizarre experience this is. It isn't as strong tasting as Kirkland's French vodka, but it is weird (or perhaps "funky", to be less offensive). There's some oiliness coming out of the fish, but it's also just a bit like stale cooking oil. This is still kind of a sweet vodka though. The flavor here very much suggests that the vodka is deliberately crafted to be odd, whereas others (including Kirkand French to some extent) just taste like the distiller didn't make very clean cuts. This burns less than regular Beluga and the more I taste the two side-by-side, the more the regular Beluga's similarity to this comes out. F: Oily. The fishiness is diminished but still present. I do get a bit of brine. There's faint sweetness, but not much. The burn does linger. - Conclusion - I feel like this is something I'm either going to come to love or really struggle to get off of my shelf. It's totally bizarre and extremely challenging. The existence of this feels like insanity. This is smoother, but substantially funkier than regular Beluga. It's a clean fishy ocean flavor. Bizarre. The profile isn't as clean as that of Kirkland's French vodka either, nor is it as sweet. This is funkier somehow, with more oil and bitterness. I really just don't know what to make of it. It is decently smooth though. Sort of like Absolut Elyx, I'm starting to appreciate the odd quality of this vodka, despite it being pretty situational. Between the two, I think that I would go with the Absolut Elyx because its sweet mustiness seems more generally applicable. This tastes more like it's trying to be an Islay version of vodka - not peaty, but actively challenging. I'm going to need to re-review this one at some point for sure.