Karkov Vodka

This is still super lemony with some nice pepper. I actually do enjoy this, but its personality is definitely strong for a vodka and there's this lingering flavor of like lemon oil that really stands out. It's really hard to figure out how to rate this one. I strongly suspect it will work well in a martini, so I'll make one real quick. Yep! Solid choice for a vodka martini. Given that its destiny is probabaly as a mixer and so many mixed drinks that use vodka (and just mixed drinks in general) can benefit from (or at least not be harmed by) an extra squeeze of lemon, I'm bumping this up to a 13. For sipping neat though, your milage may vary. Regardless, it's no Chopin Wheat. That dry, vermouth character to this is really interesting. It does help to keep the alcohol presence down and the harshness doesn't overwhelm. There's just the right prickliness. I can even imagine giving this a higher rating.

It smells like nothing the palate is surprisingly sour and lively with some pepper to it that excuses the moderate harshness pretty well. There's a fruity citric quality like lemon and citron were mixed together, but in a subdued form - maybe they were candied first. This is an interesting profile. It's bitter and quite dry with minimal viscosity. I wouldn't say it's complex and it's toeing the line, nearly introducing industrial flavors, but it's just barely on the right side of that line. I wouldn't say I particularly like it, but it's a good choice for mixing into a fruity drink like a Cape Cod or possibly even with dry vermouth. It actually reminds me a bit of vermouth itself in this odd way. Yeah, it's fine. It definitely doesn't taste as pure as many other vodkas do, but it's interesting. I suspect there is a lot of rye in its mashbill.