Kirkland French Vodka

Nose - soft grain, dry herbal notes, subtle vanilla, black pepper, mild ethanol burn. Taste - soft sweet grain, lemon and grapefruit zest, vanilla, powdered sugar, floral tea, black pepper, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium short with dry grain, sour citrus, and vanilla, and pepper flavors. I know people often say this is just rebranded Grey Goose. While there are some similarities, I don’t think they’re the same. I actually like this slightly more. The nose is neutral and unremarkable. There’s the soft grain from the wheat, a bit of herbs and spices, and just a hint of vanilla. On the palate, things get more interesting than with Grey Goose. The arrival brings nice citrus zest, more vanilla, and some tea vibes. Whereas the Grey Goose presented rather muddled, this fares better, although not quite at the level of Ketel One. Overall, this is solid vodka, but not exceptional. The big selling point here is the price, for those who are fortunate enough to live in an area where Costco sells liquor. It’s about on par with the rest of the pack, so Jim Beam Original reigns supreme, at least for today. Thanks to @ContemplativeFox for providing the sample and encouraging this vodka sipping madness.

Rating: 14/23 I recall initially being really impressed by this when I didn't have much to compare it to on hand. We'll see how it holds up SBS with some really good vodkas. N: Unlike many vodkas, this does actually have a nose. I get a dab of lightly toasted grain mixed with light pepper and lemon peel. That's about it thought. P: This is pretty good. I get a light floral note up from that suggests vanilla before moving into a mix of grain, herbal, and vegetal flavors that eventually mix in some pepper and then give way to to a cleaner water flavor with a slight hint of lemon. This is a pretty smooth palate. There is something a bit oily and bitter in here though that I'm not a fan of. It doesn't taste like rubber or chemicals though. F: The pepper and clean water remain. A very light herbal and vegetal element with the slightest hint of lemon sticks around as well. It's a good clean finish. I like this well enough, but I don't like it as much as some of the other things I have on hand like Chopin Wheat and Ocean. Now, none of these are expensive, but Kirkland costs half as much as the alternatives, so it definitely has that going for it. The funny thing though is that although I have a few bottles of vodka now, I'm not really familiar with cocktails that use them, so they tend to sit on my shelf for a very long time. I mean, I'm familiar with Cape Cods and vodka martinis, but I don't get their appeals. Since I can't figure out anything else to do with my vodka and it's cheap and I don't buy much of it, it's very important that it be good neat. I'd say that this is fine in that regard. It tastes OK and is quite smooth. It is, however, decidedly lower quality all around than Chopin and Ocean are. The smoothness is much better than that of Beluga Noble, but the flavor isn't as good, so that's mixed. At the end of the day, I'm fine with this, but I probably won't be getting another bottle. Between the two, I think I have a slight preference for Beluga Noble despite its harshness. That's a high 14, so I think this is. a 13 to 14. I'm going with a low 14, but a 14 nonetheless.

16: There's a hint of vanilla and maybe the slightest waft of malt on the nose. It's a really nice nose for a vodka. The vanilla has a fairly rich character with but a tremendous amount of sweetness. Yeah, there really is that malt there. The flavor is nice and clean with substantial spiciness. It's not super rich, but it does have some flavor. The spiciness is quite prickly. There's some nice vanilla rather than rubbing alcohol. There's a bit of a melon fruitiness. There's some mild earthiness too. The palate has really solid complexity for a vodka and still manages to avoid most of that rubbing alcohol flavor. Yeah, that natural earthiness really comes out. There's some graininess that has to be rye, but it also reminds me a bit of potato. It's really solid, even as a sipper. I'm currently thinking 16. There's a lot of white pepper spice and maybe a bit of black pepper too. This is actually a fairly mild vodka, but it's still fairly complex and tasty. Definitely not a 17, but it might be a 15.

Smooth, great when chilled.

Probably my favorite vodka. Clean, smooth no bite and no perfume. For the price it can’t be beat