Sobieski Vodka

Sobieski vodka has varying quality over the years from great to poor.Neutral grain ethanol and mountain air with hint of mint now rises to the nose.The entry is sweet with vanilla and pepper.The finish has a burst of grain ethanol and vanilla.It is drinkable straight but not as a mixer because of the sweet vanilla flovors .The change of quality is now puts it down in the bottom shelf .

This is not an award winning vodka, but it IS a vodka that you can drink neat without wincing. Neutral flavors with little aftertaste or ethanol burn. An incredible mixer at a bargain price.

This was recommended to me by the cashier at the local state store. After giving me the history of this brand, I decided to give it a try based upon the price. It has been our go to ever since. If you can get over the fact that it comes in a plastic bottle and a half gallon is approximately $20, you have to give this vodka a try. Kettle One is my preferred, but candidly, this is finding itself more often than not in my liquor cabinet.

I'm not generally a vodka guy. It's not that I don't like vodka, but more along the lines of I don't (or didn't) find it interesting. That is until I recently made a Cajun Martini. My wife and I have likely consumed more vodka in the last 30 days (since first batching this cocktail) than we've drunk in the 12 months before that all together! There's no surprise that inspired me to take a closer look at vodka. First let's define a Cajun Martini. Here's the whole story - https://www.liquor.com/cajun-martini-cocktail-recipe-5218591 The short version to make a 750ml batched cocktail - put 450ml of vodka in a jar with a big, ripe, fresh jalapeno pepper that has been washed and cleanly split in half from stem to end with just one cut. Let the pepper infuse into the vodka for 6 to 8 hours or so. Strain the pepper out and bottle the infused vodka. Add 175ml of Martini & Rossi dry vermouth (this expression has a bit of an oregano note that some folks don't love in a Martini, but it works perfectly in this recipe, imho). Add 100 to 125 ml of distilled water to the batched drink and keep it in the freezer. Serve up in a chilled glass with a spicy pickle as the garnish. So far we've batched this drink with Smirnoff Blue, Sobieski and Luksusowa. To get a better idea of the nature of each vodka we also sampled them neat and neat/freezer-chilled. Here are our thoughts about the Sobieski. This is a Polish vodka made from rye. It was recommended to me by a vodka martini drinking friend who liked it more than Tito's. Trying those two side-by-side left me agreeing that, while the Tito's had a bit of lemony citrus, the Sobieski had better "roundness". On the nose this vodka had a very slightly citrusy note. While the Sobieski didn't have the forward ethanol note of Smirnoff Blue, it was hot. My wife called it "very sharp". As with the other vodkas evaluated, the icy cold freezer pour offered up no aroma beyond slight alcohol. On the tongue this vodka doubled down on being sharp with a bit of a bite. The citrus was in play, though it was behind the peppery aggressive nature of the vodka's rye ancestry. Mouthfeel was rich, but not quite to the level of the Luksusowa. The freezer chilled sample was very thick and rich with a silky finish that left a slightly bitter finish. Sobieski is the yin to Luksusowa's yang, but the differences are slight. My wife chose the Smirnoff as her favorite of the three with the Luksusowa in second place when tasted neat. I chose the opposite and had the Luksusowa as my first choice and the Smirnoff was my second place. We both agreed, however, that the Sobieski offered the best Cajun Martini. Now the problem here is that we have a pretty small statistical sample, having made precisely three batches with Sobieski and one each with Smirnoff and Luksusowa. The difference could well have been the differences in the pepper, which seriously swamps the differences in vodkas. But we both agreed that the Sobieski tended towards a sweeter, "greener" and more vegetal take on the batched cocktail, but we've enjoyed each batch with enthusiasm (and chips with salsa). I like and recommend Sobieski vodka. It's very mixable, good in a Vesper, excellent in a Cajun Martini and at least acceptable in every other vodka application I can think of. I'm not going to become a vodka fanatic and I doubt I'll ever have more than a handle or two hanging about for cocktails. That said, I have a renewed reason to at least pay a bit more attention to those bottles; we'll be drinking a lot more vodka as the sweet, vegetal freshness and slight capsaicin heat of the Cajun Martini keeps us entertained poolside for the foreseeable future.

I'm nearly out of this bottle so I figured I would review it before I finish it off. As I have said before, vodka is not a spirit I reach for often and I probably can't taste all the nuances of each but some I feel are better than others and this one, especially for the value is a pretty great deal. The nose is clean and I only get the faintest whiff of lemon peel. The first taste I do get a hint of rye and a touch of sweetness. It is very light, not oily with a bit of lemon peel coming through near the end. The finish is actually a bit longer than I expected for a vodka and there is very little heat. I would say, for a vodka, it's actually pretty good neat. I'm not going to say put down the scotch and grab this, but I've had a lot worse. The fact that you can get this for under $15 makes it a steal. If you like vodka cocktails or drinking vodka neat, I'm not sure there are many better options. Absolut is probably a bit more interesting and almost the same cost, but this is a close second. If you are up for spending a bit more, Ketel One is a good choice, but I would go for this over Grey Goose any day of the week.