Veil Botanic Collection Grapefruit and Rose

Veil Vodka is a Total Wine vodka most well known for their questionable flavored outings. While they seem popular enough with the general public they tend to be intensely syrupy and artificial which is why I was taken by surprise that they would even attempt to mimic Ketel One's Botanical series. Curiosity piqued, I decided to try it side by side with the spirit it attempts to emulate and it became clear that Ketel One's offering is much better with more complexity, coy subtleties and overall craftsmanship. However I want to review this spirit on its own merits and so I will keep comparisons to its--shall we say inspiration?--to a minimum. On the nose you get an aggressive, virile grapefruit scent that is almost unrelenting. Think a mediocre grapefruit concentrate and you have 85% of the nose. To its credit there is also a trace of rose floral goodness but it feels disjointed and disentangled from the dominant citrus notes. Immediately upon drinking this I felt like I had consumed grapefruit juice at a diner than taken a sip of vodka. It's definitely not bad by itself but when pitted against it's father there is a distinct lack of character or nuance. You wanted grapefruit, you got grapefruit. Simple as. By far the worst aspect of this vodka is the midpalate which suffers from Veil Vodkas' ethanol burn. On the base product that burn is actually tolerable because it works well with the underlying minerality but here it seems like an imperfection they couldn't quite cover up and it stands in sharp contrast with the preceding fruit sweetness. Oddly enough the back palate and finish are quite great as you get a potent burst of rose petals that, while perhaps a bit heavy handed, do a lot to showcase the subtle complexity that rose can have. It's a shame just this flavor has this much character to it because we could have an actual, quality contender here if the quality of the finish marked the entire experience. I'd be hard pressed to drink this by itself just because of that bitter ethanol burn but it would make for a fine mixer and at its price point it's not half bad. Definitely Veil Vodkas' best flavored output so far and proof that the brand can actually put out decent products when it wants to.