Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
I’ve found it’s tough to have an opinion on good vodka.
Terrible vodka, sure. You can compare it to nail polish remover or whatever you used to clean out Nintendo cartridges back in the day. But good vodkas tend to blend together for a relative neophyte like me who rarely drinks it outside the context of a cocktail. You’ve got smooth … and then what?
Fortunately Beattie’s potato vodkas are here to expand my horizons, for better or worse. The Alliston, Ontario distillery offers a limited array of tuber-based spirits in simple flavors and simple packaging. Each bottle looks true to its farmhouse roots, and it’s one I’m eager to try despite my lack of familiarity.
I’ve had my share of Canadian alcohol in my life. Moosehead makes what might be my favorite large scale lager. Canadian whisky is a special blend of smooth and inexpensive that made it a go-to in college and reliable standby now.
But I’d never had Canadian vodka until now. Until I found out about Beattie’s, I don’t know if I’d ever really heard about it. A little research suggests there are a handful of established distillers up north, some quaint and some wearing the equivalent of denim-on-denim and screeching for attention by bottling their booze in a dang hockey stick.
Beattie’s presents itself as a leader in the field. How does it measure up to that standard? I’m gonna mix Beattie’s into a handful of cocktails and see how it turns out. And I’m gonna start with a craft mixer I’ve been meaning to try for a while now; Q Mixer’s ginger ale.
Transfusion with Beattie's farm-crafted potato vodka, Q Mixers ginger ale: A-
OK, so I poured this classic golf cocktail a little too stiffly — it’s about 40 percent vodka, 40 percent ginger ale and 20 percent grape juice. But if nothing else it should give me a good idea of how cleanly Beattie’s mixes with others and stands up on its own.
And, yep, that vodka flavor is front and center. While it’s strong, it doesn’t burn, instead imparting a clear, nearly floral, peppery citrus quality. It’s unmistakably vodka, but it’s also unmistakably *good* vodka. There’s nothing that would send you reeling or force you to gulp it down in one dreadful swallow.
I’m not one to sip vodka and barely a martini man, but I also have a wealth of experience dealing with cheap potato juices ranging from Kamchatka to Skyy to Luksusowa. This clearly pushes toward the far right of that spectrum, above the Smirnoffs of the world thanks to the smooth, gentle warmth that flows through it rather than stinging you right in the damn face.
Well, now that I’ve sipped down enough to make room for a proper cocktail mix, let me add more mixer to my drink. The Q ginger ale is spicy before retreating to a pale sweetness. It’s not quite Vernor’s level of old school ginger flavor, but it’s pretty dang close. This is a positive for me. There’s a lot of rich flavor hidden between the effervescent bubbles of its 7.5-ounce can. Hold tight, because I’m gonna be using it for a lot more cocktails in the near future.
Once mixed properly, this is dangerous; two shots worth of booze in a 12-ounce drink that doesn’t taste that way. So hey, the Beattie’s has proven itself idiot-proof if you’re bad at cup sizes and volumes whilst mixing.
Strawberry flavored vodka and tonic: A
Opening the bottle unleashes a torrent of sweet strawberry scents. It’s clear this isn’t gonna be a hint of summer berries or a fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt scenario. This might be flavorful enough to sip on its own over ice and think it’s a cocktail.
A quick nip from the bottle backs that up. This is a sweet martini on its own, and chilled it would be a relatively easy sipper. Let’s see how it blends with some tonic and a little lime.
Oh man, that’s just about perfect. fruity but not overly sweet. Just enough sourness and carbonation to finish dry. The strawberry flavor isn’t artificial gummy candies but the lingering taste of a fruit pulled from the top of a cardboard carton you picked out yourself.
The tonic remains a perfect vessel for a light, eminently poundable cocktail. Flavored vodka cocktails are a long way away from my favored whiskey-ice combination, but I’ll be damned if this doesn’t taste great.
Sweet potato vodka chilled shot: A-
I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure what to do with sweet potato vodka. I’m sure there are a handful of great cocktail recipes where it’d be a boon, but I feel like the best way to experience this unique spirit is straight up before I go dunking it in … cream soda? Man I dunno.
The sweet potato itself comes off a bit vanilla before the Thanksgiving pie motif becomes apparent. There’s a little burn from the 60 proof booze within, but this is almost creamy in each sip. It’s … a little disarming, to be honest.
That creaminess makes it intriguing. This would make a pretty damn interesting martini, and it stands as further proof Beattie’s goes above and beyond when it comes to authentic taste in their flavored vodkas.
Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's?
Oh sure. Especially in the summer. Beattie’s vodkas is gonna make some mean hot weather drinks.
