Blog

Larry Olmstead
Contributor, Forbes

Loyal readers will know that while I cover sprits regularly, I rarely drink or endorse vodka, which I consider the lowest common denominator in the spirits world. Since the basic idea behind making vodka is to erase all flavor – the opposite of just about everything else we eat or drink – it seems kind of pointless.
Most great spirits have history and strict rules of production – good rum is made from sugarcane, Scotch from malted barley, Bourbon from corn – whereas vodka can be made from virtually anything containing sugar or starch, from potatoes and wheat to beets, grass or soy beans, even maple syrup. Most vodkas are more science project than craft, the result being clear, tasteless, diluted alcohol.

But it does not have to be that way. While vodka can (and usually is) made from inferior ingredients in a highly processed commercial fashion to produce a pedestrian product, there are a handful of producers who take just as much care in every stop of the process as the distillers of other fine spirits, it’s just that they are a lot fewer and farther between. I just found one I am really impressed with, and not merely because it tastes really good. I like everything about Double Cross vodka, from its story to production to ingredients to the bottle. I like the passion, and as vodkas go, Double Cross hit it out of the ballpark. Read the full article here.