Recently we here at the Den were contacted by someone representing Sobieski Vodka. They wanted us to take a look at their new (at least, to us) product. Despite the fact that we don’t use a lot of vodka except to make infusions and help protect my precious, precious simple syrup, I thought it’d be a good idea. I always keep a bottle of Charodei vodka around for drinks that require vodka. Plus I always have a few flavored vodkas, too, mostly for experimentation.

I have to admit that at first I was turned off by the marketing. It seemed like it tried too hard; the fact that it’s Polish is great and all, and that it’s named after a Polish prince. What really got me, however, was when I found out what the MSRP was – less than $11 a bottle.

Let’s get into it more – let’s look at the actual product.

I opened up the bottle and tried to take in as much of the nose of it as possible. Then I poured it into a glass, just by itself, and sniffed more of it.

The smell of it is rather subtle – it’s not like it’s not there at all, but there was nothing offensive or anything about it. There’s no harsh smells, but the hint of something. I want to say – well, what kept coming to me was that it smelled like butterscotch.

I can’t remember when I’ve actually had butterscotch any time in the previous few years, but hey, that’s what I kept thinking.

Okay – that’s what I thought about what I smelled in the glass and it was time to try it straight – no ice, just by itself.

Mmm, after dealing with finding tickets for the USC-UVA game, it was time to enjoy a bit out of one of my UVA lowball glasses.

The first drink showed a real lack of any identifiable taste – it is, after all, you know, vodka – and a strong alcohol burn at the end.

It had viscosity to it, and an unidentifiable taste that wasn’t bad – to me – but nothing I really wanted, well, cared about. I sipped it some more, comparing it to the Charodei I usually drink (which is three times the cost by default at VA ABC) and I felt like I liked this better.

I then tried it iced.

I gave it some time to sit, let the ice melt a bit, and then tried it again.

The nose goes away almost completely but the viscosity remained at least a bit. The background flavors came out a bit more and once more they reminded me of butterscotch. I don’t know why I kept fixating on that flavor but it kept jumping into my head.

So what’s the verdict? It’s vodka. Seriously. There are good vodkas and there are bad ones – and the better a vodka is, technically, the less you should taste it. I’ve heard a lot of people say they can’t stand Sobieski, and hey, that’s their choice. At the price point – which was, admittedly, free for me, but even at $10.xx a bottle – I have to figure that for as little as I use straight vodka, this is a good deal.

This upcoming weekend I plan on making a cosmo or two for my mom using it. She’s used to Grey Goose. A bartender convinced her to use Smirnoff, but she hasn’t been happy with it; I think it will be interesting to see what she thinks and I’ll blog the result. Depending on how the weekend goes, I might even get some other vodkas together and taste-test them against each other.

Like most things, it comes down to individual tastes. Here at the Den, we don’t hold our punches just because we know someone or got something but at the same time, our tastes aren’t yours. Heck, our tastes aren’t “ours” – Marshall has very little to say good about any vodka that I’ve ever heard of.

The way I figure it, given the price – it can’t hurt to try. Given that I go through MAYBE a bottle of vodka a year, honestly, I go for what I like.

And if I make some cocktails using it – one suggestion in the chat today was the Vesper, which is much more gin than anything else – I’ll also let you know.

Until then…well, I’ll probably kill off my Charodei in cocktails, and if someone else (this has happened before) asks for a draught of straight vodka to take to a beer festival (and yes, I was ashamed to accede to that request, though I did) I’ll pour them some Sobieski.

(Or Charodei if I don’t like them…well…if they’re asking for vodka at a brewer’s ball…)