Pash-ion for Vodka #16 - Absolut San Francisco/Grapevine

In 2011, the Absolut City Flavours range moved from Brooklyn, on America’s East Coast, to “the City by the Bay” on the Pacific Coast, San Francisco. The flavours of choice in this version were grape, dragon fruit and papaya. The flavours were chosen to reflect Northern California’s Wine Country and the city’s Asian and Latin cultures. Towards the end of the year of its release, it was re-branded as Absolut Grapevine.

The Taste

1) Room temperature 
Nose: Fruity, with some bitter tannin-like notes and hints of berries and grapes. Taste: Quite smooth, but also quite sweet, the main flavour was a slightly artificial one of grapes; there was nothing fresh about it, which is a shame and results in the vodka tasting a bit cheap.

2) From the freezer
Ice-cold, this had a fresh, fruity, luscious nose, with lots of grape and papaya (a good start, there). Despite the promising nose, the taste was a bit of a let-down, with the white grape dominating and the papaya ending up being rather obscured. Like the spirit at room temperature, this was also quite artificial and a bit rough at the end; again, quite a disappointment.

3) Martini
Dry and bitter, with a dash of richer fruitiness, this was quite good and easily my favourite way to the drink this vodka; I’d definitely order it again.

4) Vodka Tonic
Not bad. Although a touch on the bitter side, with hints of tannins from the grapes, this also had a sweet fruitiness to it. Inoffensive.

Absolut San Francisco (same as Grapevine) is available for around £42 for 75cl from The Whisky Exchange.

Pash-ion for Vodka #15 - Absolut Boston/Wild Tea

I occasionally think about how nice it would be to be a fly on the wall when Absolut work out what flavours they are going to assign to a particular city special edition. Even better, how great would it be to have a say? Then I could right the wrong of Absolut London being regular Absolut in a fancy bottle. Personally, I’d have liked to have seen a juniper and tea vodka—blurring the line between vodka and gin!

Anyway, today’s featured Absolut vodka does contain tea: Absolut Boston (I’d like to think that this is a reference to the Boston Tea Party) is a mix of black tea and elderflower and was released in 2009. This was re-branded as Absolut Wild Tea in 2010.

The Taste

1) Room temperature
Taste: The taste is reflected by the nose and the vodka is both dry and sweet; very good.

2) From the freezer
The nose was very dry—so dry that it almost sucks you in—with notes of tea leaves and elderflower. The taste was very unusual: the tea really came through, but wasn’t too bitter; there were also some jammy, floral notes and a hint of smoke. Smooth and scrumptious.

Again, the tea really came through well, as does a touch of smoked cheese and dry tobacco. This was definitely a smoky Martini, although there was also a touch of sweetness from the elderflower. Overall, rather lovely.

4) Tonic
Very odd. This simply didn’t work; tannins and tonic are not good partners and so I would say that, with its strong tea notes, this is not the best way to drink this vodka.


Absolut Wild Tea is available for around £20 for 70cl from The Vodka Emporium

Pash-ion for Vodka #14 - Absolut Los Angeles/Berri Açaí

Last week, I wrote about the first vodka in the Absolut City range and its replacement, Absolut Mango. In 2008, a Los Angeles themed vodka was released (flavoured with  Acai, acerola, pomegranate, and blueberry flavour ) and in 2010, once its time as a limited edition was up, it was released as a permanent variety under the name Berri Açaí .

The Taste

1) Room temperature
Nose: Intense red and black berry notes.
Taste: Some floral elements like rose, as well as blueberry. There was a burst of flavour that quickly drops off, leaving a hollow void, which is a bit sad.


2) From the freezer
Quite a fresh blueberry nose to start, which reminded me of blueberry muffins. More blueberry appeared on the taste, accompanied by some sweetness, but, by the finish, this had become quite bitter. I don’t get much of the pomegranate coming through and, after a while, the vodka seemed artificial and a bit too rough.


3) Martini
Very crisp, with some bitterness to it. The blueberry comes through, along with some anise, making this OK, but not great.


4) Vodka Tonic
Lovely; easily the best drink of the lot. Juicy berry flavours dominate the start of the taste, before fading into vanilla on the finish. Fresh and fruity, this wasn’t a usual Vodka Tonic, but a lovely one all the same.

Absolut Los Angeles became Absolut Berri Açaí 

Absolut Berry Acai is available for around £20 for 70cl from TheDrinkShop.com

Pash-ion for Vodka #13 - Absolut Mango

In August 2007, Absolut Vodka released the first in their series of city-themed vodkas*, which was inspired by New Orleans and flavoured with mango and black pepper. I actually have a bottle of this, but have never found a significantly special occasion upon which to open it and the more time that went by, the harder it was to drink, for fear that I’d be consuming some valuable antique!

Perhaps a good compromise will be to try some Absolut Mango. This is a mango flavoured vodka (no black pepper) that was also released in 2007.

The Taste

1) Room temperature
Nose: Quite strong a strong nose of fresh, fruity mango.
Taste: Smooth and quite sweet, this had substantial notes of mango and vanilla, with some bitterness at the end. Overall, I thought it was quite reasonable, but there was some burn at the end that detracted from it slightly.

2) From the freezer
The mango flavour became much fresher at a low temperature, tasting more like mango juice or puree. As at room temperature, there was some sweetness, as well as a touch of bitterness towards the end. OK, but I think it could be improved if the flavour was more intense and longer-lasting.

3) Martini
This was a rather weird combination: the dry vermouth certainly wasn’t the best match for the juicy mango.

4) Tonic
This really makes a rich and juicy mango drink with crisp bitterness towards the end. Really good.

Absolut Mango is available for around £21 for 70cl from The DrinkShop