Here I am, the writing isn’t going as smooth as it should, and I have a huge batch of Russian homework to do.

But hey, life is more than that, right?

Contestant number one:

Высота Люкс (Visota Luxe). This Russian brand was pretty smooth. Not much else I can say about this. Good, not great.
7/10.

Then there was the goose:

I had been looking at this (French imported) bottle in the store window for a while. But it was just too expensive. So when I signed my second book deal (yes, we’re making a travelogue AND an illustrated book on top of that), I decided it was time.

Grey Goose. The problem with high hopes is that you will almost always face disappointment. Or am I the only one who used to imagine the Mona Lisa to be a bit, em… more exciting?

Anyway, the goose was good, very good in fact. It reminded me of Belvedere. But I didn’t feel like giving it a perfect rating because it was so expensive. My all-time favorite Russian Standard costs about one third of this stuff and tastes even a tiny bit better.
So there: 9,5/10.

Then there was another one that was kind of special:

Байкал (Baykal). This (Russian) stuff is awesome for two reasons:

1) The taste is pretty great. Okay, it’s probably not as smooth as the goose, but it’s definitely original and pleasing.
2) Their website is the shit! Google the name “байкал водка”, trust me! Not only does it have a cool design that resembles a deep, deep lake (well Baykal, duh!), but there is also a video of a dude who travels there in winter (by helicopter), chops a hole in the ice, strips down naked and dives in – only to be surrounded by several naked ladies underwater! And there are boobs. How awesome is that?
I gave this a 9/10, but it would have been an 8/10 without the video.

The next one probably has the most visually displeasing bottle design I have ever seen:

Русская Рулетка (Russkaya Ruletka). I mean, is this supposed to look like a gun or something? Anyway, this (Russian) vodka tasted okay, but it seemed a bit unrefined.
I’d give this a 5/10 and move on.

Now the next one had an awesome bottle design:

Wyborowa Exquisite. (My friend Max intelligently pointed out that he would have preferred the cap to be the same diameter as the bottle, but we still agreed that it looked pretty nice.)
And the taste of this Polish brand was great, too (especially after having some other kind of lower-grade vodka before)! Smooth it was. Charm the taste buds it did. Oh, and since I’ve been talking about websites – Wyborowa’s site features Polish rock tunes and a funny feature where you can hear people pronounce the brand name in different languages and in different moods. Awesome!
A clear 9/10.

Thanks for your attention, and now back to work!

Soundtrack: Eazy-E – “Boys N Tha Hood (G-Mix)”

Posted on Sunday, July 10th, 2011 10:35 ;Filed under Bavaria, vodka.

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