please be awesome

This is a review of Chinggis Gold vodka from Mongolia. I sampled it in Germany in 2015. It’s clear, 39% alcohol, it’s produced by UFC Group, and I found it fiery but good.

Well, this one was a first – Chinggis Gold vodka, a brand from Mongolia!

I had heard about Mongolian vodka before. I had heard that it was supposed to be the smoothest of them all. It was supposed to be a liquid dream of grasslands, so clear and so fresh that getting drunk felt like riding on horses under the open skies. But then, I had never been to Mongolia.

Luckily, a few of my friends had been there. And they had brought back this golden bottle.

sites that are down

I found a Wikipedia article about Chinggis vodka. It said that it made up about 1/3 of the Mongolian vodka market. There was a link to an official website, but it was down.

Then there was another Wikipedia article about UFC Group, the owner of Chinggis vodka. They apparently produced all kinds of food stuffs, and they were considered one of Mongolia’s national top brands. Their website, however, was also down.

I eventually found a UFC Group Facebook page and a Chinggis vodka Facebook group. The former looked like it was still active. but I couldn’t find any posts relating to vodka on it.

[online search from April 4th 2022]

So in the end I don’t really know what’s up with Chinggis Gold vodka. How is their business going? Are they even still operating? I don’t know.

some testing issues

My friends and I tested Chinggis Gold vodka. Intensively. There were two problems with this round of testing, though: firstly, we were having Chinese food at the same time. And it was spicy. This was a problem because it messed with our ability to distinguish between different tastes.

Secondly, we were apparently trying hard to get drunk. This was a problem because the more drunk you are, the more you tend to find whatever vodka brand you are currently drinking to be most exquisite.

Chinggis Gold vodka is a bit fiery

Luckily we came to our verdict about Chinggis Gold vodka during a rather early stage of the evening. I’m checking my notes right now, and there was a sense of disappointment with the initial taste. It just wasn’t as smooth as I had thought it would be. I mean, it was still smooth enough, but it didn’t live up to the Mongolian legend. It was too fiery for that. The aftertaste was nice though, very warming and aromatic.

The price is a bit hard to figure out for this one, because I wasn’t the one who paid for it. I looked it up online, and I found an offer of about 40€/700ml, which would place it in a rather low category. The bottle design was okay, I would have said it was just okayish but the Khan on the label looked so angry that I changed my mind.

All in all, Chinggis Gold vodka was very good. It was just too expensive – at least in Germany.