Amyderya

Turkmenistan
Taste
8
Aftertaste
8
Design
6
Price
10
8

subtle chocolatiness

[40%, sampled in Turkmenistan]

Aaaaaand here is the last of the three Turkmen vodka brands that I got to try during my time there. In hindsight I wish I had tested more different brands, if only because Turkmenistan is so difficult to get into. Or because the vodka there is so cheap.

from Turkmenabat

Anyway, this one was called Amyderya, and it was from the city of Turkmenabat.

I had already tried the disappointing Arassa and the surprisingly pleasant Arassa Maritime before I opened this bottle. Both of them had hailed from the same company in Ashgabat, so I was excited to find out what this distiller from Turkmenabat was able to produce.

carved signatures

The first thing that struck me is how Amyderya was even more affordable than the other two brands. Named after the river that flows next to the city, it cost me 15 Manat for this 0,5 liter bottle, which translates to about 4€. So this meant about 6€ for 700ml.

The bottle could have been better, though. It vaguely reminded me of Green Mark, but in an unsatisfying way. There was some gold there, but at the same time there was also some yellow, there were red highlights and black ornaments. The only thing that I liked was the signature carved into the belly of the bottle.

Amyderya is balmy

One thing that surprised me about Amyderya was that it had a rather pleasant smell, something with a faint note of chocolate. The taste wasn’t quite there, but it was balmy and soft, and it went down easily.

The aftertaste undulated between being non-detectable and slightly burning, but it did so in a very pleasant way. And then, in the aroma, there it was again, that faint taste of chocolate. Not bad, really, not bad.

Seems to me as if Turkmenabat has beat Ashgabat in this round.