Blend 42

Czech Republic

42 Blended vodka

the blended one

This is a review of Blend 42 vodka from the Czech Republic. I sampled it in the Czech Republic in 2015. It’s a clear blend, 42% alcohol, produced by Palirna, and I found it fiery but good.

I got this bottle of Blend 42 vodka in a mall in Prague. It looked as though the bottle was trying to tell me something: “blend”. I knew the term from whiskey, but I had no idea what it was supposed to mean in the vodka context. Anyway, I had come to learn.

about the blend

Searching for Blend 42 vodka online was easy. There’s an official, rather fun-looking website. It says that the vodka is made from 3 different distillates: molasses, wine, and grain. That’s why it’s called Blend 42 vodka.

Moreover, it says that the bottle has a design feature at the bottom where a white element turns blue when the optimal temperature of -7 ° C has been reached. My bottle seemed to be an older model without this feature, though.

It seems as though Blend 42 vodka is produced by a distillery called Palirna (aka Green Tree Distillery), which claims to be the oldest distillery in Europe. They don’t list Blend 42 vodka in their brand portfolio, but they mention it in their company history.

Another thing I found was the company responsible for the design of the Blend 42 vodka bottle. It was interesting to read about how they tried to make it eye-catching while also efficient in cost and packing size.

Finally, there was a Blend 42 vodka Facebook page, but it seemed to have been dormant since 2019.

[online search on April 5th 2022]

Overall Blend 42 vodka seemed to be a pretty successful brand.

42 Blend vodka is alright

Okay, so blended it was. I got out the bottle and a glass. There was a Kafka statue near my hotel in Prague. I poured a shot. When it came to vodka, I liked it neat and at room temperature. I held the glass close to my nose, noting a rather strong alcoholic smell.

Blend 42 vodka turned out to taste surprisingly hot. It had a sort of toughness that seemed like it was there on purpose. It reminded me of Partisan in that way, maybe being a bit milder than that. The aftertaste was good, though. It was aromatic with a hint of butter, and it made for a nice warm feeling.

The price was – as usual in the Czech Republic – pretty great. I bought this for about 9€/700ml. The bottle design was okayish. Maybe the decision to give the design a makeover had been justified.

All in all I still don’t know if blending different distillates together makes any noticeable difference in a vodka. Blend 42 vodka was pretty good, though. I’d probably recommend using it for soft mixed drinks, though.