Kyrgyzstan
Is it a good sign when my notes are undecipherable?
More vodka from the lake. And this time, the brand is even named appropriately – it’s called Issyk Kul. Just like the lake itself. And there’s a little sailing boat on the label. I’m listening to Glenn Miller, and it’s a delight. Ever wondered..
Kyrgyzstan
Can someone tell me who designed this bottle?
More time spent on the lakeshore meant more time spent with the finer things in life. There was a period of a week or two when I got sick and started experimenting with „secret medicine“, one ingredient of which turned out to be vodka. Good times. This one was called Elixir, and it came in a bottle that was..
Kyrgyzstan
How much would a vodka of this quality cost in Europe or America?
Remember when I was staying on the shores of lake Issyk-kul, waiting for my Turkmen visa to go through? Well, I ended up spending several weeks there, during which I ate a lot of watermelons and even more lagman. And I tried a bit more of that Kyrgyz vodka. This one is called Kyrgyz Standard, and I will tell you right now it’s..
Kyrgyzstan
If the vodka itself is good, then why don’t you give it a better-looking bottle?
Kyrgyzstan. Sanatorium of Jeti Oguz. There was clean mountain air, and there was many a drink. This one was the last and final vodka brand that came after Kyrgyz Aragy, after Ular, and after Atanbaj. You could probably say that it was the straw that broke the..
Kyrgyzstan
Is taste or aftertaste more important when we are talking about vodka?
Атанбай – Atanbaj vodka. This one is – surprise, surprise – from Kyrgyzstan. And it was also part of the infamous drinking night of Jeti Oguz.
By the time we opened this bottle, we were four people, and our faces were red and our gestures uncertain. We were trying to balance the intake of vodka by drinking huge amounts of..
Kyrgyzstan
Is there anything special about this vodka or is it just regular booze in a nice bottle?
Ular. Another vodka from Kyrgyzstan. This was the second bottle that graced our table during the „night of many drinks“ in Jeti Oguz. Night had fallen outside, the horses were coming home from the pastures, and we had just finished dinner and a very good bottle of Kyrgyz Aragy. What were we going to do now? Go to our rooms and call it a night? Or..
Kyrgyzstan
Just how awesome is high-class vodka from Kyrgyzstan really?
This one was the first upper segment vodka that I ever tried in the beautiful country of Kyrgyzstan. Does that mean it was expensive though? No. I paid around 300som for 700ml (about 4€), making this another 10/10 in terms of affordability. But what about the other factors that..
Kyrgyzstan
Will the Kyrgyz alphabet save an otherwise mediocre vodka from oblivion?
Көк Бөру – Kök Böru vodka (or Kok Boru vodka, if you want). This one is from Kyrgyzstan (like the few others before it), and it even has specific Kyrgyz letters in its name: the „ө“ is usually transliterated as „ö“. Awesöme!
Kyrgyzstan
Is this vodka theme revolving around horses or around dances?
This one is called Кара Жорго – Kara Jorgo vodka. In the Kyrgyz language, kara means „black“, and jorgo means a certain „pacer“ horse, so that would make it a „black horse“ – what a fine name for..
Kyrgyzstan
How important is good aftertaste in a vodka?
This is Аю – Ayu Vodka, and it’s from Kyrgyzstan. Actually, there are three brands of this vodka, one comes in a green bottle (таежная – Taigan), one in a white bottle with a red label (юбилейная – Jubilee) and one in a white bottle with a..