Koskenkorva

Finland

Koskenkorva vodka

boom, it’s vodka!

This is a review of Koskenkorva vodka from Finland. I sampled it in Germany in 2011. It’s clear, 40% alcohol, and it kicks ass.

Here’s something new for the repertoire: Koskenkorva vodka, a Finnish brand. And what an awesome one it turned out to be! But I’m confused about one thing: is this really vodka? I read somewhere that the Finns call it a brandy, and that they only market it as a vodka abroad.

village lore

The official Koskenkorva vodka website seems to be all about two things. One is sustainability. The other is a village.

Koskenkorva vodka website

The village is called Koskenkorva, and there’s a commercial about it on YouTube:

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The basic premise is that most vodka commercials featured “snow-topped mountains, fancy downtown, vivid nightlife, limousines, world-class rappers, and supermodels”. Koskenkorva vodka, being from a small village in Southwest Finland, had none of those things. It had barley fields:

Koskenkorva vodka commercial

And dudes with tractors:

Koskenkorva vodka commercial

It’s a nice commercial actually. Note how everyone uses the word “vodka”.

The page for Koskenkorva vodka doesn’t offer a lot of info:

Koskenkorva vodka page

Apparently they changed the bottle design. I liked the old one better.

more from the north

Before trying Koskenkorva vodka, I thought vodka brands from the north were basically all the same: solid in quality, good to use in drinks, nothing special.

So when I got this one, I didn’t think much of it. Another candidate for the standard vodka-orange mixer, I figured.

But I was wrong.

Koskenkorva vodka rocks

I don’t know why people in Finland refer to Koskenkorva as a brandy. It smells and tastes like a vodka. The brand is owned by Anora, and even on their company site they call it a vodka.

And Koskenkorva vodka is smooth, I mean soooooo smooth. Goes down like cool water. The aftertaste is balmy, reminding me a bit of Russian Standard. I liked the bottle design as well. It seemed to resemble the Kalashnikov design, and the price of 16€ for 700ml was okay, too.

All in all, Koskenkorva vodka is pretty fucking awesome, and I will finish this post with the only Finnish words I know:

“Se on menolippu kun verenpaine tippuu.”

Taste
10
Aftertaste
9
Design
9
Price
7
8.8

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