my teacher’s verdict
This is a review of Ladoga Hlebnaya vodka from Russia. I sampled it in Germany in 2011. It’s clear, 40% alcohol, and, according to my teacher, it was too light.
I tried a promising vodka from Russia today: Ladoga Hlebnaya vodka – Ладога Хлебная. Actually my head is still a bit dizzy from it.
It had been a pretty good day: first I managed to get some books that I needed from the library, then I wrote more words in two hours than I had written during the whole day before that. After that I had dinner with some people from my Russian class.
again with the eggs
So I tried to find some information about this brand. First of all Ladoga is a large freshwater lake in Northwest Russia, close to Saint Petersburg, right on the border with Finland. Russian Standard vodka seems to use glacial water from there.
There’s a website called ladoga.com:
It seems to be an import/export company that owns Ladoga vodka as well as Imperial Collection (the one with the ridiculous FabergĂ© Egg edition), Imperial Collection Gold, and Czar’s Gold:
So apparently Prowood is only an importer after all.
how my teacher reviewed Ladoga Hlebnaya vodka:
Anyway, back to our review. At dinner, I asked my teacher about Ladoga Hlebnaya vodka, of which I had brought a bottle. Хлеб means “bread”, and on the bottle it said that it was an EXCEPTIONAL vodka. Sure, but weren’t all vodka brands claiming to be exceptional in one way or the other?
My teacher looked at the bottle, had a shot, thought for a while and then said something that I found interesting:
“On a scale from zero to ten, this one is a seven. Why? Well, it feels a bit too light. It goes down easily, and the taste is okay, but it doesn’t make you feel warm inside. In fact, it seems to get stuck halfway, as if it doesn’t get all the way down to the stomach. This is an okay vodka, but nothing great!”
I second that motion.
what I thought
I liked the taste of Ladoga Hlebnaya vodka. I thought it was smooth. The aftertaste was a bit bland. I guess we could borrow the word “light” from my teacher to describe it.
The bottle design was okay at best. The price of about 15€/700ml was pretty good.
one final question
Of course my teacher was right. He always is. One thing I didn’t find out, though: vodka can be made from many things – potatoes, wheat, rye, grapes, etc. – and this one was apparently made from bread.
But did that have any influence at all on the taste?