Rusitsa Elite

Russia

Rusitsa vodka

cork caps suck, though

This is a review of Rusitsa Elite vodka from Russia. I sampled it in Germany in 2011. It’s clear, 40% alcohol, and I found it surprisingly mild.

I got Rusitsa Elite vodka (Русица Элитная) from the endless shelves of the Russian shop around the corner. They seem to be always stocking new vodka brands, so whenever I come by there’s something new to take home.

Of course I only go there in moderation.

real Russians

Having recently tried Russian-sounding brands like Gorbatschow or even completely generic stuff like Russkaya Ruletka (which only seemed to pretend to be from Russia), I was a bit wary. I felt as if I could trust my local Russian store, though.

So I took home this bottle of Rusitsa Elite vodka and got out a shot glass and some bread.

is Rusitsa Elite vodka dead?

I tried finding some information on Rusitsa Elite vodka online, but the only thing I could come up with was a commercial on YouTube:

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In case the video has been taken down in the meantime, let me give you a short synopsis.

A young woman wanders through a forest:

Rusitsa vodka commercial

She whispers things about taste and nature, and sometimes her face is wet:

Rusitsa vodka commercial

In the end she dumps a bunch of seeds on the ground:

Rusitsa vodka commercial

Tadaa! It’s Rusitsa vodka!

Rusitsa vodka commercial

ALL NATURAL.

There was a vodka review site that said Rusitsa Elite vodka was produced by a company called Amtel, but their website amtel-vodka.ru was down, and Amtel was nowhere to be found. So I don’t know. Maybe they went bust.

more than just pretty

Back to our review: Rusitsa Elite vodka is a very mild vodka that goes down easily. There’s a faint hint of something interesting in the aftertaste, I couldn’t quite describe it, though. The review site said it might be aniseed aroma.

The bottle has a nice and simple design. There was a label attached to it that showed a very attractive woman. I stared at her for a while. Was she the lady from the video? Then I realized that I really didn’t like the cork cap. It just doesn’t seem very practical for liquor.

So even though I would like to give the bottle design a high rating, I just can’t. The price was very good though, I got this for around 12€ for 700ml.

I don’t know if Rusitsa Elite vodka is still around, but if it is, I can recommend it!