Samovar

Azerbaijan
Taste
8
Aftertaste
7
Design
7
Price
10
8

hot water kettle

[38,5%, sampled in Azerbaijan]

Here we go with the second instalment of my Sheki vodka experiment. This one was called Samovar (Самоварь), a name that made me happy because I love samovars, I really do.

nice bottles worry me sometimes

First things first, Samovar cost 5 Manat for a bottle of 500ml (or 4€ for 700ml). Prices in Azerbaijan were about as low as in Central Asia, which meant that I wasn’t even surprised anymore.

But when I examined the bottle, I suddenly felt worried. Both the name and the bottle design gave me hope: the ornaments on the glass, the pleasantly simple label design, the seal at the cap, the little piece of twine around the top.

It was a nice-looking bottle with an awesome name. I didn’t want it to suck.

again with the cork cap

The first thing I realized when I opened the bottle was that it, too, had a cork cap. So I went back and subtracted one point from the design score. The reason is that a cork cap on a vodka bottle only makes sense if you’re planning to drink it all in one go. And I don’t want to have to do that.

cold cookies

Samovar has a soft and subtle odour, which leads me to guess that the distillation process has probably been pretty clean and professional. Good.

The taste turned out to be very cold at first, but there was also something flowery and sweet to it. It burned a little on the way down, though not too much.

The aftertaste was odd. It carried over some of that coldness, but somehow there seemed to be a note of cookies in it. I tried this several times just to be sure. And yes, there was a faint taste of cookies.

Overall, Samovar vodka was good. It didn’t blow me away, but it didn’t disappoint me, either.