Спасская Даль – Spasskaya Dal’ vodka. This one is produced in the area of Vladivostok.
Spasskaya Dal’ vodka tells you to “cool before drinking” on the bottle
I didn’t cool this. I try to never cool my vodka, because I want it to retain its original taste. If you get a cheap brand and just want to get drunk in a gentle manner, then you can put the stuff in the freezer and have shots that taste a bit like thick ice-water. But I don’t enjoy doing that. This one, I had it at room temperature, with some nice Russian pickles and some bread and some clear water as a chaser. Like a boss.
The vodka was surprisingly smooth (7/10) and the aftertaste seemed alright (7/10). It seemed like solid good quality, nothing awesome though. The bottle had a lack of design that could have been either charming or just plain ugly. On that particular day, I thought it was neither (3/10). The pricing was good though, around 10€ for 700ml (9/10).
Of course vodka tastes “better” if you cool it down a bit. But that way, the different brands lose their individual character and become hardly distinguishable from each other.
Overall rating: 6.5
Russia