Vodka has finally grown up – and these are the ones to try

Telegraph

26-02-2025

For those whose formative drinking experiences came between 1990 and 2010, one spirit will loom large in the memory: vodka.
Lacking the divisive juniper tang of gin or the complex profile of whisky, vodka was a drink without frills. Simple and flavourless, it was the perfect foundation for a generation of cocktails from cosmopolitans to espresso martinis, an unassuming companion to any mixer, or an easy shot for younger drinkers looking for a quick fix on a night out.
The downside was that vodka garnered a reputation for being a party drink: a vehicle to transfer alcohol from glass to bloodstream as quickly as possible, without any character of its own. Cheap 'paint stripper' vodkas proliferated in supermarkets, while the best that could be said of the more expensive drinks (Absolut, Grey Goose, Stoli et al) was that they didn't taste of anything.
So it feels vaguely antithetical to be sitting in a tasting room with a glass of neat vodka, analysing its 'biscuity' taste and 'creamy' mouthfeel. Yet that's exactly what you get from Eight Lands' cask-aged vodka, a rich flavour of dark fruits and caramel on the palate, which is more akin to whisky than a traditional vodka, albeit lighter and easier to sip.
When he founded Eight Lands at the newly created Glenrinnes Distillery in Speyside, Alex Christou knew that creating a quality vodka would be key to meeting the demands of an increasingly discerning drinker. ' Cocktail culture has become a bit like fine dining,' says Christou. 'People want to know what they're consuming, what's going into it, why they're enjoying it and why it tastes the way it does. Having a bit of character in a vodka helps it stand out and gives drinkers something to appreciate.'
The flavour profile of Eight Lands vodka comes from the distilling process. The initial distillation is of an organic beer wash made with malted barley, malted and unmalted wheat, and two types of yeast which are blended with a wheat-based spirit and spring water from the surrounding estate. 'That wash gives a slightly biscuity taste and a smoothness which you wouldn't get if you just started with the spirit – it'd taste more generic,' explains Christou.
It was partially by chance that Eight Lands' barrel-aged and cask-aged vodkas came about. 'One of our colleagues had a hunch that if we aged the vodka in a muscat barrel we'd get something good, and it really was,' says Christou. 'Given we're in Speyside, it only made sense to try the same process in a whisky cask.'
The aged vodkas have already proved popular with tourists who happen upon Eight Lands while on the Speyside whisky trail. 'A lot of people swear they'd never drink vodka, but they find our aged vodkas work for them,' says Christou. 'They understand what barrel ageing can do for whisky, so they can apply that knowledge to see how it would work for vodka.
'Equally, for those who don't like whisky – and there's usually at least one in the groups that come to visit us – it's a bit lighter and has a cleaner mouthfeel so it's a bit more approachable, but they still get to appreciate that craftsmanship and quality.'
Though Eight Lands' approach to vodka may have been unusual a decade ago, it's hardly the only distillery whose characterful vodkas are heralding a new and more interesting dawn for the traditionally underrated spirit.
Sales data show that consumers are gradually cottoning on to what vodka can be too. Last year, vodka sales dropped by around 3 per cent in Britain, but premium vodka increased its market share by 2.4 percentage points.
'There's so much variety in modern vodka compared to where the category was 20 years ago,' says Steve Dustow, the founder of Colwith Farm Distillery in Cornwall, whose plough-to-bottle potato vodka distillery became the first in the world to be awarded a platinum medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2022.
'Nowadays, in the good wine and spirit shops, there are many beautifully crafted vodkas with amazing character, provenance and uniqueness,' says Dustow. 'Wherever you are, there is vodka with true terroir and authenticity to be found.'
Dustow's Aval Dor Barrel Aged Vodka was the first in the UK to be cask-aged and has become a bestseller. 'Barrel ageing has been around for centuries and is commonly known to soften and improve spirit quality whilst simultaneously imbuing flavour,' he explains. 'When you pitch a pure spirit like vodka into a beautiful first-fill American oak Bourbon barrel, the liquid produced is truly novel and unique.'
The Lakes Distillery near Penrith is best known for its whiskies and gins, but the lessons applied to the production of other premium spirits have informed vodka making too.
'When it comes to vodka, this includes everything from sourcing the ingredients – high-grade British wheat and pure water from the River Derwent next to our distillery – to taking our time over the distillation,' says master distiller Sarah Burgess. 'Vodka is far quicker to craft than whisky but we make sure we allow the spirit as much distillation time as we believe it needs in order to reach peak quality.'
Across the drinks industry, analysts have noted a shift to 'less but better', with consumers not drinking so hard, but opting for better-quality liquids. Until recently, vodka had been shut out of the conversation. Now, a new dawn is rising for Britain's most maligned spirit.
Six of the best grown-up vodkas to try
We asked Dawn Davies, the buying director at Speciality Drinks, and Will Meredith, a bartender and drinks consultant at Daisy Age Drinks, for their expert picks.
Boatyard Vodka