Two basic food groups for some – candy and vodka – in one bottle.
Notes: This Vodka is produced in England and is distilled five times.
Appearance: Attractive thick body to it, clear, no sediment whatsoever. On swirling, it leaves a thin but tenacious clear coat on the inside of the glass, then suddenly turns into droplets.
First Impression: Caramel of course – like the kind like you find in a Starbucks Caramel Machiatto. On deeper inhalation, you pick up the alcohol cutting through the caramel with a grain alcohol smell.
Taste: Caramel, but more of the English butter scotch/toffee type than American- sweet and oily on the tongue, with a thick body. It coats the tongue with the caramel which the alcohol then cuts through the centerline of the tongue. A very slight warming of alcohol as it goes down the throat,and leaves a persistent caramel taste, like you just had a toffee.
Drinks: An interesting vodka, but as with any flavored vodka it limits what you can do with it to the realm of specialty drinks. We tried it in our morning coffee. No, doesn’t work for me. . .
Mixed reviews with our martini attempts. However, it works wonderfully with chocolate. Also works well with some of the coffee liquors out there, if a trifle thin.
Check their web site http://www.playersextreme.com for more ideas.
Cigars: In my opinion caramel and nicotine don’t mix terribly well.
Final Thoughts: An interesting experiment in flavoring, if you like caramel it is worth a try. But the grain spirit used tends to intrude on the caramel in hot drinks, stay with the cold ones. Also I think they should REALLY think about 50 ml samplers (or sets of them) so people can try their vodkas before committing money to a large bottle.
In general I am from the old school which draws a distinction between spirits that I drink, and the candy, gum, and soda that I consumed as a child, so maybe I am a bit harsh on some of these crossover attempts.
Bottle:Tall cylindrical frosted bottle like so many other vodkas these days- easily lost in the forest of vodkas at your local store.
Web site:: http://www.playersextreme.com
Fast loading fair amount of information. Simple navigation, good contentand descriptions of products. Recipe section with good martini mixing tips at the start.
