Notes: This vodka is made from a complex blend of grains- most vodkas are one grain wonders, that because they are from one grain only tend to be likewise one dimensional. U’Luka o the other hand uses a blend of rye (about 40%), wheat (probably about 40-50%) and barley (best guess 10-20%) which leads to a nice ,complex vodka that seems to combine many of thegood points of each grain. Distilled three times by Polmos in western Poland.

Appearance: Crystal clear, no sediment whatsoever. On swirling it leaves a thin clear oily coat (sign of nice body) on the inside of the glass with some legs slowly developing with small droplets clinging to the glass rather than receding altogether. Viscous look and feel.

First Impression: Exceedingly clean distillate smell, grain, citrus, and slight alkali tang.

Taste: Slightly oily on the tongue, medium body. Crisp, mild bite to it on the edges of your tongue. Nice mineral like feel to the body , but balanced. Off dry, slightly sweet and grain-like aftertaste, with a attractively oily body/mouth feel and quite a bit of a creamy citrus spice and mineral/stone notes to it. As far as i can figure the rye adds the spice (sweet/ sour, spicy notes), the whet adds sweetness and creamy notes and the barley adds some nice weight to the overall taste. A very harmonious blending of grains that play nicely with/off each other.

Drinks: The martini was excellent. In other drinks, it proved to be quite good. The spicy and mineral qualities making themselves known without overwhelming the drinks. Although personally I like U’Luvka striaght at room temperature to fully apprciate it. 

Bottle: The clear glass bottle was designed by the somewhat famous Aloof Design but frankly reminds me of a unfortunate amatuer glass blowing experiment the type of which can still be found in flea markets. It is however easy to spot.The odd neck and slippery finish to the glass does however make it a challenge to handle firt time around so be careful.Overall it looks like a flattened tear drop with a clear glass stopper with a natural cork (a nice design touch and very unusual these days).

Final Thoughts: A nicely done vodka overall. A pleasant surprise that runs counter to our wisdom about avoiding fancy bottles- a lot of time you are paying a large premium for a at best indifferent spirit that is depending on shelf appeal rather than content. If you want to buy an impressive looking gift that also tastes good this is one of the few vodkas to fit the bill. They also have very fancy ice buckets, holders and glasses for the vodka that echo the overall design theme. So if you are looking to give a gift of premium vodka this is a excellent choice and you can add the other accessories to make it a even more memorable gift. Only downside we can see is the price compared to some other premiums ( that cost less), but it is easily worth twice the price of Avian Fashion Victim Vodka so it is a steal compared to that.

Web site:  http://www.uluvkavodka.com

Cannot access webpage. Repeated warnings about malware when trying to access it . AVOID.