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Banff Ice

Price

$29.99.1.14L

Bought at

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (Halifax)

Banff Ice is another example of a good Canadian Vodka. Indeed, so far, it's quite astounding, of the four Canadian Vodkas reviewed here, three, including this one, are very good. Which is as well for us, since the selection of imported vodka is not so good around here: I look forward to finding more excellent Vodka in some unlikely Canadian products. This vodka is not as exceptional as Polar Ice and Iceberg, but it is highly drinkable. It has a light but pleasant texture as well as a decent bite. The taste is perhaps the most interesting, as it is rather elusive, offering a nice compromise between the western style, tasteless Vodka and its more fragrant eastern counterpart: probably a choice to consider for people who might be interesting in drinking Vodka that actually tastes something, but don't want to be overwhelmed on their first try. In short, Banff Ice is a reliable, good-all-round, daily-drinking Vodka accessible to all. There certainly is better Vodka out there, but there are many, many that are worse. My only complaint is that, if you're sufficiently drunk, the sticker-labels on the bottle, which are already very smooth to begin with, can make prehension of the bottle rather difficult: don't drop it!

[/Vodka/Canada] permanent link

Ketel 1

Price

$26.49/750ML

Bought at

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (Halifax)

This is a Dutch Vodka boasting to be a premium (a much overuse word in the spirits world), craft vodka, and is presented to us in a quaint, lanky bottle that is not devoid of charm. It used to be much more expensive when I first encountered it in Montreal (about $40), which is why I had not tried it before, but its price recently seems to have dropped by $10 (ouch! that's 25 percent!), which brought it in the range of Vodkas worth trying. And it is worth trying indeed. Its smell is sweet, bordering on fragrant for a vodka, with the typical scent of grain found in better vodka, but also something hinting of greens, and even maybe, very very lightly, of spice. The texture is very good in the mouth, not the silkiest, but pretty damn smooth still; the bite is good, if not sharp; and the aftertaste is very nice, with grain and a very slight bitterness almost reminiscent of coal (possibly attributable to the filtering). On the whole, this is a solid Vodka with interesting characteristics of its own: it's still a bit pricey for Vodka, but worthwhile to have once in a while.

[/Vodka/Holland] permanent link