It's always fun to gloss over the bottle shelf and admire the labels that come with all manners of design - some try to convey a sense of place, others strike a more comical tone - and then at the same time stare deeply into the liquid captured inside, sometimes clear, most times taking on varying shades of amber - sometimes there's a whole blade of leaf inside. Wait, what?

That was at least enough to catch my attention with the Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka - little did I know that Zubrowka's flavoured vodka, by which it means flavoured with that blade of grass you see inside the bottle, is actually the third best selling Vodka in the world. 

Bison Grass is called Holy Grass in some cultures, and is considered medicinal.

Has be that grass. I'm more than certain that folks, much as I was, were enchanted by the blade of grass so much so that they've been fuelling the sales of this Polish Vodka maker. Well, what is that blade of grass inside anyway? As it turns out, that's bison grass. Bison's don't actually consume that grass - no, that's reserved for humans looking to take shots of a Polish Vodka (or Wodka as they call it). The grass is so named as it tends to inhabit temperate forests that also feature the presence of herds of wild bison. Interestingly, as mentioned, bisons don't actually graze on it, but instead prefer to browse it, as do the wild pikas (really cute relatives of the rabbit). And that's because the Bison Grass, also known as Hierochloe odorata is said to have a sweet and fragrant aroma, that is even considered medicinal to the indigenous people of North America and Eurasia (they also call it Manna Grass or Holy Grass). It looks pretty much like a standard nondescript blade of grass, and yet when you run your hands through it you'll find an aromatic white powder is collected.

And so Zubrowka, which was originally created in 1928 by a distillery set up by the Polish government, has since become not only one of the largest producers of alcohol in Poland, but also one of the world's best selling Vodkas. Yet this recipe for Bison Grass Vodka has existed for much longer. It's said that the recipe for such a Vodka dates as far back as the 15th Century when Casimir the Great was still the Polish king - apparently alchemists of the time had cracked the code on Vodka distillation under his reign. Historians have found recipes for this Bison Grass flavoured Vodka in an the ancient texts of the Hortus Sanitatis of 1534.

And so back to this magical Bison Grass, what Zubrowka does is that once a year, in June, they have farmers harvest the grass at its richest flavours, after which the grass is dried, cut, and bounded into bunches to be sent to the distillery - for the grass to be ready, pickers must turn each blade of grass every five hours by hand for the six days. They harvest the grass only from the Bialowieza Forest, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that borders Poland and Ukraine, and is of course also the natural habitat of the wild Polish Bison.

Now to make the Vodka, Zubrowka tells us that the distillery uses Golden Winter Rye, locally sourced, which is then distilled 6 times through a six-column still. After distillation, it's cut using spring water from underneath the distillery's grounds (that's naturally demineralised), and then filtered using carbon. Where the Bison Grass comes in, is that the rye Vodka is then filtered through a screen layered with blades of the Bison Grass, which is where the Vodka picks up its aromas - this is done over several days. The resulting Vodka is then matured for 2 additional months before being blended with pure rye Vodka, and then it's ready to be bottled - with a blade of Bison Grass slotted in the bottle for good measure!

And now that we know what's up with that grass, there's only one thing to do - try it!  

Let's go!

Vodka Review: Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka

Tasting Notes

Colour: Light Straw Tint

Aroma: Remarkably floral with a heady meadowy fragrance, it's a mix of wild grass and field flowers. It continues to blossom with a potpourri of lemongrass and tea tree oil. Incredibly aromatic! Feels like a spa in here.

Taste: Surprisingly clean, yet it keeps a richness about it - still really aromatic of course. There's more of that tea tree oil and meadowy wild grass and floral quality that infuses the body. It has a creaminess to it, starting off spicy and peppery but quickly mellows out.

Finish: The grassiness, lemongrass and tea tree oils carries into the finish. Alittle more spritely and peppery here, with also a rich base tone on vanilla. It finishes off with a crispness.

My Thoughts

This is incredibly, incredibly aromatic! It almost feels like a sort of meadowy, at times almost oriental, spa essential oil. Yet whilst it is really aromatic and perfumed, it doesn't overdo it - which was really astonishing to me - it really comes off like a sort of infusion, in a really natural way, nothing synthetic is coming across, which again, is a big positive here. As for the Vodka itself, this was really mellow and has a good creaminess to it. It's surprisingly clean and has a nice richness to it, it's much more mellow and rounded than most standard Vodkas, yet it does keep that crispness to the finish. Safe to say, it's really aromatic across the tasting.

That all makes this quite the sipping Vodka! I would categorise this as being something that you'd either sip and enjoy, or use in a cocktail (which they do recommend as a Polish recipe for Apple Zu - apple juice, Zubrowka vodka, cinnamon, lime). A really interesting and versatile Vodka! And it definitely looks good on the shelf, and comes with a nice story to it too. Highly recommend.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot