Top-Shelf Vodka Brands You Should Know
Looking for top-shelf vodka? Search no further. We round up the best luxury vodka brands, renowned for their smooth tastes and inventive distillation processes.
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With so many vodka brands on the market, it can be hard to decide what to choose. Our list features the best top-shelf vodka brands and explains what makes each one so unique. Whether you’re looking for classic Russian vodka, the best luxury gluten-free vodka, or special bottles from companies using innovative distillation processes, you’ll find it here.
Chopin Family Reserve
This super-premium spirit is a young-potato farm-to-bottle vodka from Poland. The potatoes, known as new potatoes, were planted during the 2016 growing season in the rich, dark soil surrounding the distillery in eastern Poland. Harvested while they were still young, these potatoes result in a sweeter tasting flavor, with notes of earthy clove and licorice. Chopin Family Reserve is naturally gluten-free and exceptionally smooth. In addition, it comes in a beautiful bottle tucked into a sleek leather casing with a booklet describing the distillery’s history and craftsmanship that highlight what makes this one of the world’s best vodkas.
Beluga Gold Line
This exceptional Russian vodka comes from Siberia. It takes three months to produce, as its unique recipe is complex and its manufacturing process intricate. The base is of hyaline artesian water from Siberian springs, as well as malt spirit, which gives it a fuller-bodied taste and feel. Ingredients that also endow Beluga Gold Line with its rich flavor profile are rice extract and rhodiola rosea extract. It comes in a gorgeous bottle made of optical-crystal-pure French glass. It makes an elegant addition to your bar cart and is one of the best vodkas for making martinis.
Carbonadi
This ultra-premium vodka blends Italian craftsmanship with California’s tech world. Carbonadi is an ultra-premium vodka is imported from Northern Italy to California, where it is micro-oxygenated and filtered through carbanados (also known as black diamonds). This process extracts the impurities, resulting in an incredibly smooth, crisp, sippable spirit. Bottled at 80 proof, House of Carbonadi suggests drinking it chilled and straight up. Only a top-shelf, luxury vodka can be enjoyed this way.
Absolut Elyx
A single-estate, copper-crafted top-shelf vodka, Absolut Elyx is made from winter wheat grown on a single estate in southern Sweden, and it is distilled in a manually operated vintage copper still that dates back to 1921. This region’s climate is ideal for cultivating winter wheat because of its dry, cold winters and long, hot summers. The result is a silky spirit that tastes incredible in a martini or on the rocks.
Crystal Head
You may recognize Crystal Head by its memorably unusual bottle: a crystal skull. Even if you aren’t a fan of the macabre design of the vessel, you’ll love the spirit within. Crystal Head vodka is smooth, pure, and made from the highest-quality ingredients, free of any additives. It is crafted from locally sourced Canadian corn and distilled seven times — three of which are through layers of Herkimer diamonds. It has a clean taste with slight notes of vanilla.
Grey Goose
This famous French, top-shelf vodka has only two ingredients: high-quality wheat and limestone-filtered spring water. Grey Goose has earned a cult following because of its traditional, time-tested methods and its delicate smoothness, and it’s easy to find. The nose is clean and subtly grainy, with traces of almond and black pepper.
Kástra Elión
This family-owned, artisan-crafted vodka is made in Greece from handpicked olives blended with grains and natural spring water. The distilled result is a smooth, sophisticated spirit evocative of the Mediterranean coastline. With notes of ripe olives and peppery undertones, Kástra Elión is best when chilled, either neat or on the rocks.
Belvedere
Made with Polish rye and purified water from its own natural well, Belvedere is naturally effortlessly smooth and sippable. It has a rich history dating back to 1910 — Belvedere’s distillery is actually one of the world’s longest continuously operating facilities of its kind. The spirit has detectable notes of vanilla and rye, as well as a crisp, citrusy finish. Additionally, it has a creamy, full body and faint floral notes.
CLIX Vodka by Caskers
You may know Buffalo Trace Distillery for its excellent bourbon, but it also produces an elegant vodka, CLIX. The brand’s master distiller brought his experience and his dedication to craftsmanship to create this smooth spirit. It undergoes 159 separate distillations, which give the vodka a smooth, elegant style. It has a clean finish and a delicate nose of sweet, fresh nectar, and it includes flavors of vanilla, white pepper, as well as hints of cinnamon.
