Ivan Chong from Craft Distillers was very kind is sending me some Hangar One Vodka samples to show off what they are doing in their small distillery in the San Francisco area. As for anyone that is afraid that I might just write a glowing review as many a product review sites do – let me assure you that there is a little more Simon Cowell in me than Stuart Smalley.
Anyhow Hangar One Vodka doesn’t use any artificial flavoring and distills from wheat in pot stills. For those of you interested in difference between pot and column stills – please check out tomorrow’s post. But it shows how much Hangar One cares about their product as pot still distillation is much more time-consuming and expensive.
I didn’t know much about kaffir limes before I looked into their vodka. Chong even sent me some kaffir lime samples – which the boys in the kitchen went ape shit over and I had to confiscate one back so I was able to taste it. The kaffir lime grows in Southeast Asia and is a main stake in Indonesian cuisine. The juice tends to be more acidic than a conventional lime found in every grocery store in the U.S. Hangar One actually almost created a shortage of kaffir limes, as they owned every available commercially available kaffir lime in North America. They were selling heaps of lime vodka and it didn’t occur to them that supply might outweigh demand. In a tizzy they went scouring the West Coast for any chance of a kaffir lime. Starting to lose hope – they found a nursery that had an abundant supply thanks to Sunset Magazine having an article about how every home needs a kaffir lime tree.
As for how it tastes:
Nose: It smells like lime candies – a bit like the green Popsicle from when you were a kid. Not very hot (which means you can’t smell the alcohol that well – for those of you who don’t read tasting notes all the time).
Flavor: It’s really dynamic and layered compared to other flavored vodkas. The lime works well with black pepper on the front finishing with a hint of juniper.
Finish: Nice sweet finish for a vodka. My guess would be the wheat that it’s distilled from.
- Columbine Quillen I am a mixologist bartender and this is my blog.