Mahinda’s Little World

I’m off to see Maria this weekend, and she drinks neat vodka, so I thought I’d get her a bottle of something nice - Zubrowka sprung to mind, of course, so I popped into Oddbin’s to check out their price. £17.99 for a litre, as it happens. However, I then saw this new stuff, Reyka, on offer - it was from Iceland, and I’d never had Icelandic vodka before:

Reyka is Iceland’s first ever [legally produced!] vodka.

The word derives form the Icelandic word for steam; it is geothermal steam that powers the distillery. They also use perhaps the purest water yet used in the production of vodka - drawn from a 4,000 year old lava field, it is so pure that it requires no treatment or demineralization, which most other distillers have to do.

Apparently the water used for Reyka is so pure that Volvic has a content of dissolved solids that’s five times higher than Reyka’s - Evian’s level is nearly 15 times higher.

Intrigued, I asked if I might have a closer look at the bottle.

"Of course" replied the chap behind the counter, and passed it over. His mate then pointed out that there was a freshly-opened bottle for tasting purposes. It seems that they have quite a large stock of spirits for that sort of thing.

Anyway, I was then handed the bottle and a wine glass (!) and told to help myself. I kept to probably just less than a shot (although it’s hard to judge), and gave it a swirl. The aroma was lovely, and the taste was even better - one of the fullest-bodied vodkas I’ve ever had, and definitely the smoothest I’ve ever had. I’m not a straight vodka drinker in general, even when it’s chilled, and this was at room temperature.

Oddbin’s bloke hadn’t sampled it either, so he had some too. We agreed that it was great. Very tasty and UNBELIEVABLY smooth.

Needless to say, I bought a bottle. £13.99 well spent.

I might visit that particular establishment more often!