It’s officially winter. It’s officially cold. It’s officially OK to crack open the vodka. Because we know you’ve refrained from doing so for the rest of the year. Yeah, right.
Anyway, this winter sees the launch of a new brand to the UK, and it’s set to spark a bit of Eastern Block rivalry, as The Ukraine gives Russia a run for its money.
The ‘new’ creation dates back to 1917 and the extraordinary vodka legacy of the Zorokovich family. UK born filmmaker Dan Edelstyn is the man behind the revolution, with the discovery of his Ukrainian Grandmother’s memoirs in 2005 prompting his quest to find his family’s long-lost vodka distillery.
Having been seized by the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Zorokovich family fled the distillery and became scattered across Europe.
Not far off a century later, Dan has re-instated the distillery, working it as a social enterprise with the people of the village at its heart. It’s a story worthy of its own film (Dan’s made one, which will air on Channel 4 next year – see a taster here) but the real proof is in the pudding.
Zorokovich 1917 boasts an elegantly smooth taste and texture, but packs more flavour than many of the brands we’re used to. In comparison to the over-emphasis on triple, quadruple or other fantastically multiple numbers of distilling in order to create the purest spirit, Zorokovich is made using only the highest quality winter wheat from the region, combined with natural spring water from an artesian well beneath the local village of Douboviazovka and then oak aged. The result is a rich, creamy mouthfeel and an un-vodkalike depth of flavour.
To find out more about Dan’s journey visit Facebook or MyVodkaEmpire.com, and look out for the end product at independent stores including Vodka Emporium and Selfridges.
Cheers. Or Budmo, as they say in Ukrainian.
Zorokovich 1917. RRP: £30
Date posted: 02/12/2011
Category: News.
Tags: cocktails, drinks, london, spirits, ukraine, Vodka, zorokovich 1917, zorov.
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