Before you even take the first sip of Kingmaker Vodka – a premium of 41% ABV British vodka produced by the award-winning Warwickshire Gin Company – you sense you’re in for a treat.
The confident brand messaging starts with the elegant, elongated octagonal glass bottle with a short, straight neck and over-sized stopper.
The black and gold foil labelling, featuring a crown and a stylised Warwick Castle, is designed to attract attention and we can see this standing out on the back bars, even when competing with well-established brands.
When asking for a Kingmaker Vodka many will perhaps not realise that the ‘kingmaker’ reference relates back to the 15th century and to the 16th Earl of Warwick, Richard Neville (1428-1471).
He was known as Warwick the Kingmaker, due to this significant political influence that led to the deposition of two kings and to the coronation of Kind Edward IV.
Despite the brand’s historic connections and our initial impressions, the ultimate test is how it tastes. Style will get you so far, but we need to see if there’s any substance to the premium positioning.
Here at Hand Crafted Drinks Magazine we only sample the spirits that we’re sent to review neat and with ice, so that we get the true undiluted nature of the drink in hand.
Kingmaker Vodka, which has been produced with an added ingredient: frankincense, was similarly sampled. The frankincense imparts a subtle, spicy, almost peppery, flavour to what is a very smooth, clean spirit. The vodka has great mouthfeel and the finish is warming, as you expect with most spirits, but the frankincense adds an additional layer of spice.
This is a vodka that you could certainly enjoy with quality mixers or as part of vodka-based cocktails, but the quality of this spirit would equally would be at home (my home included) if it was offered as a sipping vodka. Most people who enjoy whisky or brandy don’t dilute their spirit of choice and the same should go for Kingmaker Vodka.
For more information visit their website