Açai (pronounced ah-SAH-eee) is the superfood of the moment, so it was only a matter of time before it became a spirit. VeeV is the only açai spirit on the market, but there’s more to it than that.

Not quite a vodka and not quite a liqueur, VeeV is a 60-proof spirit that’s clear and will be widely seen as a flavored vodka (hence its categorization here). It’s distilled from wheat, then flavored with not just açai, but also prickly pear cactus, and acerola cherry.

Drank straight, it’s clearly less of a punch in the gut than a true, 80-proof vodka, and the fruity aroma smells distinct and pleasant. It’s the cherry that’s actually strongest, in the aroma and the initial flavor, but the hard-to-place açai comes through as more of an aftertaste. Açai on its own is a really powerful thing, bittersweet and overpowering to the point where few people can drink the juice unblended.

Here, it works, giving the cherry a sharpness and a uniqueness that, at first, comes across kind of like Maraschino liqueur, but finishes as something far different.

I had mixed luck using VeeV in cocktails. It demands something sweet or else the fruitiness doesn’t come across. Check out what I came up with here, or visit VeeV’s website for more ideas.

B+ / $35 / veevlife.com