Review: Sobieski Vodka – Cytron and Vanilia

By Christopher Null | December 14, 2009 |

Sobieski is making a name (and a bigger advertising splash) for offering reasonably good Polish, rye-based vodka at an extremely low price, and now it is moving into the natural follow-up: Flavored versions.

Here’s how the first two shake out. Both are 70 proof and flavored naturally.

Sobieski Cytron Vodka isn’t bad, a quite silky vodka laced with very sweet citrus character. Mostly lemon in nature, it doesn’t exactly surprise you with its nuance, but if you need a lemon vodka for a cocktail, punch, or even just because you’re nutty enough to drink it straight, well, this should do the trick just fine. A-

Sobieski Vanilia Vodka is, of course, vanilla-flavored. The nose is intriguing — more marshmallow and caramel popcorn than vanilla, but not unpleasant. Same on the body, with a lot of sweetness. I was reminded of Jelly Bellys while sipping it. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad one, but again, it works for the express purpose of sweet dessert drinks. B+

$11 each