Ft. Lauderdale’s Shady Distillery makes its spirits using a “blend of old world and new world technique along with the best ingredients,” including a vodka distilled from corn and bottled with no additives or sweeteners. This special “Recount 2020” edition ups the proof from 80 to 81, and features a custom label designed to celebrate our recent farewell to a notorious year.

I’ve never sampled Shady’s standard vodka, but I can’t imagine an extra 1/2 a percent of alcohol makes that big of a difference. In any event, let’s dig in to Shady’s underhanded homage to the year that was.

Never mind the outside world, Shady’s a solid vodka, gently medicinal on the nose with light notes of popcorn evident underneath. The palate folds in notes of almond paste and nougat, again filtered through some hospital-driven, Band-Aid elements. It’s short of rubbery on the finish, but it nods in that direction, with some grassy notes, hints of cloves and licorice. The overall composition feels reasonably balanced, though as the tasting notes might indicate, it veers more toward Old World in construction. Stell it’s a solid choice for blending the postapocalyptic cocktail of your own design.

81 proof.

B+ / $30

Shady Vodka - Recount 2020 Limited Edition

$30

8.5

Rating

8.5/10

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Christopher Null

Christopher Null is the founder and editor in chief of Drinkhacker. A veteran writer and journalist, he also operates Null Media, a bespoke content creation company.

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