St. Royale Green Tea Vodka. This is a fairly new product on the market launched only a few months ago, and is one of the more unique flavored vodkas I’ve tried. As opposed to the more popular fruit-flavored vodkas, this one is flavored with green tea extract. Artisan vodkas have taken off as the craft cocktail scene has exploded, and luckily for us we have many quality options these days and can avoid Smirnoff Whipped Cream (though I won’t lie, I was so intrigued by that flavor in those college days…) and harsh cloying artificially flavored vodkas. Honestly I think the prominence of those crappy products is what gives vodka its less favorable reputation in the craft cocktail world. In reality, vodka’s definition as a flavor-neutral spirit actually makes it the perfect base to let flavors shine. It’s the base I use for all of my homemade liqueurs/tinctures/etc.

This vodka is quite tasty and to my palate, almost straddles between a pure spirit and a liqueur. It’s diluted to 35% ABV (5% lower than full-proof spirits) and sweetened lightly with honey. The bold green tea flavor comes from the extract of the Camellia Sinensis plant (from which green tea/matcha/etc are derived), and the lower proof removes some of the “alcohol taste” that’s generally more prominent in neutral spirits. Surprisingly, it tastes like something I could sip straight with some ice cubes, which is not something I usually do with vodkas. It’s not nearly as sweet as a liqueur, but the floral sweetness from the honey is just enough to make this a tasty sipper. Better yet, this will be the perfect spirit to add the aromas of tea and honey to your creative cocktails. Tea has been used in cocktails for centuries, and this will play quite nicely with other spirits to add that extra depth of complexity.

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