Can we talk about vodka? Despite what our American friends would like us to believe it is not a tasteless, odourless whatever-else-less spirit. Vodka can have some real character and can be a spirit that you can enjoy on its own.
It’s that belief that vodka should have some real character that inspired Polish prince Jan Felix Michal Korybut Woroniecki, let’s call him Jan, to create Kavka. A Polish vodka reminiscent of how vodka used to taste in the days when every vodka was distinctive and every distillery had its own bold personality.
Jan told Bars and Clubs that his intention had been to make a vodka with a strong enough flavour that you notice it, but not so strong that it would lose its behind-the-bar flexibility.
“The intention always was that Kavka would be an everyday Vodka, it was not something to be put on a pedestal on a bar it’s meant to be drunk. Whether you put it into the freezer or use it as a mixer, we’re not precious you can throw with coke and I don’t care, but the important thing is that quality is there in the vodka.”
He added: “Secondly I really wanted to make sure that our story and our production was pretty honest, because this is the real problem with our previous vodka brands and also with a lot of other spirit brands.
“But actually, our provenance is quite good so we have these fruit spirits made for us by a small obsessive distiller in the east of Poland and then the rye and wheat spirits are the finest you can source.”
Kavka contains a blend of apple and plum fruit spirits, but only about one per cent, with Polish law allowing for up three per cent fruit spirit to be added to vodka, and these flavours can be detected at different stages in drinking the vodka. Drinking it as a shot from the deep-freezer will highlight the apple tones, sipping it at room temperature will emphasise the plum notes.
Jan told Bars and Clubs his favourite ways to drink it: “I like sipping it at room temperature and I would never have said that about any other vodka I’ve ever tasted, but I find the smoothness and the sweetness the fruit spirits give it allowed for it to be sipped and it’s delicious, but then I would say that.
“But another serve where you can really notice the quality of the vodka is obviously in a Martini, which is great because the flavour profile changes as the spirit warms. As it’s really cold you get the apple tones, but then as it warms you get the sweeter plum coming through. So that works well.
“The other way it was works well is in a simple soda environment, maybe with a little flavour in there, but clean and simple and then you get the weight of the vodka coming through.”
Having worked as a restaurateur in London for two decades, opening Wódka and Baltic where he “obviously drunk a hell of a lot of vodka and sold enormous quantities of different types of vodka” it’s fair to say Jan knows what he’s talking about when it comes to vodka, and that is reflected in Kavka.
He said: “During Poland’s prohibition period in the early 20th c. Kavka was the code for getting a drink in a restaurant, so it’s a slightly cheeky name that combined my love of Vodka and restaurants.
“For a long time the Vodka space has been overshadowed by innovative Gin makers and the growth in popularity of Tequila, Rum and Whiskey as drinkers look for personality in their spirits. Now it’s time to reinvigorate Vodka.”
Kavka is available now nationally for on-premise through Proof Drinks.
