Product: Crater Lake Vodka Producer: Bend Distillery Approximate Retail Value: $23/bottle Category: Vodka Country of Origin: Bend, OR, USA Reviewer: R. Pietsch The F Words: Flavor – Clean, bit of oak and a hint of cream. Feel – A little heavier than your usual vodka. Finish – Tight, evenly distributed warmth and even a little smoky.

Rating:

My freezer is probably the least cluttered space in my entire apartment. I lack the foresight to purchase almost anything to be used more than a week in advance. The contents of my freezer at this very moment are: 3 trays of ice, 4 chicken breasts, and one bottle of Crater Lake Vodka.

I am not a proponent of storing liquor of any kind in the freezer. Thoughts come to mind of my granddad keeping a bottle of Old Grandad in the “ice box” next to the wheat germ. If you are using vodka in mixed drinks, then room temperature vodka will melt the perfect amount of ice for a martini. But one taste of the Crater Lake vodka and I found a reason to renege on this half-baked idea.

Most people I know don’t drink vodka straight. In this part of the world, it isn’t really something that is ingrained in our culture. Honestly, this bottle is one that gives no excuse to drink in any other way. It’s very near perfect vodka. Filtered 10 times through charcoal and volcanic rock, it is absurdly smooth. However, it retains some of the mineral qualities of the spring water. After the filtering process, the vodka is then aged for a short while in oak barrels, adding character and depth that you want to taste.

So, why keep it in the freezer? Because you don’t need ice, and you certainly don’t want mixers. I do recommend Crater Lake Vodka cold, but I’m not even sure that’s absolutely necessary. While most vodkas try to get away from tasting like anything (and do a horrible job of this, might I add), Crater Lake’s brief aging of such a refined spirit brings something truly unique to the bar. The style of this vodka is closer to Ketel One than other vodkas on the major market. In tasting them side by side, the biggest difference is Crater Lake avoids any of that hairspray flavor that most people associate with Ketel.

Let’s say that you are only inclined to drink vodka in a martini, or some other form of cocktail. The freezer is still a great place for this bottle to reside. This is a spirit that need not benefit from being diluted with melting ice. It is a wonderful stand alone, or the perfect resident for the spotlight in any vodka-based cocktail.