Product: Grey Goose L'Orange Producer: Grey Goose Approximate Retail Value: $26 Category: Vodka Country of Origin: France Reviewer: R. Pietsch The F Words: Flavor – Cold, fresh oranges Feel – Smooth and refined Finish – Quick and remarkably clean

Rating:

I used to have a regular who would order a double shot of Goose L’Orange on the rocks. Everyone has his poison, right? Well, I liked this man and greatly respected him. He expected a lot but would never let anyone know exactly what. He liked to smoke expensive cigars and tell the story of how he got his giant Nat Sherman ashtray. Sometimes, he would order bottles of Merlot simply because that’s what the ladies he was with were drinking.

My point is that for this gentleman to like such an unusual cocktail, I was always a bit stumped. But, it really does speak to his character. Goose L’Orange is not something I had ever ordered. I used it to make some of the smoothest cocktails thrown across my bar but never stopped to taste this product solo.

Shame on me.

A good bartender knows inside and out every ingredient going into a drink. Now, I understand why Goose L’Orange makes such superior cocktails. Most people will admit that Grey Goose is one of the smoothest vodkas on the market. Like its unflavored counterpart, Goose L’Orange is five times distilled; it’s crisp and clean, with so few impurities that they generally go unnoticed to the casual drinker. What’s remarkable about this product is the orange flavor.

Grey Goose avoids the biggest problem in the world of flavored vodka; their “orange” tastes like orange. Imagine biting into a slice of an orange or licking the peel of a nice Florida Navel (orange, that is). This is the same flavor Goose L’Orange imparts. Other vodka use flavors that taste much more like the candied version of the same name. For instance, Absolut Mandarin has a very candied feel,like that of sucking on an orange Tootsie Pop before getting to the middle.

In some instances the sugary artificial flavors works, but it is never something I would want to sip on by itself. Goose L’Orange is a stand-alone product. As a result, it lends itself to making so many amazing cocktails. To prove my point, you could buy an airplane bottle of Stoli Oranj and one of Goose L’Orange. I am willing to bet that no matter how you serve them, Goose’s product will prove to be superior. You can take my word for it. Or you can take a gamble on one of the most suave men I have ever met and try it on the rocks with the tiniest slice of orange.