Product: Rain Organics Red Grape Hibiscus Vodka Producer: Sazerac Approximate Retail Value: $21.99 for 750 ml Category: Vodka Country of Origin: USA Reviewer: D. Kearney Sparano The F Words: Flavor – Fruity, grapey. Feel – Clean. Finish – A lot of flavor on the front of the tongue.

Rating:

I wasn’t sure what to make of Rain Organics Red Grape Hibiscus. First, there is the bottle; it has quite and alluring and beautiful shape. In a very appropriate way, it is shaped like a rain drop, quite cute. Second was the vodka’s aroma; to say it smelled like grape would be an understatement. The scent of grape immediately punches the nostrils to an artificial level. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of natural flavoring so much as I thought of cough syrup or Pedialyte. Needless to say, I knew this was not the type of vodka or even alcohol that I would pony up to the bar and ask for. So, as is my typical style I did some investigating.

Rain Organic Vodka is a brand of vodka owned by the Sazerac Company. The Sazerac Company is a large distributor of all different kinds of alcohol. It grew out of a coffee house in 1869 by Thomas H. Handy. In the 1890s, Handy’s former secretary C.J. O’Reilly chartered the Sazerac Company. They currently produce varieties of alcohol ranging from bourbon and vodka to liqueurs and bitters.

Nowadays, vodka can be made from any kind of produce. This vodka is made from corn, white corn to be exact. It is made in small batches from a small 1,500 acre farm in Fizzle Flats, Illinois and is delivered to the Buffalo Trace Distillery. Buffalo trace is a type of whiskey. It is turned into a sweet mash and then distilled seven times. In case you weren’t aware, the difference between vodka and whiskey is not in the distilling process so much as it comes down to aging. Whiskey is aged in wood barrels that affect the color and flavor, and hence it’s amber hue.

Rain Organic Vodka is a brand clearly targeted for the young up-and-coming female market, the ultimate tip-off being that on the site under party ideas, every tip is captioned with “for a great girl’s night.” The site describes the vodka in this fashion: “Stake your claim on your own private Hawaiian Island; this exotic combination of vine-fresh red grapes bursting with sweet flavor and a hint of tart hibiscus adds a gentle refreshing breeze to any happy hour.”

Drinking it straight, the grape taste comes through clearly, but as I said it tastes very artificial and the alcohol bite doesn’t help. The interesting thing is that it isn’t very sweet, or rather very sugary; it just tastes like grape pop. Over ice it is a little better. The ice melts and dilutes the vodka, creating a mellower grape flavor and resolves much of the alcohol bite. That being said, though it isn’t my cup of tea, but keeping the target audience in mind this flavor could be quite popular. My belief in the young female hypothesis is proven when I try one of the websites drink recipes. It is titled Rain Hawaiian Breeze and is made with cranberry and pineapple juice. The drink is quite tasty and I could see any number of 20-something ladies enjoying it at a bar to the chagrin of their boyfriends.

In my opinion, Rain Organics Red Grape Hibiscus Vodka is a good vodka for its target market but as an overall vodka, perhaps not that great. This is not a vodka that all drinkers will enjoy, but then again it supposedly was not designed for that purpose. As I was describing this product to a good friend’s girlfriend who is in her 20s, there was a definite sense of intrigue. She loves flavored vodka and said that this product, without tasting it and just being told the flavor, “has potential.”