Poor vodka. In jaded minds its image seems inextricably linked with cheesy club culture of the nineties and early aughts (bottle service, choco-tinis). But that may be changing. The craft-spirits movement has spawned a few artisanal vodkas, and a new one is about to hit New York bars and liquor stores. In early April, Prohibition Distillery plans to roll out Bootlegger Vodka, which is made at Tuthilltown Spirits, a small distillery upsate. "We’re not trying to be a trendy brand. I want it to be something I’d see on my grandfather’s shelf. We’re not trying to connect to the cosmo and the appletini," says Prohibition co-founder Brian Facquet.
We sampled Bootlegger at a recent party for Music for Tomorrow, an organization that works to preserve classic jazz music (part of Prohibition's mission is to sponsor small charities like this one), and found it remarkably smooth, comparable to our favorite, Tito's. The price range is similar to Tito's as well -- Facquet tells us it has not been firmly set, but will be somewhere in the mid-twenties. Who knows, a year or two from now we could all be suffering from craft-whiskey fatigue -- vodka, artisanal vodka, that is, might just be the next big new, old thing.
Pre-order your bottle by emailing sales@prohibitiondistillery.com.
