At The Bar: U’Luvka
As I mentioned in the AM review for A Casa Fox, they are currently still B.Y.O.B. as they wait for their liquor license.
Since we were there for brunch, this could have quickly turned into a travesty had we not been prepared. Armed with an unopened bottle of ultra-premium vodka we were rescued from having to have a BloodyMary-less brunch.
Now before anyone begins to lecture me, I am aware that mixing really good vodka into something like a Bloody Mary could be considered sacrilege, like taking a fine fillet mignon and grounding it into hamburger meat, though in either case you are either drinking a really nice Bloody Mary or eating a really fine burger.
The very first thing you are going to notice about U’Luvka vodka is its bottle design, a unique undulating neck with a bulb at the bottom that they say has a “distinctive seductively curvy shape.” I’d say it is a bit more sperm-like in shape. A cork replaces the usual screw cap and has a neat little design running around it visible even when capped.
The story (or legend as they call it) behind U’Luvka is pretty standard, based on what I have read on Vodka recently. A king (Sigmund II of Poland in this case) felt that the court vodka was not nearly smooth enough:
Legend has it that the court was suffering from hangovers. Distillation methods were still somewhat crude by today’s standards and it didn’t take many toasts to set you up badly for the following day’s work. In a bid to prevent affairs of state from grinding to a halt, the King and Queen commissioned their court alchemist Sendvogius to create a spirit of such exceptional balance and purity that the court might continue to make their traditional toasts by night and run the country effectively by day.
The U’Luvka we are drinking down today is supposedly a recreation based on the alchemist’s 16th century royal distillation of rye, wheat and barley. The concoction is distilled “just three times, ensuring strength, purity and smoothness, while retaining character, body and depth of flavour.”
Honestly, I can kind of buy into this. I have had vodka’s with no discernible flavor. I have also gone to the other side: vodkas that, taste awful, suffused as they are with way too much vodka-y flavor. Those vodkas are the ones that make people think a vodka, taken straight, is going to be like drinking rubbing alcohol.
U’Luvka definitely does have a taste, but unlike those rubbing alcohol vodkas it isn’t harsh and unpleasant. While a bit strong at first sip, it goes down smooth without the burn common from lower-end vodkas.
I have had the pleasure of drinking U’Luvka straight, mixing it with a Bloody Mary and in one of their signature cocktails, a Solomon’s Seal. Since the vodka has a taste, a strong vodka flavor, folks tend to feel it is a bit harsh at first, except that it does go down smoothly. I can even see pairing this vodka with a strong enough dish: it might go nicely with kielbasa.
U’Luvka’s web site is an odd collection of images: modern smooth shots of the bottle, sketches of an old distillation process, and medieval art. It doesn’t really all fit together in my opinion and only partially melds with the image they are presenting. It can also get a bit frustrating as every time you click a link everything on the page goes away, the background image changes and everything comes back into place. It gets a bit tiresome and could definitely use a redesign.
Introduced in the UK in 2005, U’Luvka is starting to make it across the pond. The price gives pause. The bottles are going for sale online for £42.75. For anyone who forgot how crappy the dollar is doing, that is approximately $84 for a 70cl bottle. In their defense I did find a number of 750ml bottle online for an average cost of $55.
A very nice vodka with next to no aftertaste, U’Luvka mixes well and is sure to stand out. Personally, I do prefer my vodka with slightly less flavor, but this wasn’t offensive. The smoothness going down speaks to its quality. Were there a drop in price by a couple of dollars, I’d be totally sold.
“To Friendship, Love and Pleasure” is the traditional toast.” I’ll drink to that.
April 29th, 2008 at
My take: the vodka is smooth and not overwhelming in the taste department and I’d guess it works very well in mixed drinks.
I think the back-story on the tag is totally absurd and weird and I’m not sure what they are going for, brand-wise. A 16th century alchemist? What? Vodka was thought of as a medicine back in the day (the day being the early 15th century), but this sort of too-fanciful King’s court bullshit just makes me wonder if this is rotgut crap in a new package. I want to hear about science and technology, not mysticism and alchemy. If I’m going to plunk down $84 a bottle, there better be a more compelling reason than the orders of a mythological 16th century Polish monarch.