Adnams North Cove Vodka
When deciding on the next vodka to review I thought about trying something completely different; a vodka that could put some traditionalists out of their comfort zone. After much debate I came up with Adnams North Cove Vodka.
I visited the new Adnams distillery in Southwold just over 12 months ago and was thoroughly impressed with what I saw. It was when in Southwold, I tried North Cove for the first time, in fact I don’t think it even had a final name as I sampled it straight from the barrel!
First impressions back then were good and when I tasted it there was a not too sweet vanilla taste. How would it fair when bottled? Well now I thought it was time to try it out.
Adnams North Cove Vodka is aged in European Oak Barrels whilst sitting in the cellar of the Brewery in Southwold. This ageing process gives the Vodka its unique colouring and certainly sets it out from many other vodkas. This is also a bonus when tempting older family members to try a vodka out.
The vodka itself is from a run of Adnams Longshore Vodka, which from time to time the head distiller John McCarthy will put into to Oak Barrels to start the North Cove ageing process.
Apart from the obvious colouring of this Adnams vodka, the next thing you notice is quite a powerful but not overbearing aroma of vanilla and possibly a hint of coconut, the coconut may be me going mad as I have had a cold recently but I am pretty sure that’s what it was!
When trying this, I just sipped it neat over ice which I think makes complete sense, some say you can mix with a tonic but I feel this would take away from the uniqueness and undoubted quality of this drink.
When sipping it you get a nice smoky sensation that has a soft finish with no burning after taste. You are then left with a nice buttery feeling and can notice the oak flavouring taking effect which leads to a gradually drying finish.
Certainly having a couple of cubes of ice breaks up the flavour throughout the drink in a way it does with a decent whisky so for a whisky/rum drinker this really could be a good introduction to the world of vodka.
Overall, Adnams North Cove Vodka is a delightfully different vodka to try and I certainly see it getting a bit of a cult following in the coming months/years. I will definitely try this again, so am sure a bottle will find its way back into my home for those quiet evenings twisting the arms’ of whisky traditionalists as well as novice vodka drinkers whose eyes can be opened to the growing world of vodka’s with real quality, flavour and depth of taste.