Bison’s Mystery Vodka

Bison's Mystery comes from the Absheron-Sharab distillery in Azerbaijan and takes its character from bison grass, the prairie herb traditionally used to flavour vodka across the wider region. The spirit underneath is distilled several times and filtered with care to strip out the heavier congeners, which leaves a clear, stable base for the grass to sit on. That matters with a flavoured vodka: a rough spirit would muddy the herb, whereas a clean one lets it speak. The grass itself carries coumarin-led aromatics, a soft vanilla-and-hay quality with a green, savoury edge, and the bottle keeps it gentle rather than loud at 40%.

The nose is fairly neutral and clean with fine cereal notes, and the herbal character builds on the palate, soft and balanced with a subtle spiciness before a clean, mild, long finish. The natural partner here is apple: pour it long over plenty of ice and top with cloudy apple juice, the serve often called a Tatanka or Szarlotka, where the grass's hay-and-vanilla note and the tart fruit lock together the way they have done since bison grass vodka first met an orchard.