Crystal Head Vodka Lunar Year Horse Limited Edition

Crystal Head built its name on the skull-shaped bottle, and the Lunar Year Horse is a limited collector's edition of it, the metallic red and gold horse motif released for the Chinese New Year of 2026. The vodka inside is the brand's original recipe, distilled four times from locally grown Canadian corn. Corn gives a naturally sweet, clean spirit, and Crystal Head adds no sugar and no additives, leaning instead on its distillation and on a filtration the brand associates with quartz crystal. It is also gluten-free and kosher, bottled at 40%, so the showpiece exterior wraps a genuinely pure, straightforward spirit.

The nose is very clean with subtle black pepper, a little vanilla and a hint of sweetness, the palate full-bodied and smooth with dry, spicy pepper and a gentle creaminess, and the finish medium, warming and lightly peppery. That dry pepper edge is unusual for a corn vodka and worth framing in a dirty Martini: stir it very cold with a small measure of dry vermouth and a spoon of good olive brine, garnish with an olive, and the brine's salinity sharpens the pepper while the corn's soft creaminess keeps the drink round. The bottle, of course, earns its place on the back bar.