Kartoff Triple Distilled Vodka

Kartoff is made in Austria by Horvath's Spezereyen from carefully selected Hermes potatoes, a high-starch variety well suited to distilling. Potato is harder and more expensive to work with than grain, but it rewards the effort with a fuller, creamier mouthfeel, and that body is the whole point of this bottling. The spirit is triple distilled to remove unwanted impurities while keeping the soft potato character, then reduced with spring water from the Austrian Alps for clarity and freshness. The result at 40% is clean but with more weight on the tongue than a typical neutral grain vodka.

The nose is subtle, with fresh potato notes and a touch of minerality. The palate is soft and clean with a slight sweetness and a hint of pepper, finishing smooth and lingering. That creamy potato body is built for a Martini with texture, so stir 60ml with a small measure of dry vermouth and plenty of ice, strain into a chilled glass, and add a couple of olives and a little brine for a dirty Martini, where the fuller body stands up to the savoury salt.