Puschkin Red Orange

Puschkin is a German brand named after the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, and Red Orange is its blood-orange expression. The house spirit is distilled six times and then chilled to around minus eight degrees, an ice-filtration step that drops out the last impurities and leaves the base unusually clean. Onto that goes tart, fresh blood orange, which gives the drink its deep red colour and its sweet-sour character. Crucially, it is bottled at just 17.5%, well below standard vodka strength, so it drinks soft and easy rather than spirituous.

The nose is fruity and lightly tart, the palate is fresh with clear blood-orange notes over the mild base, and the finish is long and fruity. The low strength and built-in citrus make this an obvious spritz, so pour a generous measure over ice and top with cold prosecco, then squeeze in a wedge of fresh orange. The sparkling wine stretches the fruit into something long and brunch-friendly, and because the vodka is already gentle, the drink stays refreshing rather than heavy.