Stolichnaya Stoli Red Sloeberry Flavoured Vodka Liqueur FKP

Stolichnaya's Red Sloeberry takes the brand's wheat-based vodka and turns it into a fruit liqueur. The base is distilled from wheat, which gives a soft, rounded spirit, then filtered for clarity before sloeberries are steeped in. Sloes, the small dark fruit of the blackthorn, are famously sharp and tannic, the same fruit that flavours sloe gin, and steeping rather than re-distilling keeps their colour and tartness intact. That is why the bottle reads ruby red with violet lights and lands at a low 18%: this is a sipping liqueur, sweetened and softened, not a spirit for the freezer shelf.

The nose offers sloes, red berries and a hint of cherry, while the palate is soft and velvety, sweet berries balanced by a subtle spice and a slight almond note from the stones, before a long finish that plays sweetness against a light acidity. Its lower strength and built-in fruit make it ideal stretched into a spritz: pour it over ice, top with chilled sparkling wine and a splash of soda, and finish with a fresh blackberry or two, which keeps the berry theme going while the bubbles lift the sweetness.