Sobieski Vodka

Bill Dowd photo

The flood of super-premium vodkas hitting the market sparked the introduction of this high-quality, low-priced Polish rye product aiming to undercut the competition.

• Sobieski Vodka:

Dankowski rye is one of the crown jewels among Poland's legendary grains, so one would think it would be used only in the high end -- i.e., premium priced -- vodkas. However, Sobieski's aim is to grab a chunk of the vodka market by offering a quality vodka at bargain basement prices.

I purchased a 1.75 liter plastic bottle (suggested retail price $19.99; I paid $3 less than that) and consider it a gem of a find.

Sobieski's distillation process has eliminated the unpleasant heat of most low-priced vodkas, creating a smooth, creamy product that envelops the tongue when tried right out of the freezer. I also tried it with an instant strawberry maceration. In other words, I popped a tiny fall strawberry right from my garden, gave it a few chews and sipped the Sobieski over it. I've found lesser vodkas tend to come out somewhat bitter when I do this, but this particularly mix created what seemed like a weeks-old rested fusion.

Sobieski should have a market winner on its hands.

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