All Purpose Vodka

Travel Distilled reviews All Purpose Vodka from St George Spirits, a superior vodka in every way.

When I recently reviewed Elk Rider Corn Vodka, I wondered if you could smell colors, and, if you could, then in that case I definitely smelled green. In the case of this St George Spirits All Purpose Vodka, I could smell something different: warmth. I could smell smoothness and thickness too. In a more conventional way I could smell vanilla and something citrusy as well. This is a complex and definitely quality vodka.

I was glad to have discovered St George Spirits, and for that I have to thank my Editor at Chilled Online, Lesley Jacobs Solmonson. I’d suggested to Lesley it was time to do a piece about whether flavored/infused vodkas had reached saturation point and had their day. Lesley asked me to do it and in addition to the distillers I suggested to her, she asked me to definitely include St George Spirits. I knew their name but didn’t know much about them, so was happy to get in touch and discover more.

What I discovered was a company that was producing a range of interesting-sounding spirits, including bourbon, gin, and absinthe, but just three vodkas: California citrus, green chile, and this all-purpose vodka.

When I took my first sniff of it I got an immediate and heady scent that combined warmth, thickness, and vanilla. The vodka was straight from the freezer so where on earth did that warmth come from? And one of the main ingredients is pears, so why vanilla?

The label only told me that the vodka was distilled from American grain and fruit. However, after I’d sensed the vanilla and was curious about it, I went to the St George website where I discovered that the prime ingredient was Bartlett pears – but that they were ‘delivering a spirit with no overt pear flavor.’

This is an interesting and, as I said, a complex vodka. There’s no hype about the bottle or the raw ingredients or the distillation process. The bottle is nice and functional, but with no artsy-fartsy background to it. It’s short and round and solid, and goes with the kind of down-to-earth ‘all-purpose vodka’ name.