Arbikie Potato Vodka

Travel Distilled reviews Tattie Bogle Potato Vodka from the Arbikie Distillery near Arbroath in Scotland.

Arbikie’s Tattie Bogle Potato Vodka is made from three different types of potato.

The Arbikie story goes back to a night out in New York when three brothers – John, Iain, and David Stirling – no doubt after a whisky or two, decided they would build a distillery on the family farm and produce the best single malt whisky in Scotland. They would do this using a farm-to-bottle process, with absolutely everything coming from their own Highland Estate, near Arbroath.

The problem with producing a fine single malt whisky, though, is that it takes a long time to mature. The brothers decided that the earliest single malt they would release would spend 14 years in the barrels. Distilleries don’t come cheap, not even if you build them in an old cow shed like the brothers did. To generate cash flow, distilleries traditionally make vodkas and gins, which can be made quickly and sold quickly too.

Arbikie Potato Vodka History

The Stirling brothers didn’t want any old vodkas and gins. Many distilleries simply buy in spirits, sometimes with a specific flavour profile, and simply bottle them and market them as their own.

This wasn’t the Arbikie approach. For a start, as part of their ethos, they distilled their own spirits. Their first vodka was this Tattie Bogle Potato Vodka, made with potatoes grown on their estate. A Tattie Bogle, by the way, is an old Scottish term for a scarecrow that keeps birds away from your potato fields, a bogle being a scarecrow and a tattie being a potato.

The original Tattie Bogle was made with two types of potato but the current one is made with three: Maris Piper, King Edward, and Cultra. The best potatoes give a creaminess to vodkas, and they are certainly distinctive compared to vodkas made from grains. Some people say they give a terroir to vodkas that is every bit as valid as a terroir for wine. Different types of potato grown in different places under changing weather conditions year-on-year are obviously going to taste differently, even when distilled.

Tasting Arbikie Potato Vodka

That’s the history so now to the chemistry, and tasting Arbikie’s Tattie Bogle Potato Vodka, which is a stronger-than-usual 43% ABV. On the nose it’s very neutral, with a slight vanilla/creaminess from the potatoes.

On the palate it’s a different story. There’s more cream, more vanilla, and it tastes even more potent than it actually is. My wife and consultant taster (women generally have better palates than men) took one sip and said: ‘Too strong for me.’ An extra 3% on the ABV shouldn’t really be that noticeable, but it is with this vodka.

Swirl it round the mouth and a few more flavours emerge, including citrus, a little black pepper, liquorice, and a bit of earthiness. In the way that agaves give some earthiness to tequilas and mezcals, so the potatoes are adding it here. It also has a thick body, giving it a luscious mouth-feel, and I realise too late that I should have put it in the freezer for a while. It would have made it even more viscous, and the flavours more intense. Oh well, too late now as I only had a small tasting sample but I recommend you try it, and definitely recommend you try this potato vodka from Arbikie.

Potatoes are the raw ingredient for the vodka and other spirits made at the Arbikie Highland Estate Distillery in the Scottish Highlands — Vodka in the Making!

Arbikie Potato Vodka Cocktails

Arbikie has recommended some cocktails specifically for its Tattie Bogle Potato Vodka, and here they are (click on the image to enlarge it for easier reading). You can also find some more Arbikie Potato Vodka cocktails on their website.

Other Arbikie Products

I seem to be slowly sipping my way through most of the Arbikie range, and haven’t yet met one I didn’t like. Take a look at my reviews of their Haar Wheat Vodka, Chilli Vodka, and their utterly delicious Strawberry Vodka.