Davna Cherry Vodka Review

Travel Distilled reviews Davna Cherry Vodka, a natural fruit vodka from Poland.

I’m not a big fan of cherries, which are usually too tart for me, but I have discovered a taste for this Davna Cherry Vodka from Poland. In fact more than a taste – it’s addictive.

For a start it comes in a lovely, retro 50cl bottle, with a long thin neck and a wonderfully old-fashioned label that screams of its historic Polish origins. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for cherries, I was starting to salivate just reading the label. It uses hand-picked sun-ripened cherries from orchards in southern Poland but, more than that, the flavour’s also enhanced with natural cinnamon, almonds and vanilla. The base spirit is a Polish grain vodka, though it doesn’t tell you which grain is used. The result is a 38% ABV fruit vodka.

A little bit of research showed that once blended with the macerated cherries, the vodka is aged for 12 months in oak barrels, therefor picking up more flavours on the way, and is then blended with natural extracts from cinnamon, almonds, vanilla – and cloves too. It’s then rested for another week before being filtered and bottled.

Davna Cherry Vodka Review

That sounds amazingly good. So it can talk the talk but can it walk the walk? Oh yes. On the nose it’s a knock-out, a heady mix of tart cherries, the spice from the cloves and cinnamon, and a balancing gentle sweetness from the vanilla and almonds. There are all kinds of flavour games going on – almond and oak, cherry and vanilla. It’s the kind of drink you could smell all night.

You could probably drink it all night too, though that’s maybe not a good idea. The taste is just as complex as the nose, with perhaps the smoothness of the vanilla more to the fore, and a pleasingly fruity finish.

Cherry Vodka Cocktails

Personally, I would not put this in a cocktail but would drink it neat or on the rocks (as long as they were small rocks). However, I can imagine bartenders having a lot of fun with it. The label on the bottle also says it would be good simply with cola over ice. While cheap vodka and Coke works, when you’re in that kind of a mood, normally I’d run a mile from mixing a quality vodka with cola. But here I can see it, or rather taste it.

In fact I wandered round to the corner shop and got some Coke to try it, and it was brilliant, the extra sweetness of the Coke cutting that lingering tartness of the cherries.

Davna Cherry Vodka Awards

It’s not just me that likes this stuff either. Davna Cherry Vodka was awarded a Gold Medal at the 2016 Vodka Masters, and the judges said that it is a ‘wholesome and rich’ flavoured vodka with ‘authentic’ notes throughout. Davna Cherry Vodka was also included in the top 10 ‘Best Value Vodka Brands’.

What, all this and it’s cheap too? I was really amazed by the price, currently just over £15 (about $19 or €18) for a 50cl bottle. For vodka of this quality, it’s a bargain.