ISFJORD Vodka Review

ISFJORD Premium Arctic Vodka is distilled in Denmark but the water comes from inside the Arctic Circle in Greenland.

There’s a lot of hype about distilling, about filtering vodka over platinum or diamonds, or distilling it 8,000 times, or using water from a certain water source. I try to cut through the hype when I can, though I admit I’m swept along with it sometimes. But if the proof of the pudding is in the eating then the proof of the vodka is in the drinking, and that’s all that matters.

I do think there’s something about the water source, though. On a visit to Iceland to see the bottling plant of Martin Miller’s Gin and see the Icelandic water source, I noticed not only something special about the taste of the gin but also the taste of a few Icelandic beers I tried.

This ISFJORD Vodka I’ve been drinking lately confirms that. I tasted the vodka before I read anything about it, and the immediate reaction was – wow, this is seriously good vodka, and it tastes so smooth and clean. It was only later I read on the vodka’s website that it’s made from water obtained from melting icebergs that break off from the Greenland Ice Cap ‘into the sea in Ilulissat far north of the Polar Circle. Water that has been preserved as ice for 180,000 years, hidden from the outside world, sealed from any pollutants and almost all forgotten.’

Yes, it does sound like marketing-speak but you know what? The vodka is fantastic and that’s all that matters. I’ll even forgive them the fact that they insist on spelling ISFJORD in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Made using blonde wheat, which is used to make wheat beer (which I also love), ISFJORD Vodka is distilled five times and bottled at 44% ABV, making it 10% stronger than the average vodka. Yes, I was good at maths at school. Although the water comes from Greenland, the vodka is distilled in Denmark.

ISFJORD Vodka Review

The result? A real clarity on the nose, with hints of liquorice and citrus. It’s about as pure a scent and a taste as you can get. It’s beautifully rounded and thick, a great mouth-feel, with just the gentlest warm burn as it goes down. I’d drink this neat but that extra strength will give any cocktail recipe a boost. And, given its origins, it’s naturally great over ice. As vodka goes, this is just about as good as it gets.