OYO Vodka Review

OYO Vodka is made by Middle West Spirits who also make a range of whiskies and one gin at their distillery in Columbus, Ohio.

Who Makes OYO Vodka?

OYO Vodka is made by Middle West Spirits, a distillery founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 2008. Since then they’ve built up a range of whiskies (including bourbons) plus several vodkas and a Vim & Petal Gin, which I’ve also reviewed and it’s brilliant!.

The vodka is made from local Ohio red winter wheat, which is a good wheat for making things like bread, croissants, and noodles, but hey – let’s use it for vodka too! And I like distilleries that prefer to source local produce, support the local economy, and produce spirits that have a certain terroir.

OYO Vodka

Middle West Spirits makes four vodkas but they all spin off this base vodka, made from Ohio red winter wheat. It’s made in small batches (my batch was #084) and bottled at a standard 40% ABV (80 proof).

Their other vodkas are a Honey Vanilla Bean Vodka, a Stone Fruit Vodka, which also has honey in it along with Montmorency cherries, sweet yellow peaches, fragrant apricots, almonds, and hibiscus, and a Barrel-Finished Honey Vanilla Bean Vodka, which is their Honey Vanilla Bean Vodka aged in bourbon barrels. These guys are having fun with their vodkas!

Tasting OYO Vodka

Opening the bottle and sniffing the neck, there’s a mix of vanilla and lightly medicinal. Not medicinal in an unpleasant sense, just very light. Pouring a glass and sniffing it, the aroma becomes less medicinal and more vanilla, lemon, and a kind of warming caramel scent. It’s very pleasant indeed.

You get the same when you taste it – vanilla, cream, a dash of caramel, and some light lemon/lime citrus. It’s certainly no longer medicinal. The finish is slightly harsh but still with all that vanilla and caramel coming through. It’s definitely a vodka you can sip, which is one benchmark for me, but I also tried it in a vodka and tonic and it was a cut above your average V&T.

For the fairly modest price this is an impressive vodka and a credit to Middle West Spirits.