Snowaters Organic Polish Vodka

‘Get the best out of the very best ingredients, and let the quality speak for itself.’

I recently posted a potted history of Grey Goose Vodka and was struck by something that the distiller who created Grey Goose, François Thibault, said. Thibault had previously been very successful at making cognacs. ‘Get the best out of the very best ingredients,’ Thibault said, ‘and let the quality speak for itself.’

Organic Vodka from Poland

I was reminded of what Thibault said while researching Snowaters, an organic vodka from Poland, the first to be imported into the USA. I like to know what I’m drinking, and on their website Snowaters reminds drinkers that their vodka is made from just two ingredients: rye and water.

Dańkowskie Platinum Rye

To start with the rye, a popular grain for making vodkas in Poland, the home of vodka – Snowaters handily has a History of Polish Vodka on its website. The rye used in Snowaters is a single-estate rye known as Dańkowskie Platinum Rye, which is the most desirable rye and very much in demand for making the best Polish vodka.

It grows in northern Poland where the winters are harsh and the rye can typically spend up to 80 days buried beneath the snow in its dormant state. This is said to give it a deep and intense flavor even before it starts to grow. When spring brings the winter snowmelt, the rye is then helped to grow by water from melting glacial lakes, the same pure water source that is then also used to produce the vodka. So, Snowaters seems to have the right ingredients to make a pretty good vodka. Did they succeed?

Snowaters Organic Polish Vodka

The bottle is slender and elegant and points out that the vodka has zero sugar, is vegan-friendly, and USDA Certified Organic. It’s your standard 40% ABV.

On the nose it’s very neutral, with hints of grain and a slight vanilla sweetness. It’s clearly a superior vodka, a fact that’s confirmed when you taste it. It’s perfectly smooth with again those hints of a slightly sour grain and a slightly sweet vanilla, though the overall effect is the clean and neutral taste you hope for in a vodka. It has a good mouth-feel, and a warming and again neutral finish.

Snowaters is the kind of vodka that reminds you what good vodkas should taste like. It’s going to be excellent both as a sipper and in cocktails. We tried it with a Fever-Tree Tonic and a dash of lime juice and it was clearly superior to the bottom-shelf vodkas we sometimes use if we don’t feel like anything fancier.

Snowaters Vodka Cocktails

The Snowaters website has some cocktail suggestions, including several classics. There’s a standard Moscow Mule, a Sea Breeze, a Snowaters Vodka Collins, and several more.