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I have to admit that vodka is one of my favorite spirits, but did you know it’s also good for countless other things than just drinking?  Vodka has a long history of use as a medicine, having been sold by druggists to cure everything from infertility to colic and the plague.  But it gets even weirder than that.

You can neutralize the itch and rash of poison ivy with vodka.  Vodka kills odor causing bacteria and is perfect for spritzing your clothes to keep them smelling fresh.  It’s perfect for shining up your chrome, glass and porcelain fixtures.  Who knew?  It even repels and kills insects as well as your liver.   It also disinfects and alleviates some of the bite of a jellyfish sting.  Vodka and shampoo is better than shampoo and conditioner.  You can cure foot odor by washing your feet with vodka.  And of course, if you just go ahead and drink it, none of that other stuff will eventually matter anyway.

This brings us to the vodka at hand, Marquis Vodka from Poland.  And I must say that at around $45.00 per 80 proof 750 ml bottle, I wouldn’t do any of the above and simply drink this spirit as it is one of the priciest vodkas out there.  It comes in a beautiful blackened bottle with distinctive silver lettering.  Just under the scroll type “M” logo there are the Latin words “Nulli Secundus” which translates as “Second To None.”

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This vodka is made from Rye in a small artisan distillery founded in 1895 and located between Warsaw and the Ukrainian border in Poland.  They go old school and use a hundred year old copper still and then filter through charcoal four times to remove all remaining impurities. Their philosophy is to not remove all the flavor of the rye and the limestone water to avoid creating the blank slate other distillers create with their overly processed wheat and corn based vodkas. Well, let’s see if they got it right.

The nose is a bit more full bodied than most vodkas and contains the faint essence of the rye and a touch of grass followed by a hint of alcohol.  The grain and the limestone come forward on the palate followed by a trace of buttery sweetness and vanilla.  It is thick and almost creamy in a very pleasant way.  The alcohol is very restrained and smooth with just the slightest tingle.  The finish is also very smooth and well rounded and long and leaves a nice velvety taste of grain and grass and vanilla.

On the rocks, all these flavors blend together and produce a full bodied vodka that is thick and tasty.  In some ways it reminds me of one of my other favorite Polish vodkas, Bison Grass flavored vodka that has many of the nuances of its terroir.  I can really taste where this vodka comes from and what it is made of.  Now don’t get me wrong, Marquis Vodka is not flavored but is indeed flavorful in a very natural way; good job guys!

When you go out and buy this vodka, for goodness sake, don’t use it in some mixed drink.  This spirit is good enough to stand on its own.

On a side note, I recently reviewed Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White Whiskey and just found out today that Jack Daniels is suing Popcorn over the size, shape and style of their bottle and label saying that it is “confusingly similar.” Good luck to all over that one!

 

By George Brozowski

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