Review: Belvedere 10 Vodka

Ready for a new ultra-ultra-premium vodka? Check out Belvedere 10, “an all-new luxury vodka of true liquid brilliance.”

The vodka is distilled from organic diamond rye grown on a single field in Poland and is rested for 10 months after distillation before bottling. It’s that bottle that’s likely to draw your eye first and foremost: It’s an opaque, white, faceted bottle that stands 16 inches tall, designed to evoke the facets of a diamond. The picture tells the story, but do measure out the height if you’re considering picking one up, just to ensure it will fit on the shelf. To add to the mystique, the bottle comes packaged inside a black velvet bag.

So that’s the backstory. How about what’s in the bottle?

Clean but quiet on the nose, there’s a slight grassiness and a few lemon peel notes here, followed by a slight saltiness that evokes a note of olive brine. Time in glass allows an earthy quality to come into clearer focus, almost like fine ground white pepper.

Given this aromatic profile, the palate is surprisingly revealed as quite sweet, balancing notes of honey and nougat with a significant coconut quality — more coconut water than coconut meat or husk. Over time, chocolate clearly emerges, then a hint of cinnamon as the finish builds — the sweetness lingering for longer than I expected.

Belvedere 10 feels like it’s designed for the club crowd, pairing beautifully with just about any mixer you could think to throw at it. Naturally, its inherent sweetness makes it an easy sipper as well, perhaps dangerously so. While those looking for that bracing Old World experience won’t gravitate to the creamy, dessert-like experience here, I think even vodka purists may find this unique experience a refreshing change of pace. No pun intended.

80 proof.

A- / $150 ($950 “on-menus”) / belvederevodka.com

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