Review: High Desert Cactus Vodka

Further proof that you can make vodka out of anything, High Desert is made from prickly pear cacti harvested in the high desert of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. That’s really the whole story: There’s a whole lotta cactus out there in the southern deserts, so good on ’em for trying to do something useful with it. Let’s give it a spin.

Banish any thought that vodka should be “neutral” when sticking your nose into a glass of High Desert. This is pungent, earthy, and vegetal — heavily reminiscent of the equally desert-born sotol. Pepper and spice are so redolent in the glass that you could be easily forgiven for assuming this was a rustic type of tequila.

On the palate, there’s plenty more where that came from. Black pepper and jalapeno continue a clear theme, though a pinch of sweetness late in the game provides a slight respite from the cacti onslaught. Hints of citrus peel, almond, and banana chips provide a touch of something approaching sweetness on the finish, though it hardly lasts for long.

While I can attest that High Desert is about as far an outlier as you’ll find in the vodka world today — drinkers of more mainstream brands will turn a nose up here — tequila fans should surely give it a try.

80 proof.

B- / $62 / highdesertvodka.com

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