Review: Holiday Vodka

Holiday Vodka was “born from a feeling,” but more to the point it’s made in Italy, using 100% soft Italian wheat from Piedmont and water from Fonti Bauda, 1080 meters above sea level in the Maritime Alps. Distillation takes place at La Canellese, also located in Piedmont. The bottle, to me at least, alternately evokes a flower vase and an upturned zeppelin.

Holiday Vodka Review

Wheat-based vodkas can often land on the sweet side, and Holiday is no exception. In fact, it’s notably sweet, to the point where it’s one of the spirit’s most defining features.

The nose hints at that trait, though it’s not overwhelming or overt, although the aroma remains focused on notes of ripe, almost mushy banana, with a vanilla kick. A light industrial quality is detectable beneath the aromas of banana cream pie, but the sweeter elements soon intensify in the glass to the point where it quickly fades into the ether.

On the palate, sugar is immediate and intense. Bananas in cream remain the dominant flavor, with ample vanilla and caramel layered over all of it. There’s no hint of booziness or industrial elements here, and the sweetness never fades even on the lasting finish, which feels like a liquified version of a vanilla wafer.

Holiday’s website shows photos of this vodka used in a martini, which seems downright insane to me. Cosmo, yes. Martini, no.

80 proof.

B / $26

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