Firestarter

Gimmick bottles have been a staple in the spirits industry for the last couple of years. Whether bottled within a skull, an alien, a devil, a tusk, oil drums or pistols, you sometimes need to stand out to be heard on the shelves. It’s amazing to say that all the examples above are vodka (with the exception of the pistol which is rum), and I can now add another to the list in Firestarter, being housed within a fire extinguisher.

The question is though, is it all gimmick and no substance? The aforementioned examples do house some incredible liquids, so lets dive in and see if we can make it a clean sweep!

Moldova are perhaps not your typical vodka producing country, but much like Kazakhstan with Snow Queen, Moldova had been under Russian rule for over 200 years, and their knowledge and know-how of the countries national spirit lives on.

Using winter wheat from the fields in Eastern Europe within a triple distillation process, it then enters either a five or seven filtration method before being bottled within specially designed packaging which resembles a fire extinguisher. During the final distillation, the liquid is also infused with honey.

So how does it fare? Well below, I give to you my tasting notes –

Firestarter (5x filtered) – 40%

Plenty of stringent wheat notes on the nose, with a good dose of soft earthy aromas to balance it out. A little sharp to begin with on the palate, but smooths out to introduce a developing warmth of citrus and earthy tones. A lingering, bold honey finish.

Perhaps more for the vodka lover to drink over ice, but it can mix, with this recipe offering a different slant to most vodka based cocktails –

Firestarter

Glass – 

Highball

Ingredients – 

50 ml Firestarter vodka
30 ml Cointreau
30 ml Peach Schnapps
30 ml Sloe gin
50 ml Cola

Method – 

Fill a highball glass with ice and pour all the ingredients within. Stir and garnish with a lime wedge.

Pick up a bottle for a party as it’s sure to go down a storm! To answer the question of whether it’s just a gimmick? It’s not. Just.

© David Marsland and Drinks Enthusiast 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog/sites author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to David Marsland and Drinks Enthusiast with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.