The World’s Best Vodka—According To The 2023 Tasting Alliance World Championship

17.03.2024 - 09:23 / forbes.com / Charles

Last month we went into extended detail about the new “World Championships” launched by the Tasting Alliance. You can catch up on the full story here. In short, it’s pretty much the Olympics of liquor tasting. The top-rated boozes from three of the industry’s most coveted competitions all square off against one another, to arrive at the best-of-the-best from any specific category, in any given year. We’ve already revealed the 2023 winners for bourbon, tequila, and scotch.

Today it’s time for vodka (drumroll please...):

Ramsbury Vodka is your World Champion of 2023. The award-winning product is blended and bottled on a bucolic British farm in the quiet countryside of Marlborough, about an hour’s drive south of Oxford. Distilled exclusively from wheat grown on the sprawling property, it exists as one of the UK’s only single estate vodkas. In fact, you can trace each bottle’s lineage back to a precise field of origin.

But that’s not the only thing that marks this vodka as unique. It also hits the glass at 43% ABV, slightly higher than the traditional 40% (or 80-proof mark) of most of its contemporary competitors. This gives the liquid a punchier edge, sure. It also allows for a more assertive delivery of the citrus zest and aniseed undertones that drive the booze’s rounded flavor. You are tasting provenance in vodka form.

The competitive advantage is the wheat at its base, along with the pristine water source: an ancient aquifer from Ramsbury’s adjoining valley. And despite all this unexpected consideration of flavor in vodka, it might be the mouthfeel that really won over the prestigious panel of judges at the Tasting Alliance.

This is an indelibly creamy product. Its pronounced viscosity is amplified when served up—ice, ice cold, with nothing more than a lemon twist garnish. In Martini form, you want as dry an offering as possible. The need for vermouth-based adjustments is essentially nonexistent.

All in all, this is an elegant spirit fit for a king. And we mean that quite literally. King Charles—when he was still the Prince of Wales—toured Ramsbury back in 2017. So, they already had that going for them, long before they claimed their own crown in this newly enshrined Booze Olympics.

You can also visit the operation yourself. The estate houses a working brewery and produces several fine gins as well. A full immersive experience is offered on the last Friday of every month between April and September. Of course, if you want to capture the experience in liquid form, you hardly need a passport. Ramsbury Single Estate Vodka currently sits on American shelves for around $60 a bottle.