Black Vodka

October 3, 2006 11:47 AM

Black Vodka. Perfect for Halloween! (A separate search yielded direct links to mixing and drink tips.) The coloring is from the Indian/Burmese catechu, a wood extract, but it won't stain. After doing a little research, it seems UK company Blavod merged with US Extreme Beverages, maker of Red Bull. So... is it a novelty, or niche filler? Reviews seem pretty favorable. I'll be picking up a botle for my Halloween party.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan (37 comments total)

Novelty. Won't catch on.

I'll be picking up a botle for my Halloween party.

I'll be picking up some of this for my Halloween party.
posted by dios at 11:57 AM on October 3, 2006

Has anyone else tried Cafe Patron XO, a coffee-flavored tequila? Oh my god is it delicious!
posted by yeti at 12:02 PM on October 3, 2006

tried it a coupla years ago. wasn't a fan. tastes grainy and a little bitter.
posted by Doorstop at 12:05 PM on October 3, 2006

Extreme Beverages doesn't make Red Bull, Red Bull makes Red Bull.

Extreme Beverages appears to be the Minnesota distributor of Red Bull, according to the fact that their website says "Red Bull distributor" all over it.
posted by flaterik at 12:06 PM on October 3, 2006

That's cool, but how do I get a bottle? Looks like they only distribute in Alaska??
posted by dead_ at 12:11 PM on October 3, 2006

I've had it before. Pretty nondescript vodka. If you drink enough of it, it makes your solid excrement the next day green.
posted by porpoise at 12:11 PM on October 3, 2006

So if you mix black vodka and pepsi blue ... oh never mind.
posted by octothorpe at 12:14 PM on October 3, 2006

I've had a bottle of this among my 30 or so vodkas for about 3 or 4 years now... tastes pretty much like vodka.
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 12:16 PM on October 3, 2006

Blavod has been around for 10+ years, this is a pretty poor FPP.
posted by fire&wings at 12:18 PM on October 3, 2006

I got pretty blotto on Blavod at a vodka-only open bar a couple of years ago. I wouldn't suggest doing that. It tastes and smells like rubbing alcohol.
posted by zadermatermorts at 12:19 PM on October 3, 2006

I say mix BlaVod, PepsiBlue and Red Bull and call it a Contusion.
posted by jonmc at 12:22 PM on October 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

I want some Blavod... but basically I want it to layer shots with. Some Aftershock and Blavod would look wicked.
posted by Talanvor at 12:41 PM on October 3, 2006

Salmiakkikossu also is black. Mmm, salty.
posted by aubilenon at 12:41 PM on October 3, 2006

Pepsi... black?

Yeah, I like vodka and all, but this is a pretty terrible post despite all the links. There are thousands of specialty liqours out there all madly vying to be the next big fashionable drink, like Hypnotiq or any of those other hideous Cognac/XO remixes.

Also, the nice thing about (good) vodka is the reduced amount of impurities/additives - which makes it possible to drink heroic amounts of it - if one drinks enough water - sans hangover. Or green poo.
posted by loquacious at 12:44 PM on October 3, 2006

I drank Blavod in England. It's alright, but the black dye they use leaves a definite aftertaste not unlike licorice. Blavod had this very weird advert in england where this black man-white woman couple were in the bath together and she was shaving the guy's head and when she's done, she says "Now shave me!" ...later, in their bathrobes in the living room they both appear with no hair on their heads.
posted by parmanparman at 12:44 PM on October 3, 2006

As others have noted, Blavod's been out for a while. Thankfully, that means others can be warned before getting all excited about the stuff.

It makes an interesting visual statement in drinks that would otherwise be clear or red, but drinks of any other hue end up looking quite sickly.

Not many steps above well vodka in taste and texture, it's certainly not worth the premium price often charged for it.

And it definitely does have a weird-ish flavour that is apparently because of the colouring.
posted by batmonkey at 12:52 PM on October 3, 2006

Not that I'm a huge booze fan, but I was surprised that I had never heard of Blavod before. Yes, it's been around since 1998, but I think after the 2003 merger was the first it was available here in the US.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 12:53 PM on October 3, 2006

ObscureReferenceMan:
Here in Seattle, we apparently got it right when it was released.

It started being available in bars up here in '98. Not sure when the liquor stores started carrying it, but I know I bought a bottle in '99 (thus learning the lesson to never, ever make a Blavod Screwdriver again).
posted by batmonkey at 1:04 PM on October 3, 2006

Blavod has some interesting optical properties. In small quantities (eg, when you pour a small amount into the bottom of a tumbler), it looks greenish-black, but when you hold up a full bottle of it to the light and look through it, it appears dark red.

But then when you drink enough of it, funnily enough, everything goes black.
posted by kcds at 1:16 PM on October 3, 2006

Haven't had a chance to try Blavod yet. The best flavored vodkas i've tried were at the Diaghilev Restaurant in LA. They had this black tea flavored vodka (it was as black as Blavod) that was just awesome.
posted by facapulco at 1:27 PM on October 3, 2006

Weren't those colored blowing bubbles supposed to have come out by now? I think that black was one of the colors slated for the launch.
posted by Iridic at 2:43 PM on October 3, 2006

My boss gave me a bottle back in 1999.
It tasted like crap and did funny things to my poo.p
posted by zerokey at 3:23 PM on October 3, 2006

Let me make a second vote for salmiakki. You can make it yourself if you can get a package of Turkish Peppar candy and some vodka - just stir on low heat until dissolved, then bottle the black drink and serve... mmmmm, salty. :) :) :)
posted by anthill at 5:09 PM on October 3, 2006

I should add that you want to dissolve the candies in a small pan of water, then mix the resulting syrup with the vodka...
posted by anthill at 5:10 PM on October 3, 2006

Salmiakki—that's ammonium chloride or something, right?
posted by Iridic at 5:48 PM on October 3, 2006

Some friends and I got a bottle of this a few years back. We mixed it with OJ; the resulting beverage being a dark green color, we decided to call this drink "bog".
posted by Mark Doner at 7:00 PM on October 3, 2006

Black Vodka + Coca-Cola Blak /= Ketel One + Red Bull. Or, does it?
posted by ericb at 7:16 PM on October 3, 2006

Salmiakkikossu also is black. Mmm, salty.
posted by aubilenon at 2:41 PM CST on October 3

Damn you, now I have to try and find this liqour too. After the debacle that was trying to find the other flavours of Aftershock (without having to import it from England), I imagine this isn't going to be too fun.
posted by Talanvor at 8:13 PM on October 3, 2006

Loch Dhu black scotch. No longer made. Only in limited quantities when it was. Very collectible. Despised by many. Prized by the lucky few.

Cu Dhub black scotch brought on to fill the demand of the growing Loch Dhu cult.
posted by 3.2.3 at 10:59 PM on October 3, 2006

Yes. Ammonium Chloride -> Sal Amoniac -> Salmiakki.

Ammonium Chloride is a salt and tastes salty but not exactly like table salt, which, as we all know, is sodium chloride.

Talanvor: I think mail ordering booze internationally might be a hassle, but that's fine, you can make Salmiakkikosu yourself. In fact the wikipedia article has a link to how to do so. You can get the more exotic of the two ingredients here.

A lot of Americans don't like licorice and it's only a subset of those who like salty licorice, so if you make this expect lots of people to say stuff along the lines of "GodDAMN that stuff is foul!". Do not listen to them, they are wrong.
posted by aubilenon at 1:32 AM on October 4, 2006

If you want to drink something black, alcoholic and lovely, just have a pint of Guinness with a Jägermeister chaser.

And yeah, I brought a bottle of salmiakkikossu to show my friends what Finnish teenagers grow up drinking. Of the ten people that tried it, one person liked it while the others hated it. Good in shots, but that's about it.
posted by slimepuppy at 2:25 AM on October 4, 2006

I can't stand Guinness. The first time I drank it I nearly wretched. Maybe I had a bad batch, I don't know.

Jager's fine but it's too green. I do use it to layer shots, but it just isn't a pretty liquor to look at. Also, considering it's alcohol content, it's atomic weight must be weird because it usually likes to float on the top of everything else.

Thanks for the link to the candy, that will be helpful. The article says just to dump the crushed candy into the vodka rather than dissolve it first. Think it'd make any difference?
posted by Talanvor at 3:11 AM on October 4, 2006

Talanvor, my friend (a bartender by profession) just crushed the candy and let it dissolve naturally in the vodka (or authentic Koskenkorva). Apparently much nicer than the pre-made stuff as well. Not sure about ratios or how long it takes however. Koskenkorva is pretty disgusting by itself, though by law I'm probably not allowed to say that.

Guinness is an acquired taste and one needs to be as close to Ireland as possible to get the good stuff.
posted by slimepuppy at 3:22 AM on October 4, 2006

Pssst, Talanvor - it's specific gravity not molecular weight/mass.
posted by porpoise at 6:27 AM on October 4, 2006

doh - and if you're layer drinks, chilling the different liquids first makes it soooo much easier to layer.
posted by porpoise at 6:27 AM on October 4, 2006

Right, the majority of my liquor I keep in the freezer. Though I have had a couple of bottles freeze on me when I was certain the liquor content was sufficient to prevent that.

And I forgot it was specific gravity, for some reason my brain blinked atomic weight at me. Ah well. Thanks porpoise!
posted by Talanvor at 9:37 AM on October 4, 2006

This isn't vodka. Vodka, by definition and by law, is colorless.

Code of Federal Regulations - Title 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms
§5.22 The standards of identity.

Standards of identity for the several classes and types of distilled spirits set forth in this section shall be as follows (see also §5.35, class and type):
(a) Class 1; neutral spirits or alcohol. “Neutral spirits” or “alcohol” are distilled spirits produced from any material at or above 190° proof, and, if bottled, bottled at not less than 80° proof.
(1) “Vodka” is neutral spirits so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.
posted by sixpack at 10:52 AM on October 4, 2006