The under-rated spirit enjoying a renaissance and experts say the best is made in Britain

If you were young in the 90s and noughties then there was one spirit you will remember as a staple at student parties and gigs.

It used to lack any taste at all. It was simple, flavourless and did the job. Vodka got you drunk without the divisive juniper tang of gin or the complex profile of whisky that younger drinkers don’t always like.

Vodka could be mixed with anything from sophisticated cosmopolitans to espresso martinis to a can of coke. The cheap stuff was known as paint stripper!

But now the Brits are muscling in on vodka, traditionally made in Russia or Sweden….and it’s become something of a connoisseur’s tipple. As the gin boom fades so the humble vodka is picking up the slack with consumers interested in British made craft vodkas and how they are created.

The vodka industry in England is relatively young, especially when compared to the centuries-old traditions of vodka production in Eastern Europe. Yet, English distillers have embraced the challenge, using their nation’s rich resources to create vodkas that stand out in the global market.

There is Eight Lands’ cask-aged vodka, a rich flavour of dark fruits and caramel on the palate, which is more akin to whisky than a traditional vodka, albeit lighter and easier to sip according to the Daily Telegraph.

When he co-founded Eight Lands at the newly created Glenrinnes Distillery in Speyside, Scotland, Alex Christou knew that creating a quality vodka would be key to meeting the demands of an increasingly discerning drinker.

He said:”People want to know what they’re consuming, what’s going into it, why they’re enjoying it and why it tastes the way it does. Having a bit of character in a vodka gives drinkers something to appreciate.”

The initial distillation is an organic beer wash made with malted barley, malted and unmalted wheat, and two types of yeast, blended with a wheat-based spirit and spring water from the surrounding estate.

“That wash gives a slightly biscuity taste and a smoothness which you wouldn’t get if you just started with the spirit – it’d taste more generic.”

The aged vodkas have already proved popular with tourists who happen upon Eight Lands while on the Speyside whisky trail.

“A lot of people swear they’d never drink vodka, but they find our aged vodkas work for them.They understand what barrel ageing can do for whisky, so they can apply that knowledge to see how it would work for vodka.

“Equally, for those who don’t like whisky – and there’s usually at least one in the groups that come to visit us – it’s a bit lighter and has a cleaner mouthfeel so it’s a bit more approachable, but they still get to appreciate that craftsmanship and quality.”

Though Eight Lands’ approach may have been unusual a decade ago, it’s hardly the only distillery whose characterful vodkas are heralding a new and more interesting dawn for the traditionally underrated spirit.

Premium vodka sales increased in the UK by 2.5%, and there are high hopes for further growth in 2025, and drinks industry analysts have noted a shift with consumers opting for quality over quantity.

Steve Dustow, the founder of Colwith Farm Distillery in Cornwall, whose plough-to-bottle potato vodka distillery became the first in the world to be awarded a platinum medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2022, said: “There’s so much variety in modern vodka compared to where the category was 20 years ago.

“Nowadays, in the good wine and spirit shops, there are many beautifully crafted vodkas with amazing character, provenance and uniqueness. Wherever you are, there is vodka with true terroir and authenticity to be found.”

Dustow’s Aval Dor Barrel Aged Vodka was the first in the UK to be cask-aged and has become a bestseller.

“Barrel ageing has been around for centuries and is commonly known to soften and improve spirit quality whilst simultaneously imbuing flavour.”

The Lakes Distillery near Penrith is best known for its whiskies and gins, but the lessons learned in the production of other premium spirits have also informed its vodka making.

“When it comes to vodka, this includes everything from sourcing the ingredients – high-grade British wheat and pure water from the River Derwent next to our distillery – to taking our time over the distillation,” said master distiller Sarah Burgess.

“Vodka is far quicker to craft than whisky, but we make sure we allow the spirit as much distillation time as we believe it needs in order to reach peak quality.

“People want to know what they’re consuming: what’s going into it, why they’re enjoying it and why it tastes the way it does.”

And with plenty of celebrities muscling on the revival of vodka, from Ricky Gervais to Robert de Niro, it seems that a new dawn is rising for this much-maligned spirit.