Russian Standard Vodka Miniature 5cl

This Russian vodka is all about clarity and backbone, the kind of bottle you grab when you want your cocktails to taste focused, not muddy. It’s crisp, lightly peppery, and clean enough to play nice with citrus, ginger, and coffee, while still bringing a distinct grain snap that reminds you it’s vodka, not water.

If you’ve ever mixed a drink and felt like the spirit disappeared, this fixes that. You get structure without heaviness, which is exactly what you want for highballs, mules, and anything shaken hard with ice. It’s confident, not loud, and it keeps the whole drink tasting sharp from first sip to last.

• Nose: Fresh grain, a little citrus peel, faint white pepper
• Taste: Clean, lightly creamy texture, cracked pepper, lemon zest, subtle cereal sweetness
• Finish: Dry and tidy, with a gentle peppery warmth and a quick fade

Where it really shines is in classic vodka cocktails that need lift and definition. Think Moscow Mule, Vodka Soda with a squeeze of lime, or a Vodka Martini when you want it crisp and direct. It also holds up in an Espresso Martini, the coffee stays front and centre, but the vodka still gives it a firm, clean spine.

Flavour-wise, expect a cool, straight-line profile. Grain up front, citrus flicker, pepper on the edges. That little bit of bite is the point, it keeps mixed drinks from tasting flat, especially when you’re building something simple with just a couple of ingredients.

On the practical side, it’s an easy vodka to keep around because it’s versatile. Citrus, ginger beer, tonic-style mixes, coffee liqueur, even a Bloody Mary-style build, it plugs in without turning everything into “vodka with stuff.” You still taste the drink you meant to make.

And yes, it’s from Russia, where vodka is treated like a serious everyday staple, not a special-occasion flex. The goal is purity and consistency, the stuff you can rely on when you’re mixing for friends and you want the result to taste the same every time.

Fun Fact: Russian Standard was created with a very specific benchmark in mind, the 1894 “Russian Standard” for vodka quality tied to Dmitri Mendeleev’s work on alcohol and water mixtures.