Euro Haul Part 3: Polish Vodka Tasting And Notes

In This Epsiode Leandro Tastes Two Polish Vodkas and gives notes on flavor profile as well as comparing the flavor to the American version of on of them.
You may remember when I accidentally smashed my bottle of Polish Zubrowka last year, well on this last trip to Norway Marius was able to pick up another bottle from his father who graciously picked one up in Poland for us plus he got us a bottle of the Dubowa Oak Vodka as well. We taste and give notes along with comparing the flavor of the Polish Zubrowka with it's American counterpart. Are they Comperable???
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[@bogdanrylski4330]

Pronunciation Help: Dębowa (dem-BO-va) Żubrówka (rzu-BRUF-ka) Thanks for the video, love seeing Polish things out in the wild.

[@simonafflerbach3388]

I love Zubrowka and never knew it was polish! But of course you guys invented Wodka, so of course you´re good at making it :D Greetings from Niemcy :)

[@KeepHimAtBay]

wybacz ale to brzmi jak rhza-BRAF-kej więc trochę daleko ci do lingwisty

[@g1l3r48]

Zu bru vka

[@sprzedamoplawlpg5530]

i'd say jew-brew-kha ;)

[@elvrro]

I like polish vodka, Belveder this is great vodka, some polish beers are nice too

[@maksymilianreiter3111]

our national treasure :))

[@krongilo12]

A jak

[@pharaohblackwell7304]

Zubrowka!!! I had this at home in Chicago at the California Clipper in their variation on a Vesper, the Skarbek. It made for a really interesting and flavorful cocktail.

[@zennekelechien1610]

This is a great selection of Polish vodkas! Zubrowka has a really unique flavor. You say it's kind of cinnamony, which I don't quite taste, but it does complement apple juice just like cinammon! Debowa is nice, but tastes exactly as you would expect. Luksusowa used to be my go-to potato vodka until they went and ruined its recipe. All of the million other Polish vodkas are not worth buying IMO. Especially those that are marketed as vodka but are actually cloyingly sweet liqueurs.

[@davekowal1690]

Not worth buying? Chopin vodka, Belvedere, Wyborowa, Soplica, Sobieski, Pravda etc. All great vodkas.

[@zennekelechien1610]

@@davekowal1690/videos I've had all of those except Pravda, and sure, they're quality and they're great for gifting. But none of them are memorable, nor could I tell the difference between them. Ethanol+water in itself is profoundly uninspiring. I love Zubrowka, Debowa, Starka for their character, something most vodkas simply lack.

[@Fyrwulf]

Alright! For some reason I was expecting the Buffalo Grass to have a flavor similar to Lemongrass. As I'm wont to do, I'm now trying to come up with a Vesper riff because I'm obsessed with that drink.

[@frangione723]

I hope we will see some Zubrowka based coctails on your show soon. There are plenty. If you need help I can recommend you few. Szarlotka and Polish Forest Lemonade are proabbly the most known ones. There is also plenty of different approaches for making them. Basic Szarlotka (Apple Pie) calls for 2/3 apple juice, 1/3 Zubrowka and pinch of cinnamon. But I prefer a modern approach on this drink and I make it my way. My Szarlotka is made of: bar spoon of cinnamon syrup, 0.5 oz lemon juice, 2 oz Zubrowka and 3 oz of apple juice. You can scale down or up alcohol, apple or lemon content or a type of apple juice (sweet or sour) up to your preferences but it should be both sweet and sour with a hints of that Bison Grass flavour, not too cinammony. A variation of Sharlotka is Charlotte's Martini or what I call Szarlotini. It is basically Martini version of Szarlotka. You need 1.5 oz of Zubrowka, 1.5 oz of sweet apple wine, dash of apple bitters, pinch of cassia. Garnish with twisted lemon zest. If you struggle to get apple bitters you can replace them with other type. If you want drier Szarlotini you can use hard cider in a place of sweet apple wine. But, one of my favourites and most interesting coctails with Zubrowka is ZU Time: 2 oz of ZU, 1 oz of fresh grapefruit juice and 0.75 oz of thyme syrup. Martini glass is a must. Garnish with a fresh thyme. PFL is very simple as well. You need 2 oz of Zubrowka, 4 oz of lemonade, 0.5 oz of honey and mint leaves (at least 5-6 of them). Enjoy!

[@wolfis09]

hey :) thanks so much for these, very interesting!

[@thicckk1682]

There is some quite interesting cocktails with that zubrowka. It would be interesting to see a blanc agricole taste test ranking the most famous blanc agricoles in order. 👍

[@mieteksnopowiazaka5359]

From other Polish vodkas, I also recommend Ogiński vodka, if you like "spicy", and Belvedere Wodka. I'm not a connoisseur, but I really recommend Belvedere. Regards

[@stephane.foisy.186]

Wonder if the ABV on the Zubrowka means there is more of a change, could account for the sweetness(sugar?) and less harsh ethanol. Maybe treated more like a extraction similar to some flavoured vodka.

[@belmund]

As a polish guy I never heard of dębowa. This is probably some of the stuff that is made and sold only for turists

[@pnwesty7174]

I've had the American Zubrowka several times, but recently tried the Polish variety. They were far enough apart, my mind couldn't sense much difference, but I would believe they were a bit different. There is a story about Polish wild bison and a park where this grass grows. I guess people "poach" grass from the area to add to their own spirits. This from the Polish guy that gave me some to try. He said there is a traditional drink ("I grew up on this.") that is equal parts zubrowka and fresh pressed cider, but I forget the name.

[@freepour]

Yes! I’ll be creating a cocktail using these elements because the drink sounds kind of amazing

[@tomaszkutera2172]

That's szarlotka (means "apple pie"). Most people would do it with just apple juice though, never heard about anyone using cider, but seams like a good idea.

[@krongilo12]

Dude acctually i live in Poland lol

[@TheMatthewcota]

Not sure if you read older post, but I'd be interested if big staple liquids like campari or fernet branca, if they tailor taste around the world.

[@freepour]

Yep we’ll get around to it for sure

[@richardbae9975]

Did you get the bottles backwards? im in the US, and my bottle is the one with the dark green top

[@freepour]

the American version of the same zubrowka looks almost identical

[@mrhoborz]

"We do stuff on patreon that we do not do on youtube" 👀

[@larrywave]

You should taste koskenkorva sauna barrel its awful 😂

[@dravendrinks]

Ok so considering vodka is supposed to not have character discerning it from others does this just get around it with being "flavored vodka"?

[@freepour]

Yeah it’s absolutely flavored vodka

[@weedywet]

I'm a big fan of Luksosowa... you?

[@freepour]

Haven't tried it, but it's on the list.

[@weedywet]

@@freepour eager to hear what you think. I like it a lot, AND relatively it's a bit of bargain.

[@LastDrakkar82]

"LUKSUSOWA", mate! Potato&rye vodka... I like it, but still "Wyborowa" is my fav. Especially "Wyborowa - Polish Wheat".

[@mhmhm7116]

Dont open dębowa vodka for 3 months and it will have more oak color and will more smother and nice :)

[@freepour]

thanks

[@jacekplacek1934]

THIS IS NOT HOW YOU SUPPOSE TO DRINK A VODKA. I AM, POLISH AND YOU SHOULD DRINK IT FROM 5CL GLASS AS A A SHOT.

[@undervalued9290]

In fact, a very "standard" choice ... It's worth trying Polish potato or pea vodka: Polski Ziemniak, Młody Ziemniak, Grochowica Polska. Specially for You: »Peas and cabbage« drink recipe: 80 grams of Grochowica Polska // 100 grams of sauerkraut juice // a few drops of worcester sauce // 40 grams of sauerkraut // 2 pickled asparagus // lemon pepper for the preparation of decorative crust

[@krzysztofstolarczyk7773]

I'm sad that Poland doesn't have some variety of aged spirits even though we produce a MASS of alcohol... To many, to frequent invasions prevent us from aging our alcohol xD

[@ps75fly]

starka?

[@davekowal1690]

I didn't even know that American Zubrówka is different from Polish. Why grass was banned in USA but in Europe not? Strange. I understand that drinking Polish version of Zubrówka increases the risk of cancer?

[@kalenberreman8252]

Vodka is boring. Go to Italy and get us some weird amaro.

[@freepour]

LOL. Next stop Is Africa

[@zennekelechien1610]

@@freepour/videos Wow! The only hard liquor from Africa I ever had was Tunisian Boukha, a fig vodka, pretty decent! Can't wait to see what else there is to discover!

[@weedywet]

OK Hipster

[@kalenberreman8252]

@@weedywet Bartending/mixology is a hipster profession, my friend, I won't take offense from that.

[@kalenberreman8252]

@@freepour That sounds fun.