Product Reviews

Independent on Sunday Review

My Round - Richard Ehrlich

Now that vodka is the new wine, what will be the new vodka? Absinthe has been rearing its ugly head for a while, but it needs expert preparation, like the poisonous blowfish of Japanese cuisine, if it isn't to cause instant loss of conciousness. And the taste, for my money, is unpleasant. I'm willing to take a small flutter on Poteen, the venerable Irish moonshine which has been re-launched several times in recent years.

The latest entrant is Knockeen Hill Poteen, £14.99/50CL at 19 branches of Waitrose, triple-distilled in County Waterford and sold at a walloping 60 per cent ABV.

It is a genuinely good drink, powerful but smooth and sweet. The next vodka? You never can tell.

The above article appeared in the edition dated 24th March 2002.