Spirits & Liqueurs Vodka

On the Fence About Gin? Try These 3 Botanical Vodkas.

Botanicals allow vodka drinkers to dip a toe into gin.

By
Kelly Magyarics
Kelly Magyarics
Kelly Magyarics
Kelly Magyarics, DWS, is a wine, spirits, travel, food and lifestyle writer and wine educator.
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Updated 09/17/20
A collection of botanical vodka bottles on a modern-style bar cart with cocktails.

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

We know, gin is just a bit too gin-y for you vodka drinkers. Some bottles can taste like sucking on a pine branch, while others are so oversaturated with “local” ingredients that you don’t know what to make of them—or with them. But don’t give up yet.

There’s a relatively new booze category that might be right for you. Botanical vodka comprises plant-based botanicals and natural essences. Distinct from flavored vodkas, which can be loaded with artificial coloring and ingredients, these bottles are flavored naturally, with complementary components. Here are three to try, along with a cocktail idea for each.

  • Ketel One Botanical Peach & Orange Blossom ($30)

    Ketel One Botanical Peach & Orange Blossom vodka bottle on a tray next to a cocktail held by a woman's hand

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    The Dutch vodka company recently released three expressions made with real botanicals, natural fruit essences, 100% non-GMO grain, zero carbs and no artificial flavors or sweeteners: Cucumber & Mint, Grapefruit & Rose, and Peach & Orange Blossom.

    “The distillation process and taste are so distinctive from flavored vodka and offer such a unique alternative to wine that [we] refer to the different variants as varietals,” says brand director Jim Ruane. The essences and botanicals for each are distilled at the beginning of the process rather than introducing them at the end, as is done with flavored vodka, so they’re better integrated into the final product.

    Ketel One uses recipes from the Nolet family and a copper pot still for the most authentic taste experience, which Ruane describes as “lush, juicy white peaches and bold notes of fragrant orange blossoms.”

    Try it with the Botanical Bee’s Knees, an upgrade on the traditional Bees’ Knees that uses chamomile tea to lend a delicate floral quality to honey and lemon.

  • Cocalero Clásico Herbal Spirit ($30)

    Cocalero Clásico Herbal Spirit Vodka bottle on a tray next to a cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    When Intrepid Spirits CEO John Ralph was visiting South America, he learned how intrinsic the coca leaf was to the local lifestyle. People brew coca leaf tea to combat altitude sickness and chew the leaves to boost energy. When he returned from his trip, he researched the French Vin Mariani, an elixir made with red wine and extracts from the coca leaf that was popular during Victorian times, leading to the invention of Coca-Cola. It led him to create Cocalero Clásico, a lightly sweet spirit that straddles the gin and liqueur categories.

    “Fans of amaro will appreciate the complex blend of botanicals, while gin drinkers will find Clásico to be a much more pleasant drinking experience,” says Ralph. The spirit is made from a guarded recipe of 17 botanicals and herbs—coca leaf, juniper, ginseng, green tea included—using a steam-distillation process found in the perfume industry that extracts essential oils. Ralph drinks it straight, very cold with a slice of lime, but also calls it an exciting base for cocktails like the Margarita, Mojito or Spritz.

    Try it with the Wormhole Warrior, a stirred and citrusy take on the Martini.

  • Square One Botanical Vodka ($35)

    Square One Botanical vodka bottle on a tray next to a cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Founder and CEO Allison Evanow is a pioneer in the botanical vodka category, launching the first version in the market a decade ago. “The qualifying factor to be called ‘botanical’ anything is that you have to actually use the real plant in some way,” she says. From this launching point, distillers can cross into other categories, like botanical whiskey. (Pow-Wow, a botanical rye, is infused with orange peel and saffron.)

    Square One botanical vodka is distilled from organic rye and water from the Snake River and infused with chamomile, citrus peel, coriander, lavender, lemon verbena, pear, rose and rosemary. “I think bartenders especially, but also more knowledgeable consumers, are now understanding that a reference to botanical spirits is simply a broader genus term for a spirit that relies on its main flavor profile from a collection of botanicals regardless of spirit type.”

    Try it with the Pink Peppercorn Botanical Gimlet. The peppery notes of this Gimlet offset the spirit’s floral and fruit notes.