Solid Granite Vodka stakes their claim on New Hampshire spring water and locally sourced corn, fermented in-house and distilled 3 times. Unlike some other vodkas, they make their own grain alcohol in small batches. Small batch vodka is typically very opinionated, and sometimes takes a lot of effort to decode. Solid Granite Vodka was a little easier.

Straight

Solid Granite Vodka is exceptional. It starts with the nose. I don‘t think I‘ve ever talked about a vodka‘s nose. Most vodkas smell like isopropyl alcohol at worst and are without smell at best. Solid Granite Vodka is the essence of floral. I can‘t emphasize this enough. The vodka is everything you could ask for in terms of smoothness and mouth feel, but it is defined by the nose. It is unlike every other vodka that I‘ve tasted. Understanding the nose is the key to unlocking this vodka.

The first thing you‘ll notice is a floral-essence sweetness. You‘ve probably been told in science classes that your olfactory sense has a lot to do with how things taste. Solid Granite Vodka proves this in a way that I have never experienced before. When this vodka is captured in my mouth where it has no access to senses of smell, it‘s completely flavorless. When I initially sip and when I swallow, my senses of smell pick up the floral. It‘s uncanny.

Solid Granite Vodka is incredibly smooth and easy to drink, and the nose is unlike any other vodka I‘ve enjoyed.

Mixed

Solid Granite Vodka is a great vodka, but the nose is difficult to contend with in terms of mixing. It took a few weeks with the vodka to get my head around the nose and figure out how to mix the vodka. I‘m not a mixologist, so I tried to stick with basic ingredients that would work well with the nose. For me, that meant fruit.

First, I tried a traditional screwdriver as a baseline at 3 parts OJ to 1 part vodka. The floral notes come through when I can smell what I‘m drinking. When I get used to the nose, the cocktail actually tastes watered down. The vodka subtracts the sweetness. That makes it very easy to sip and especially easy to sip multiple sips in succession.

Next, I made a screwdriver with a hefty bit of pomegranate juice mixed in at 2 parts OJ, 1 part pomegranate juice, 1 part vodka. The vodka dials down the tartness of the pomegranate and inherits the same effects of the screwdriver. Just like the screwdriver, it seems almost watered down, which makes it very easy to drink.

Finally, I tried mixing the vodka with cranberry. Normally, I don‘t mix vodka with straight cranberry. I prefer a madras since the orange juice helps sweeten the mixture. In this case, though, the previous two drinks had the tartness and sweetness dialed down. So, I went for a straight 3 parts cranberry juice to 1 one part vodka mix. It was acceptable even as a non-cran person. But, then I dropped a dash of simple syrup in the cocktail. That blew my mind. It reminded me of drinking the syrup out of an Otter Pop when I was a kid.

Final Thoughts

Solid Granite Vodka is unlike any vodka I‘ve experienced because the nose is such a major feature of the vodka. It‘s undeniable and comes through even when mixing with ingredients that have fairly distinct smells. As usual, I don‘t think I did the vodka justice with my amateur cocktails. A real mixologist could probably do much more interesting things. In the end, Solid Granite Vodka is one of the most unique vodkas I‘ve poured.