Corbin California Estate Grown Sweet Potato Vodka (or Corbin Vodka for short) is unique. Instead of using a traditional potato, they were the first to go the uncharted rout of making a sweet potato vodka. It was no small feat to tame the sweet potato into a vodka worth drinking. It started with the Souza family-owned sweet potato farm in California’s San Joaquin Valley and a willingness to try something different with their sweet potato crop. A lot of experimentation, hand-selected sweet potatoes, and a craft distilling process lead to Corbin Vodka. And now, with great enthusiasm for such a finely crafted product, we get to drink it.

The Shot

Corbin vodka delivers in the taste department. The vodka is at first flavorless, but subtle hints of flavor start to filter in as the vodka sits in my mouth. Corbin is easily one of the most complex vodkas I’ve tasted. It is as close to the complex of whisky as I’ve come by in a vodka, no doubt due to the complexity of the ingredients, so it’s difficult to pin down the taste. I hate to describe it with references to other food given the VodkaBuzz mission statement, but it’s almost like dark roasted almonds. Novice vodka drinkers might have a little trouble with Corbin, but the complex flavor gives the vodka a nice characteristic. The vodka is very smooth on swallow, and doesn’t need a chaser. If you’re up for a challenge, Corbin vodka is a great choice and is very easy to drink straight.

The Mixed Drink

I mixed Corbin vodka with orange juice for a bog standard screwdriver. The results were actually quite nice. The vodka actually seemed to tone down the sweetness of the orange juice without causing any other problems with the flavor. It came out tasting like a less-sweet glass of orange juice that was very easy to drink. I expect that most fruit drink mixers would have a similar outcome, which is great if, like me, you prefer simple cocktails to the wild concoctions available nowadays.

Overall, Corbin makes for an excellent mixing vodka as well as a great vodka for drinking straight. Again, novice vodka drinkers that are looking for a neutral flavor might want to hold off on Corbin. If you are a vodka enthusiast, however, Corbin is a great vodka that will challenge your tastebuds and make you rethink how the raw materials dictate the flavor of the finished vodka. That is, Corbin vodka is an experience, not merely a drink.