Wine Enthusiast 96 points - Aroma is dry, clean, and grainy, with background notes of parchment and litchi; later passes offer semisweet, mildly smoky/ashy scents of charcoal and smoldering embers. Palate entry is firm, moderately oily, bittersweet; at midpalate concentrated and spicy grain flavors mingle adroitly with the smoky, sap- and resin-sweet birch-charcoal filtering influence. Concludes sweetly and almost candy-like.
— P.P. (8/1/2005) — 96-100 (Jun 2006)
Ultimate Beverage Challenge 89 points - Ultimate Beverage Challenge (Mar 2011)
Stoli Elit 2.0 - Pristine Vodka from the Himalayan Series. Not very tough to figure the main specialty of the beverage in the bottle, this is using water derived from the Himalayan Mountains, apart from the special distillation and purification process undertaken to lend a velvety and fruity touch to the beverage. As much as the name might say it, this unique vodka is indeed limited to an edition of just 300 bottles.
Aimed at those who would call themselves connoisseurs, the Stolichnaya Elit Vodka has equally measures of high quality origins as the price and target consumer suggests. After several long periods of research, the makers of the vodka landed up at the Langtang National Park in the Himalayas, from it drew the special variety of water that we see in use here. But the story doesn’t end here. After the distillation process is undertaken, the liquid is frozen to temperatures below -18 degrees Celsius, during which the density increases, hence making it easy to spot out any impurities that may be present in the mixture. From there, only the purest form of the beverage remains in the thermos, whereas any additive is instantly evaporated and segregated. One might even note that, the wheat used in creating the vodka, is selected from the Tambov region in Russia, which produces some of the finest varieties of the crop in the country. Just goes to show, the company’s willingness to go the distance to produce something of quality, only detectable to the connoisseur’s palette. Also note the 40% alcohol content in the drink.
Going further, the packaging matches the beverage’s standards with equal marks. The outer chest which will house the Bohemian hand-blown glass bottle uses high quality walnut wood making it an art piece, practically speaking. The bottle on the other hand, apart from having this special production method, comes with gold plated capping and a golden ice-pick meant to be used by enjoying the beverage. So, in all it isn’t just about a fine fruity aroma vodka; it’s about an entire experience for the discerning vodka connoisseur.
