Haku Vodka

Haku vodka from Japan and made from rice, is a very solid vodka, albeit at a slightly higher price. Is it worth it, probably not, but it is a solid vodka and holds up well in any cocktail that I've thrown at it. I get rice pudding and yuzu on the nose. The palate is heavy on the vanilla and sweetness, but it is smooth. The finish is very clean, with little to no burn and hints of lemon and pepper. I don't think this will blow you away, but it's well made and if it was offered at the same price as Ketel One, Absolut or Sobieski, I would rate this higher. It's still solid, just hard to find a place for it when there are others at a much cheaper price, although if you want a rice vodka, this is probably the cheapest one out there.

This is a very nice smooth vodka. While I am not a big fan of vodka in general I do have several different vodkas in my bar and use them as a mixer rather than a straight sipper. This might be the exception to that rule. On the nose, there is mostly nothing a little bit of ethanol but not much else. The taste is light and smooth with a little bit of sweetness that fades quickly. The finish is light and fresh with no bad aftertaste. I do not really have a drink to test vodka like I do for other spirits but I have made several different drinks and it works with all of them. This is a solid addition to your bar and a nice surprise for drinkers. Enjoy.

Went in looking for some Baijiu but couldn't find any due to a shortage. Walked out with this, pleasantly surprised! "japanese vodka" is a wise branding choice as most americans won't be familiar with calling this an Overproof Shochu. 100% rice and taste light and lovely, short tail, the tiniest floral nose that peaks at you again as you swallow. Really sings straight but easy to lose in a cocktail. Soft enough you might drink more than you mean to.

Lovely. I was trying to work out why its not sake and why its not shochu (which is frustratingly difficult to get in the UK). If I understand right, sake is not distilled (this is) and the fermentation process might be different, and shochu is limited to ABV of 36% (this is 40%) and can't be filtered though charcoal (this is). But it really is just like a really good rice shochu. Which is so much more interesting than regular vodka.

A Japanese vodka made from… You guessed, white rice! Seriously, this is a very good spirit, smooth with a palatable complexity, lightly sweet and sippable. It’s clearly not the purists style of vodka but, that’s a different story, just like the “shochu” comments. The value for price is good although that could depend a lot on how you intend to drink it.

The description says rhe rice is “polished”. What tiny hands are buffing these grains of rice is the question on my mind.. in any case this is as good as vodka gets. Meaning its neutral AF. Clean, slightly papery. Filtered through the entirety of japan it seems and the result is pleasant . This is all one lcan ask of vodka.. great job.