Lowest of the low?

October 18, 2009 Chuck spirits (misc) 2 Comments

I spied this on the liquor shelf of a Rite-Aid drugstore in Santa Monica. It was a brand of bottom-shelf rotgut vodka I’d never seen before — plastic bottle, of course — but then I noticed the brand had two varieties. Regular, and … this.

Borski Diluted Vodka

“Borski Diluted Vodka?” The word “diluted” is actually in the name of the product. Bottom-shelf, plastic-bottle vodkas are a dime a dozen, and I pay no attention to them except this time that extremely odd word “diliuted” caught my eye. And diluted it is, to an ABV of 25% (50 proof). Nice and cheap too, about eight bucks for the 1.75 liter plastic bottle.

This seems to be nothing more than a product manufactured and sold solely for the purpose of getting drunk, cheaply, and without burning your mouth quite so much. To top it off, here’s a video review some guy did of it. (F. Paul Pacult needn’t fear for his job.)

The lamest, saddest booze ever? I’m sure that Thunderbird and all the other bum wines are far nastier than this, but in the category of distilled spirits I’m not sure I’ve seen anything quite as sad.  Flavorwise, I suppose Victory Gin would be worse, though …

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2 Responses to “Lowest of the low?”

  1. Chuck said:

    Oct 18, 09 at 5:05 pm

    Interesting comment from my friend John: “It seems like an American imitation of a Russian table vodka… in Russia, vodka is often sold at this proof to be placed on the table and drank with most meals straight with food. A Russian guy once told me he thought Stolichnaya was a funny name for a vodka because it roughly translates into ‘table’ or something along those lines…”

    Fascinating. It does make sense, given that Modern Spirits flavored vodkas are 50 proof and meant to be taken with food. I also know that vodka comes out of the column still at a very high proof and is actually diluted to bottle proof … but I’d never seen someone actually use the term “diluted” on the label as a marketing point! There’s an 80 proof Borski sold next to this stuff.

    I’d be curious to know if the intent of the distillery was for this to be taken with food. My guess is that unless it’s a neighborhood with lots of Russians or Eastern Europeans, it’s not going to be sipped with meals.

    $8 for a 1.75l plastic bottle, we’re still talkin’ sad.
    🙂

  2. Tony Harion said:

    Oct 19, 09 at 8:59 pm

    Diluted vodka – doesn´t sound like a good choice of words even if your market is based on bums.