I received a bottle of Absolut Mandrin for my Birthday earlier this year. Having never tried Absolut Vodka before I was a little unsure of what to expect, as I knew very little about it, other than that I had seen it in shops and bars before, and that there are a lot of different flavoured vodka's available in the Absolut range.

Absolut is actually a Swedish vodka, which is produced in the south of the country in the Skåne province. As mentioned above Absolut have a large range of flavoured vodkas including:

Absolut Peppar
Absolut Citron
Absolut Kurant
Absolut Mandrin
Absolut Vanilia
Absolut Raspberri
Absolut Apeach
Absolut Ruby Red
Absolut Pears
Absolut Mango
Absolut Berri Acai
Absolut Wild Tea
Absolut 100


The Absolut Mandrin as you may have guessed is a mandarin flavoured vodka which comes in the usual stylish Absolut vodka bottle, but with lots of orange colouring on it to display the fact that this is the Mandrin vodka.
This particular flavour was first introduced back in 1999, and so has been available for around 13 years now, proving that it was a successful addition to the range.
It is a premium vodka with a 40 % alc/vol strength, and as such attracts quite a high price compared to the supermarket own brands. It generally retails at about £18 - £20 for a 70cl bottle, and is available from most supermarkets and off-licenses.

I am not a massive vodka drinker, and only really touch the stuff when I am away on holiday, but I have to say I really enjoyed this bottle of Mandrin flavour vodka for a change. It does have a strong scent and flavour of mandarin, orange and citrus to it, which is tangy and fruity on the tongue at first, before that fades away, and the strong taste of the vodka replaces it. It is made from natural ingredients, and is unusual in the way that it doesn't contain any added sugar, unlike most other flavoured vodkas. This removes the sickly sugary taste associated with other flavoured vodka drinks, and instead offers a smooth and subtle flavour.

I tried it neat at first to get an idea of the real flavour, by having a small shot glass of it, but to be honest it was too strong for me to drink like that, so I consumed most of the remainder of the bottle (not in the same night) by mixing it with various things such as coke, lemonade, or orangeade.
It does make a really nice fruity long drink, with an added kick to it.
My favourite way to drink it is in a long glass with ice, with about a quarter of a glass of vodka, and the rest filled with cold orange pop such as Orangina, Tango, or Lucozade.

Overall it is a nice drink, and it has inspired me to try a few other flavours from the range over the coming months as and when I get the change to.


Thanks for reading.


© L500589 2012