The Night Our Vodka Beat the World
2019 was the breakthrough year. Blomendahl Vodka, one of the very few grape-based vodkas in the world, won the Best Vodka Trophy at the Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits Awards, judged by an international panel against every vodka entered.
Why vodka is the hardest test
Vodka is the most exposing thing a distillery can enter. There are no botanicals to hide behind, no oak, no sugar. Just spirit and water, and every flaw on display.
Ours is made from our own barrel-aged wine, five times distilled, rested in custom steel tanks and then blended with mountain spring water from the Elgin valley. That grape base is the whole argument, and it is explained in full here. A trophy judged blind against the world makes the case better than we can.
It was not the only medal that year
| Spirit | 2019 result |
|---|---|
| Blomendahl Vodka | Michelangelo Best Vodka Trophy |
| Roxi's Botanical Gin, a brand we craft | Michelangelo Platinum |
| Alter Schwede | Michelangelo Gold |
| Blomendahl Apple Liqueur | Michelangelo Silver |
| Smiths Spice and Elderflower Gin, brands we craft | SA Craft Gin Double Gold |
A Platinum for a client's gin in the same year as a trophy for our own vodka set the pattern that has held ever since: the brands we make for other people compete on the same terms as our own, on the same stills.
Read the full record in the Trophy Room, or find a bottle.