Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/113109
PHOTO COURTESY OF PURITY VODKA Kuuttanen with the Asian Spirits Master Trophy. there room for the right kind of new vodka, but that this is where major consumer shifts are happening. To prove his point, Glaser can show back-to-back Grand Master Trophies from the Grand Spirits Masters in London, 15 Gold or Master medals from The Vodka Masters, two Golds at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and a near sweep at the Asian Spirits Masters in 2012 with four Golds, Grand Master in Vodka and Bestin-Show for all spirits. Since 2002, Purity Vodka has won more than 40 major competition medals, 90 percent of which were Gold or higher. Glaser says Purity Vodka has become the most-awarded ultra-premium vodka in the world. But Purity Vodka doesn���t rack up medals for their ���wow��� factor. Instead, says Glaser, the awards provide consistent validation that Purity���s taste is different from anything the vodka world has seen before���unique smoothness and full-bodied character, with minerals, malt and hints of nougat and white chocolate. It���s Purity Vodka���s taste that assures the medals. Whisky Blender Turned Vodka Master Purity Vodka���s Master Blender, Thomas Kuuttanen, might be called the ���anti vodka-maker.��� A Swede who worked as a Scotch whisky blender for 1 10 / the tasting panel / march 2013 two decades, Kuuttanen originally did everything he could to stay away from vodka. At Purity, he refused to create another neutral mainstream product without a soul. ���As a Swede and a spirit geek, I could not stop myself from geeking into Swedish vodka history, which goes back to the 14th century,��� Kuuttanen says. ���What I found was that Swedish vodka and Scottish single malt whisky was made exactly the same way for hundreds of years. Both were produced from malted grains, distilled in pot stills and enjoyed as a white spirit.��� The two spirits genres began to diverge when the Scots started to mature their whisky in oak casks. The second change was continuous distillation, developed in the 19th century. ���Even though continuous distillation originated from the whisky industry, it is the vodka industry that massively adopted the new technique in a manner that transformed vodka into a totally new spirit,��� Kuuttanen says. Kuuttanen decided to make Purity Vodka an artisanal, old-school vodka��� one with lavor. Modern regulations wouldn���t allow him to solely use pot stills (which can���t reach the required minimum alcohol of 96% abv), so he invented his own unique still, designed speciically for vodka production and located at the Purity Vodka Distillery at Ellinge Castle in the south of Sweden. Using a unique recipe of organic winter wheat and malted barley, Purity Vodka is taken from the inest ���heart��� of the distillation (hence the brand���s name), avoiding the low quality ���heads��� and ���tails.��� During 34 separate distillations, 90 percent of the liquid is lost, leaving the remaining spirit so reined that no iltration is necessary. ���My goal for Purity Vodka is to be the undisputed leader within the yet very small segment of handcrafted, ultra-premium vodka,��� he says. ���At the same time, we need to get this segment to grow through increased understanding and knowledge of what distinguishes different vodkas��� qualities from each other.��� For Kuuttanen, this means educating consumers that vodka can be more than the heavily marketed, neutral industry standard. A Personal Preference ���The only two things that would upset me would be if consumers would ind Purity Vodka too mainstream or ind it to have a burn,��� he says. ���It���s less important for me whether they like it��� taste is a matter of personal preference. However, any vodka that has a burn is a poorly made spirit, and any spirit not having character is made only to make the producer rich and the consumer drunk. That is not what we are about.