Meet an asparagus vodka

It sounds like an April Fools joke, but I checked the calendar and it is definitely May. 

Portobello Road Distillery has launched what it claims is the “world’s first asparagus vodka”.

And the vodkas will be vintage releases, Drinks Business reported.

The London distillery intends to release the vodka annually, just after the start of asparagus season, using asparagus grown on Portwood Farm in Norfolk.

The vegetable is steeped for 24 hours in British potato vodka before being bottled in a limited run of 600 bottles each time.

Available for both the on-trade and off-trade, the vegan vodka features no filtration or additives and the distillery says it can be used to vamp up classic cocktails such as the negroni or martini. 

The launch follows an earlier attempt by the distillery to make an asparagus-based gin, which didn’t work as well as the team had hoped.

“The fact that it was a gin and therefore required to be juniper-led meant the actual asparagus flavour was quite subtle,” said Portobello Road Distillery co-founder Jake Burger.

“So when we stepped into vodka production, we wanted to revisit the ingredient, but this time in a product where the flavour could really stand out and sing in mixed drinks”. 

Righto Jake. 

# Portobello Road Distillery really is based on London’s famous Portobello Road.