Square One Bergamot Flavored Organic Vodka (40% ABV, 80 Proof) – Square One has been an innovator with botanical vodkas that flirt the line with gin. Here they’ve got a riff on the citrus flower Bergamot (best known for being the floral element in Earl Grey tea). As you’d expect the nose is wonderfully floral with bergamot and fresh zested orange peel in equal amounts. As you move past the floral elements the core is bright orange with a touch of spice.
The entry is soft, sweet, with bergamot, and orange peel backed with an undercurrent of vanilla. The orange vanilla combo does read ever so slightly as orange tic tac. In the midpalate there’s a little spice added to the mix but not enough to ensure structure or complexity. It’s not really until the finish that we really get a blast of spice with strong coriander, ginger and juniper.
There are some nice ideas at work here, but the midpalate is too soft and the spices come in too late in the equation to give this the balance it needs. We wish Square One had been more bold with the bergamot, base spirit, and spices, they were too restrained and the final product suffers for it. 77 points.
