One of several Nalewki (homestyle infusions) I picked up on a recent trip. Pours golden and impossibly thick, with little ice crystals forming inside. The smell is potent and strange - it's an organic funk, like wet buckwheat or a sack of grain, with little sweetness. This can't decide how it wants to go down. At first, it's profoundly thick and sweet and all about the honey with notes of buckwheat, chive flower, and a tiny hint of salt, but it gives way to a thin, very minty, and watery burst of bad alcohol that somehow covers up the thicker and lovelier honey notes from before. It leaves a sticky aftertaste of pure honey, and doesn't sit well with the stomach. This isn't meant to be drunk straight, and is traditionally used in tinctures, cocktails, and even desserts in place of simple syrup or sugar. When mixed with other vodkas in simple recipes (or especially with hard cider), every last questionable flavor note goes away and all is instantly magical and delicious. It's far better than my own attempts to make Krupnik, but loses out to other Krupnik brands and is nowhere near as good as more famous honey liqueurs like Barenjager.
Reviewer: Sam W.