Flavoring Vodka and Other Spirits: Pro Tips for Developers
Flavoring Vodka and Other Spirits: Pro Tips for Developers
The inspiration for a product flavor can come from many places: trending flavors, classics that evoke nostalgia, or flavors that blend well with the flavor profile of the base product. Finding the right flavor for your product as well as your target market takes skill and experience.
Luckily, our experts at Renaissance Flavors know exactly how to find that perfect harmony between base flavors and the flavor you want to add in and highlight with your product.
Flavoring Vodka
Vodka is by far one of the easiest forms of alcohol to add flavor to because it undergoes charcoal filtration during its distillation process that strips it of any unwanted flavors.
Since there aren’t any overpowering and highly distinctive flavors in vodka, it’s relatively easy to add any one of a large variety of flavors to the spirit. In fact, there is a longstanding and widespread practice of infusing vodka at home to create fruity, spicy, and herbal varieties.
Some of the most popular flavors used in vodka or fruit flavors like raspberry, strawberry, watermelon, apple, lemon, and other citrus flavors. There are also a large number of gourmand flavors like vanilla, salted caramel, marshmallow, whipped cream, and cake. There’s even a line of fry-flavored vodka thanks to the fast-food chain Arby’s
The options for flavoring vodka are literally endless, but that doesn’t mean that just because you can, you should, and determining which flavor will fill the need in the market will help your product stand out from the endless rows of options.
Consumer tastes are becoming both more sophisticated and more adventurous. In fact, some of the top flavors of vodka to try according to Restaurant Clicks include cucumber, ginger zest, Citroen, melon, coconut, and even olive.
Herbaceous and floral flavors are gaining traction in the space as well with blends like lavender-rosemary, lemongrass-ginger, grapefruit-rose, hibiscus-chamomile, and elderflower.
Flavoring Other Light Spirits
Flavoring other light spirits is similar to flavoring vodka, though most do have more of a pronounced base flavor profile to consider when choosing your additional flavors.
Gin is an excellent example. It is still a very light and easily blended spirit, but its source material, juniper berries, gives it a distinctly piney taste. As a result, gin tends to work well with tart and citrusy fruits like blackberry, raspberry, plum, cranberry, orange, blood orange, grapefruit, and lemon.
The piney taste of gin also works well with sweeter flavors like strawberry, vanilla, marmalade, honey, and even chocolate. But where gin really shines is in floral and herbaceous flavors like lavender, sage, hibiscus, rosemary, and rhubarb
On the opposite end of the spectrum of light spirits is rum. Where gin gets its piney taste from the juniper berries it’s made from, rum gets its warmth and smoothness from the molasses that is used to make the classic Caribbean liquor.
Both the sweet smoothness of rum and its historical and cultural ties to the Caribbean islands make exotic fruit flavors the most popular flavors for rum in general, but especially white rum. Coconut, pineapple, pina colada, grapefruit, watermelon, and even classic island herbs make for some of the most popular flavors.
Moonshine, the unaged and notoriously unlawful version of whiskey often appropriately called white lightning, is most similar to vodka when working with additional flavors. However, the bootleg spirit of moonshine opens the door for some unconventional flavors like dill pickle and jalapeno, as well as more traditional flavors like peppermint, cherry, blackberry, and good ole American apple pie.
Flavoring Dark Spirits
Flavoring dark liquor requires a bit more strategy and nuance than light spirits. Most dark alcohol is aged in order for it to absorb the flavors of the particular wood used in the aging barrels.
These flavors should be embraced and blended into the complete flavor profile. Attempts to simply overpower the natural flavors with sweetness or boldness tend to have a cheapening effect that dissuades customers from purchasing.
The most popular type of dark liquor is whiskey, partly because of the wide range of whiskey varieties and flavors available. Flavors that work well in whiskey inclue fruits like cherry, apple, and peach, sweet flavors like vanilla, chocolate, honey, caramel and maple, and some specialty flavors like cinnamon, mint, Tabaco, and even peanut butter
For more on flavoring whiskey check out our article Why You Should Be Flavoring Your Whiskey and What Works Best.
Brandy is generally sweeter and fruitier than other dark spirits. Because of this innate fruity quality, brandy pairs well with nearly all fruit flavors but especially dark and syrupy fruits like blackberry, plum, cherry, and peach as well as flavors that reflect the warmth of the liquor like coffee, vanilla, and ginger.
In the same way that white rum is most often paired with exotic fruits and flavors, especially the deeper, more roasted flavors like coffee, chocolate, toffee, vanilla, and brown sugar.
And finally, the distinct agave flavors of tequila work well with lighter and fresher flavors like cucumber, mango, coconut, and pineapple. It also lends itself to sweet and spicy notes including honey, vanilla, and chipotle spices.
No matter what type of liquor you’re looking to flavor, trust the experts at Renaissance Flavors to craft the perfect profile for you next product.
