For a spirit that’s long been popular with the masses, vodka has been taken for granted by connoisseurs for its anonymity. Yes, among the bold oaky-smoky strokes of the brown spirit world, vodka is the quieter breed. But while a good number have been shining examples of neutrality, not all vodka is equal—or silent, for that matter.
Helping us make this point is Grey Goose, one of the world’s first luxury vodkas spawned by the late marketing whiz Sidney Frank. François Thibault, the master distiller of Grey Goose from the very beginning, is a master of wine and cognac who took just eight months to take the spirit from an idea to a finished product. Distilled in Cognac, only the best ingredients are used, with careful control over all the natural elements: from field and water to fermentation and distillation. The result is a clean tasting, thirst-quenching product, with a long, peppery and mineral finish.
Grey Goose has done well to highlight the spirit’s ability to showcase terroir. In pursuit of flying beyond its current victories, comes its latest ultra-premium expression: Grey Goose Altius. Named after the Latin word for ‘tall’, the liquid is distilled from single-origin soft winter wheat from Picardie, France, and for the first time ever, blended with spring water from the French Alps.
“As the quintessential French vodka, it was an obvious choice for us to draw inspiration for our next great innovation from one of the most admired earthly wonders in the country,” said Thibault. “For Grey Goose Altius, we worked to develop a liquid with processes reminiscent of the rare phenomena that naturally occur at high-altitude temperatures in the Alps, to bottle the glacial smoothness that the mountains are admired for.”
From the cloud-covered mountain tops of Western Europe, the water winds through crystalline rocks to a pristine, pure alkaline aquifer, which acts as a natural filtration system. It then uses a glacial filtration of -24 degrees Celsius—a first for any vodka—which pushes it to the brink of crystallisation, giving it a unique purity. This dramatically slows down the filtration process, trickling it down to 30 times slower than with the original Grey Goose, and producing a glacially smooth taste and velvety mouthfeel.
It’s a spirit with a formidable range. Sip it neat before graduating to a single piece of ice, and you’ll find presence and delicate alpine minerality, complete with viscosity, soft green apple notes and a unique earthy undertone. For something even more indulgent, pair it with a caviar bump.
By way of unmatched craftsmanship, each batch of Grey Goose Altius is produced in limited run and personally reviewed by Thibault himself. The exclusive product is also hand-bottled, individually numbered and designed to mirror the windswept peaks of the great mountain range, icy blue skies and soaring geese high up in the sky—a visual reminder of Mother Nature’s unfaltering power and the fact that a masterpiece is right there in your hands. A masterpiece that brings plenty to the party, naturally.
Grey Goose Altius is available at the world’s best bars, nightclubs and restaurants in 700ml and 1.75-litre bottles. In Singapore, experience Grey Goose Altius at C.O.T.U, Marcy’s, MOBar, HighHouse, Nova, and more exclusive locations.
