Grey Goose announces the launch of a new expression which see’s the spirit combined with cognac.
New spirit launches tend to create one of three reactions in the BarLifeUK office – excitement, intrigue or bemusement. Grey Goose VX falls across the last two.
The bemusement mainly came from the question, why? Who was sitting drinking a glass of Grey Goose and thought ‘you know what this needs? Cognac’.
In the world of vodka flavoured with or like something then Cognac is certainly not a terrible idea, let’s face it it’s a whole lot better than Birthday Cake, Menthol Tobacco and Electricity flavours (all exist). However it still isn’t something we expected to come across anytime soon.
Once we started hearing more about it the bemusement slowly started turning into intrigue, it even started to kind of make sense.
It all stems from the man behind Grey Goose, Francois Thibault. Francois started his career in the Cognac region as a Maitre De Chai or cellar master to you and me. So here we have a man who knows his vodka and presumably knows his cognac.
He certainly hasn’t scrimped on the cognac, using grapes drawn exclusively from the Grande Champagne cru region. How much cognac is added to the vodka is not information that is readily forthcoming with the line from Grey Goose being that ‘precious drops of cognac are combined with Grey Goose vodka’, but they’re allowed a few secrets.
The bottle reflects the ‘ultra-premium’ nature of the brand with a very fancy looking decanter (you know it’s posh when they start using the word decanter instead of bottle) made from ‘extra flint’ glass.
Enough of us let’s hear from the man himself:
“From its inception, Grey Goose has always pioneered new and exciting territories,” said Thibault. “In creating Grey Goose VX, I wanted to capture the aromatic notes of a precious cognac, bringing its delicate essence of orchard fruits, plum, apricot and the mild flavours of wild honey to the remarkable character of Grey Goose vodka.”
If you want to try or buy Grey Goose VX then you’ll have to get yourself to an airport for the time being with it only available in Duty Free shops from next month before appearing in bars from Spring next year.