Merci Jean Claude

Words by: Simon Difford

Pictures by: Dan Malpass

09:33 GMT // 23 Aug 2011

The Poles use rye while the Russian use wheat, but Finnish vodka is famously made from barley. By far the best known Finnish vodka is Finlandia so we headed over there to discover what else sets the brand apart besides the Finnish six-row barley.

The Finns discovered the art of vodka distillation from their Russian neighbours and by the mid-1800s practically every household owned some kind of distillation apparatus. This inevitably led to regulations outlawing DIY distillation, and, in 1919, two years after Finland declared its independence from Russia, distillation all but ceased with the onset of Finnish Prohibition. When this was finally lifted on 5th April 1932, the state took over exclusive control of vodka production. Alko, the state-owned monopoly company, established Finlandia in 1970 and a year later the brand became the first Scandinavian vodka to be sold in the US. It is now owned by the American Brown-Forman Corporation.

Finlandia is distilled from Finnish six-row barley, a variety of barley found in Nordic countries that gives a lower yield than two-row barley. This is fermented and distilled at the Koskenkorva distillery, located close to the village of the same name in Finland's breadbasket, the Ilmajoki municipality - about 400km north of Helsinki.

The seven state-of-the-art, stainless steel distillation columns at Koskenkorva use a rectification process called 'Continuous multi-pressure distillation'. The stills are operated continuously with three columns operated under a slight vacuum, while another three columns are atmospheric and one column is pressurized. These seven stills have an average height of 25 meters and are, in the order of process, a beer still, rectification column, extractive distillation column, rectification column, a fusel oil column, an aldehyde stripper and a methanol column.

Koskenkorva was established in 1944 but the government funded so-called 'New Distillery' was built between 1971-73 and modernised in 1987. The sprit produced here is so pure that further development is unlikely. However, work here continues to increase efficiency and eliminate environmental impact. As they say at the distillery, "no waste is produced, everything is used".

• Barley husk is burned to help generate the pressurised steam used in distillation.

• Fibres are separated and sold to food industry.

• Carbon dioxide, from fermentation, is collected and sold to gas industry.

• After distillation the spent mash is converted to animal feed.

• Extra starch is separated and sold to paper and food industry.

• The cooling and heating water used throughout the process is circulated many times in a closed system to efficiently control the temperature in each production step and keep water use to a minimum.

• Finally, even the waste ash from the power plant is sold to farmers and builders for soil improvement.

The distilled spirit produced at Koskenkorva is transported by rail to the historic distillery in Rajamäki. This was originally established in 1888 by Mr. Vilhelm Juslin as a yeast factory for bread manufacture. He introduced distillation here soon after. Perhaps due to the link to bread production, during Finnish Prohibition it was the only distillery that remained operational. In the middle of Prohibition, in 1920, the Finnish state bought the Rajamäki plant to secure alcohol supply for pharmacies and other non-drink purposes.

During the Winter War (1939-1940) with the Russians, the Rajamäki distillery contributed to the Finnish war effort by producing Molotov cocktails responsible for putting hundreds of soviet tanks out of commission. Over half-a-million bottles containing the volatile concoction of alcohol, paraffin, gasoline and tar were produced at Rajamäki.

At Rajamäki, the barley distillate from Koskenkorva is blended with water drawn from nearby glacial springs. This is so pure that the water requires no filtration or chemical purification. To protect this precious water source from contamination, the company owns twelve square kilometres of unspoilt forest in the vicinity of their wells. They don't have to treat or tamper with the water at all - no deionization, nor osmosis treatment, nor removal of minerals. Only a mechanical filter is employed to remove visible particles.

The red sun and the white reindeer on the front of Finlandia's bottle owe their origins to a Finnish legend that goes something like this: One winter's night, a spell was cast on a beautiful young girl transforming her into a fearsome white reindeer. Many men hunted the beast due to its valuable white hide including the girl's boyfriend who had no idea what had become of his lover. He, like many other hunters before him, fell victim to her antlers and received a fatal wound. He, in turn, inflicted a lethal gash to the reindeer's neck. The blood broke the spell, the reindeer became a girl again and the couple died in each other's arms. The legend goes on to say that any wish you make will be granted if you are lucky enough to see the sun, the moon and a white reindeer at the same time. Touching.

40% alc./vol.

Launched in 1970 in packaging designed by top designer Mr. Wirkkala, Finlandia can rightly claim to be the world's very first designer vodka. Finlandia Vodka is an extremely pristine vodka through advanced distillation techniques and use of pure spring water. It is not charcoal filtered and does not contain any additives.In 2003, Harri Koskinen, noted Finnish tabletop glass designer and industrial designer, Wallace Church graphic design of New York, and Finlandia Global package design team, designed and launched the next generation Finlandia bottle, "Glacial Ice". The texture artistically mimics the sensation of pure melting ice. A glacial punt was truly a first for the vodka category, capturing the authentic origins of the brand's pure glacial spring water.

Tasting: An almost neutral nose is the precursor to an extremely clean palate with subtle barley and lightly spicy, nutty notes. Long, lightly black peppery finish. If vodka should be clean and neutral then this is textbook vodka. 5/5

40% alc./vol.

Launched in the autumn of 1994, this cranberry flavoured Finlandia expression was originally coloured red by the berries that flavoured it. In 2002, new contemporary packaging was introduced which contained colourless cranberry Finlandia, with an improved flavour.

Tasting: A nose of cranberry with sweet vanilla accents leads to a somewhat sweet palate with peach and honeyed cherry. More of the bitter dryness associated with cranberry is found in the black pepper garnished finish. 3.5/5

40% alc./vol.

Launched in 2004, originally in the Polish market. Apparently when Finlandia changed their established cranberry vodka from red to clear there was uproar amongst the brand's Polish consumers so this red-coloured Redberry vodka (not simply coloured, the hue actually comes from the flavour components) was launched to appease them.

Tasting: A full-flavoured nose of ripe berries, cranberry and vanilla spice leads to a slightly sweet palate. The initial flavours of dark honey, milk chocolate and vanilla predominate over more subtle sweet cranberry and raspberry fruit. The finish is more tart with freshly ground black pepper. 3.5/5

40% alc./vol.

This citrus-flavoured line extension was introduced to the Finlandia range in 1999.

Tasting: Sweet lime Opal Fruit sweets (candy), lime zest with hints of lemon sherbet, lemon drops and barley notes balanced by peppery spirit particularly noticeable in the finish. 4/5

40% alc./vol.

This tropical addition to the Finlandia range was launched in 2004 and marries Finlandia's icy purity with warm tropical fruit flavours. Even the colourful orange punt that distinguishes it from the rest of the range hints at the combination with warm orange glowing on icy glass mountain peaks.

Tasting: A boiled sweet, fruity nose leads to a lightly sweet palate with a bust of lush candied fruit. It's what all of us who've infused boiled sweets in vodka sought and failed to create. It's too strongly flavoured to be like eating fresh mango but taste this vodka at room temperature and imagine the same flavour and alcoholic bite in an ice-lolly, then place your bottle in the freezer. 3.5/5

40% alc./vol.

Launched in 2006, Finlandia Grapefruit is a good example of Finlandia's ability to source great tasting natural flavour extracts of fruit and combined these with their extremely clean tasting vodka.

Tasting: A sweet, fresh grapefruit zest nose leads to an equally clean and freshly zested grapefruit flavoured palate which is also made more convincing by being pleasantly acidic. The acidity grows through the tangy fruit finish. 4.5/5

40% alc./vol.

Tangerine is part of the mandarin family and is recognised for its sweet, almost honey-like character compared to other mandarin variants. Finlandia launched this tangerine-flavoured vodka in 2009.

Tasting: A light, inviting aroma with delicate hints of tangerine leads to a slightly sweet, warm and round palate with a zesty touch of citrus. The finish is warm and smooth with a lively fresh fruit tingle. 4/5

40% alc./vol.

Finlandia looked at their citrus dominated range of flavours and decided to introduce another berry flavour to Finlandia family. Launched in 2009, Finlandia Blackcurrant is full-bodied, richly flavoured vodka, which Finlandia say "brings back all those warm memories from grandma's homemade blackcurrant juice without losing the real vodka characters".

Tasting: A rich, fruity and natural blackcurrant nose leads to a smooth yet refreshingly tart blackcurrant flavoured palate with hints of pepper and a lingering warm aftertaste. 4.5 /5