Belvedere Heritage 176 Vodka, Poland

The classic flavor profile of Belvedere’s barley Vodka with a very small luxurious dab of malted barley new-make added in.

The Polmos Żyrardów Distillery was built in 1910, producing a range of Polish Vodkas and other Spirits. The Belvedere Vodka line was originally created to break in to the United States market in 1996. It was marketed as the “world’s first super-premium Vodka.” It was a huge success — not just in the US, but world-wide. So much so that virtually all production at the facility is now dedicated to creating the various versions of Belvedere Vodka. Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) acquired the facility and brand in 2002.

Belvedere Heritage 176 is a cross-category clear Spirit. As you may remember, “regular” Belvedere Vodka is made fro local Polish rye grain from eight farms surrounding the distillery. Well, to make Belvedere Heritage 176 they blend the regular Belvedere Vodka with a small amount of malted rye Spirit (2%) to ensure that more grain character is available in the flavor profile. It’s sort of like a combination of Vodka and a malted barley White Dog, if that makes sense.

The name “176” refers to the temperature that the malted barley mash is heated to prior to fermentation.

Smartass Corner:
Belvedere Vodka is named after the Polish Presidential Palace in Warsaw — “Belweder” — and a picture of that building appears on the bottle.