Escaping the Liquor Monopoly - Finding Russian Vodka?

[mvpel]

Given the pallid vodka selection in the state monopoly liquor stores (I mean, Zhenka?  Are you kidding me?), I've been poking around online in an effort to find any of the absolutely wonderful brands of premium Russian vodkas I encountered while we were over there for an adoption, but haven't had much luck.  Mostly the sites I've found seem to be British, which probably wouldn't ship vodka to me here in New Hampshire.

Does anyone anywhere in the country have a clue as to where I might be able to find, in no particular order, Flagship (???????), Altai (?????), Russian Diamond (??????? ?????????), or any of the upper-shelf Russian Standard (??????? ????????) versions?

The five liters I brought home doesn't seem like quite so much anymore.

[d_goddard]

I have never heard of these Russian spirits but by all means let me know when you locate them -- I'm sure interested in tasting a few drops myself!

Pity they can't be ordered off the internet, like one does with books, pot, etc.

[estoves]

Maybe they sell it here, they have a lot of different kind of booze so i would be surprised if they didn't have any upper-shelf vodka.
http://spirituosen-superbillig.de/

[mvpel]

I'm thinking of having a vodka-tasting party, depending on how jealous I feel of my hard-won bottles.  ;-) I'll let you know Denis.

I managed to find on that German site the Russian Standard with the frosted bottle, which we were told at the Magnum party store in Nizhniy Tagil indicated the use of "malted water."  I had a 375ml of that while we were there to take the edge off of a long day of trying to read and understand Russian, and it was pretty good.  Thanks for the link!

Seems that the rest of the vodkas there are the usuals - Finlandia, Absolut, Smirnoff, Stoli, etc.

[muni]

I'm thinking of having a vodka-tasting party,

hmmm...  got me thinking ....  Vodka flavoured chocolate fountain ...

[atr]

Mostly the sites I've found seem to be British, which probably wouldn't ship vodka to me here in New Hampshire.

Several years ago I ordered two bottles of champagne shipped from England. Might be worth pursuing if you are set on getting this vodka.

[burnthebeautiful]

Does Russia even export their vodka, being a dictatorship regime and all?

[aries]

Does Russia even export their vodka, being a dictatorship regime and all?

They're our untrustworthy capitalist friends now


And... I think that the NH Liquor stores will order almost anything for you that can be ordered. I could be wrong, but what they don't stock, I was under the impression that they would special order.

[mvpel]

I saw a newspaper article a couple months back that Greek restaurants couldn't get Greek wines through the state because there wasn't enough volume, so I assumed special orders were out of the question.  I'll check on that.

I guess the real question is whether some of these brands are even exported to the US.

[HippyChimp]

Tito's Handmade Vodka thru a Brita filter (5x)

just as good IMHO...

[citizen_142002]

Stolichnaya is a "real" Russian vodka. I'm not sure if any of the others are available in NH. It might be worth checking the availability of these liquors in MA, VT, and ME. Maine doesn't have state liquor stores either, so maybe that would mean better odds.

[burnthebeautiful]

Stolichnaya does seem to the only vodka available outside of Russia.

Can restaurants sell privately imported alcohol in NH? In Sweden up until I think 2001 drinking establishments were only allowed to sell products that they'd bought at a state liqour store. Then EU forced Sweden to change it's rules, and now restaurants can sell alcohol bought from private sources. There are now private companies who sell alcohol to bars, as well as bars that import alcohol from overseas.
So what about NH? Can bars import alcohol from overseas? What about buy products from private liqour stores in other states?

[KBCraig]

Okay, I'm not a vodka sipper. At best, I'll have a vodka+Sprite a couple of times a year.

So, I really don't get the "premium" vodka thing. I thought the whole idea of vodka is that it be a "neutral" spirit, without distinctive taste or odor. Cheap vodkas do have taste and odor, but if those are filtered out, how much more "premium" can a vodka get?

Too complex for me. Pass the Shorty Dawkins Good Brown Ale.

Kevin

[burnthebeautiful]

Is there actually a shorty dawkins ale? I'm thinking about ordering a case of Portsmouth beer over to Sweden, but it'd cost too much and the only reason for it would be to drink a New Hampshire beer. I don't even know if I like it.

[AlanM]

Is there actually a shorty dawkins ale?

Rocketman found Caleb Johnson's Diary, (where Caleb kept his brewing secrets), which Mad Mountain Jack had kept up on Bald Mountain, after Caleb passed away in '83. His grandson married one of the Dow girls from Derry, and it was their cousin, Josey, who wound up with it, somehow, and from what I heard, Rocketman found it in a rummage sale over in Amherst on one of his visits to NH. Now, Rocketman makes good beer, and he was going to give me a taste of Caleb's Brown Ale, which is now called Shorty Dawkins Good Brown Ale, but someone got into the stash Rocketman had of it and drank it all. I won't mention any names but it is rumored to be a fellow from the Longish Island off the coast of NYC who has something to do with steam boilers. Of course I could be wrong about that. Anyway, I never got a taste of it, but Rocketman, as I heard rumored, is planning on brewing some more.