Tasting

On the table sit the small, narrow glasses that go with vodka in Finland, barely bigger than a thimble. Each glass comes straight from the freezer, frosted with cold.

Tasting the three best-known bottlings from Ilmajoki side by side reveals mostly the difference made by a single ingredient: sugar. Koskenkorva Viina, at 38 percent, gets a small amount of sugar added during dilution, giving it a rounder, slightly sweet character.

Finlandia, slightly stronger at 40 percent, leaves the same facility without sugar and tastes correspondingly drier and cleaner. Salmiakki Koskenkorva, on the other hand, is no longer a pure vodka but a liqueur. The salty, ammonium-chloride-like licorice note of Finnish salmiakki nearly overwhelms the alcohol entirely.

Koskenkorva Viina Ruis, a rye-based bottling rather than barley, further demonstrates just how much the choice of grain shapes character. It comes across as bolder and earthier than the barley version.

In Finland itself, this clear spirit is traditionally called viina, not vodka. The word on the label appears there only because of EU regulations. Knowing this, a taster listens more closely, rather than reaching automatically for an international cliché.

A small glass is all you need to taste, neat and well chilled, ideally straight from the freezer. Take a brief sniff first, then sip in small amounts rather than knocking it back. The cold initially dulls the sense of smell, and only by the second or third sip do the finer nuances reveal themselves. Tasted side by side, the sugared and unsugared bottlings from the same facility show a difference you can really only appreciate through direct comparison.