Learning About Stolichnaya’s $3,000 Elit Vodka at The Forge

Haute Living had the pleasure of attending an exclusive tasting of the $3000 Elit by Stolichnaya Vodka Pristine Water Series. The invitation only event was held last week at The Forge. We were able to catch up to the Elit Stoli Vodka Brand Ambassador, Meagan Sacher and get the low-down about this limited edition Pristine Water Series.

HL: What was the inspiration behind the Elit Pristine Water Series?

Meagan: Well, Elit is an ultra luxury vodka. It’s been around for about 10 years. And Stoli, as a company, has really been responsible for creating a lot of the trends. They’re really a trailblazer in the vodka category. And so this was really an attempt to go above and beyond and create a new limited edition high end product. And so what we did about 2 years ago, we decided that we would go send a team of people out to search the world for some of the most pristine water sources. What we do is we look for the cleanest, purest, most untouched areas of the world where we can source water from, and so this is the second edition in the series. Last year was the first edition and that was the Himalayan edition. And so we sourced water from the Himalayans Mountains about 3000 meters above sea level. And now this year we have just released the New Zealand edition and so this water is sourced from the Blue Spring of New Zealand, sometimes referred to as the Jewel of New Zealand. And again, it’s one of the most cleanest, purest, most pristine sources in the world.

HL: What distinguishes this series from other Stoli Vodka flavors?

Meagan: Stoli has a few different things going on. They have their regular Stoli Premium Vodka, which is the red and white label, which most people know about. We also have a large range of flavors. In fact, Stoli was the first company to introduce the flavored vodka. We’re also the first company to introduce a luxury vodka, which was the Elit, the regular Elit, which you’re drinking now. And now, as of last year we now have this other category now, the Pristine Water series. So the difference in Elit versus the regular Stoli and the flavors, really has to do with the filtration. We use a freeze filtration on the Elit, which filters out more of the impurities and it just creates a cleaner, smoother, slightly creamier vodka.

HL: How is Stoli different from other popular Vodka brands?

Meagan: Stoli really stands apart because we were the original vodka. We were the first premium vodka to be sold in the West, and we were the first company to produce a flavored vodka, which is of course now a very big part of the market.  We were the first company to produce an ultra luxury vodka, so we’re really responsible for creating a lot of the trends in the category.

HL: With such a rare series, what specialty cocktails would you recommend people make with the Elit Stoli Vodka?

Meagan: I wouldn’t recommend mixing it at all. It is such a clean, such a pure spirit, it’s really best enjoyed on it’s own. What I might suggest, and the way that we’re going to sample it tonight, is to keep the bottle in the freezer. And so the vodka, when you first serve it, will be very cold and very soft and as it becomes more of an ambient temperature, some of those flavors will start to come out. So you’ll notice more of the lemon and the pepper notes, as it becomes more room temperature.

HL: Can you tell me a little about the bottle design?

Meagan: Yes! So we didn’t want to put this in a regular bottle because, of course, it is a very special liquid. So we commissioned a company in Champagne France who has been making crystal for over one hundred and thirty five years. And so all of the bottles of the Pristine Water Series are hand blown in Champagne France by this one company. There are only 300 bottles worldwide. And then the decoration you see on the bottle, you’ll notice it is a fern. It’s actually representative of the silver fern of New Zealand, which is the national plant, which represents new beginnings.

HL: Thank you for your time Meagan!

Meagan: It was my pleasure!