Pinnacle Vodka Appreciation Month : Week 1 : Berry Flavor

And so begins our first special run of posts. This month, granted it is not actually September yet, will be dedicated one of, if not the best distributors of flavored vodkas. Some will favor better than others, but none of it will be because of personal bias. By that, I mean that if anything tastes like raspberry, it’s not going to lose points because I hate raspberry. It’s actually why I chose this flavor to review first.

Review :

Pinnacle has over 30 flavors of their vodka. I so far have found about 9 in my city. However, they are distributed by BevMo, so if you want a flavor that they do not have on the shelf, they are able to special order from their distributors. On to the berry. I have to say that initially, the berry was my least favorite. I am not a “Berry” person generally. If you do like berry flavored stuff, you might enjoy it. I tend to mix my flavored vodkas with sprite as I think that it tends to mellow out the vodka burn you get, while maintaining the integrity of the flavor. It definitely helped in this case. Later, my roommate suggested that I mix in some of the whipped cream flavor as well, and hot damn! Those two together tasted dead on a fucking creamsicle. I was utterly impressed. As usual, since it is flavored, all of these will come up to 35% alcohol (70 proof), but the flavor itself makes the experience worth it. This was one flavor that I have not seen at all BevMo stores, but luckily, if you ARE looking for it or any other flavor, the Pinnacle website has a store locator that actually works! They also allow you to enter your zip code and contact distributors directly.


Breakdown :

The Bottle : Pinnacle has a standard bottle, shocking. They do get points however, for their bottle being a different colored glass, and for having an easily identifiable picture, allowing you to know what flavor you are purchasing.

Score : 15

The Taste : As a shot, this stuff is decent. Lots of Berry flavor, but you also have a strong vodka presence. I recommend mixing with Sprite, Sprite and the whipped cream flavored Pinnacle, or even lemonade for best results.

Score : 25

The Buzz : I am able to polish off a whole bottle of this stuff, no problem. Extremely mellow buzz, and since it mixes well with other flavors, you can grab 3 or 4 different bottles and mix and match.

Score : 25

The Cost : At Bevmo, I get a bottle for around $11. What can I say, it pays to be a clubBev member. At another liquor store, I did find it and paid about $13. Both prices are pretty standard for vodka, let alone a flavored one. All other things considered though, this stuff is a steal for the BevMo price.

Score : 20

Total Score : 85

I have to admit that part of my making September into “Pinnacle Vodka Appreciation Month”, was because of the awesome flavors, and the other part was because it wasn’t a pain in the ass to get like the Glazed Donut stuff. Either way, what started as me wanting to find another way to lambaste that other company, turned into me finding what I think is an excellent product. Definitely check out Pinnacle’s website and see if any of the flavors catch your eye. Or just stay tuned to this blog, because for the rest of September, we will only be reviewing Pinnacle products.

Cheers.