JJ Whitley Raspberry Vodka Review

Reviewed by Cath Joyce

Flavoured spirits have become really popular in the last few years and I really enjoy discovering new flavours. One flavoured spirit that I hadn’t tried was vodka, so I was really pleased to be asked to review a bottle of JJ Whitley Raspberry Vodka.

Before the raspberry vodka arrived, I had a look at the JJ Whitley website to find out a little more about the company. I discovered that the Whitley family dates back to 1762 and has over eight generations of distilling heritage.

It’s always a worry when bottles are being posted but the JJ Whitley Raspberry Vodka arrived well packaged in inflatable bottle packaging inside a cardboard box.

When I took it out if the packaging my first thought was how attractive it looks. The bottle is very eye catching, tall and slim and embossed with a lovely leaf/vine design. As you would expect from a raspberry flavoured drink the vodka is a nice shade of pink. JJ Whitley are very proud of their heritage and rather than a label “Distilling 8 Generations” along with John James’s signature is embossed on the back of the bottle. It really is a stunning bottle and would be sure to catch your eye in the supermarket.

So on to the vodka……I tried it first just with crushed ice so I could see what it tasted like on its own. When I took the cork stopper out of the bottle, I instantly detected a lovely fruity fragrance and when I tried the vodka I could really taste the raspberries. I’m not a fan of neat spirits and prefer to add sparkling water or a light tonic water to help cut the spirit’s strength without diluting the flavour and I especially liked the raspberry vodka with sparkling water as the bubbles added an extra dimension to the flavour.

Raspberry vodka is also great in cocktails, I had a look on the JJ Whitley website for inspiration and found the recipe for a Clover Club cocktail. Luckily we already had all the ingredients so I had a very enjoyable evening with my best friend making cocktails! This is the recipe for the Clover Club cocktail and I can highly recommend it, it tastes delicious and is the perfect drink for summer barbecues or a get together with friends.

Clover Club Cocktail

Ingredients
• 50ml JJ Whitley Raspberry Vodka
• 20ml Elderflower cordial
• 25ml Lemon juice
• 15ml Egg white
• Raspberries to garnish
Method
• Chill glassware with ice and soda.
• Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker without ice and dry shake for 20 seconds.
• Add ice and shake again for 20 seconds.
• Pour ice and soda out and strain into the glass.
• Garnish with raspberries

Another cocktail that caught my eye was the Raspberry Vodka Mojito, a refreshing cocktail made by crushing lime juice, sugar, raspberry vodka, raspberries, lime slices and then adding mint leaves and leaving for 5 minutes. You then add ice and sparkling water before garnishing with mint leaves and raspberries.

With Mother’s Day coming up a bottle of JJ Whitley raspberry vodka would make a lovely gift, I would certainly be happy if someone brought me a bottle!

Rating: 5 out of 5

RRP: £19

You can find details of stockists on the JJ Whitley website here