Grey Goose La Vanille Premium Flavoured Vodka, 70cl

Product Information

Remember: When selecting your spirit, " Pure Vanilla Extract" must always be made with a minimum 35% alcohol, so you need to buy 70 proof spirits (or greater than 70 proof) to maximize vanilla bean extraction. In our experience you should not exceed 50% alcohol, or 100 proof, as it will damage your vanilla beans. Here's a recent review of vodka's for extract making that includes the vodka's listed here and a few more: Grey Goose's lineup of flavored expressions is crafted with their winter wheat vodka serving as the base. Grey Goose La Vanille was one of the first flavored vodkas to be released by the company. Now it has returned after 15 years of absence due to popular demand. It's a complex and refined vodka that is infused with natural vanilla essence from Madagascar vanilla beans. Creamy with caramel, vanilla, white chocolate, and floral notes, the expression is bottled at 80 proof.

See our lineup of videos below where we test bourbons, rums, vodkas, tequilas, brandies, cognacs and more! Over the past couple of decades, Grey Goose has established itself as the UK’s top premium vodka brand. It’s been a long time since they’ve deviated from their classic formula, but they recently announced a new flavour — vanilla. Or Grey Goose La Vanille, as it’s been branded, as a nod to its origins in Cognac, France.

First of all, if you are new to extract making, we recommend that you begin with multiple samples. Why? Because it takes up to a year to make extract and, after waiting a year, you only have one extract to try. If there is something that you don't like about it, you will need to wait another year to try another single version. So, start with 5 or 6 (or maybe more!) smaller bottles. You can then try a few different beans and a few different spirits, so in a year you will have multiple results to compare all at once. Another cognac that produces a wonderful vanilla extract. We see this brand of cognac and an alternative to the more expensive Hennessy, if you are determined to make a cognac vanilla extract but don't want to spend the Hennessy price. What spirit is best with what kind of vanilla bean? This clip from our extract making party might help:

We like white rum for two reasons: 1) It is sugar-based which means you will get a sweeter extract, and 2) It is mostly tasteless, which means that after a year of extraction, you will primarily just taste the vanilla beans. This makes white rum a great kind of alcohol to use when experimenting with different beans. Try a white rum with a Tongan vanilla bean vs. a white rum with a Madagascar vanilla bean and you will smell and taste the dramatic difference between those beans almost immediately. As such, white rum's applications are almost universal. A Mexican vanilla extract made in a white rum can be used in almost any dessert, making this our favorite choice. Captain Morgan white rum specifically is a little less strong and more subtle, which results in a creamy and smooth extract. There are three broad types of tequila: 1) a "Silver" which is distilled and immediately bottled, 2) a "Reposado" (rested) which is stored in a cask for 2-12 months and 3) an "Anejo" (old) which is stored in a cask for 1-4 years. We didn't believe that the taste of tequila would blend well with vanilla, and we were absolutely wrong. A vanilla extract made with a great tequila is a wonderful treat. In short, if you are new to extract making, then your first job is to create an extract tasting experience up to a year after you begin. The more you taste at once, the more you will be able to determine what you like and for what application.We reviewed brandy and cognac for extract making in one of our live extract making parties. Here is the clip:

When we began our cognac/brandy vanilla extract making journey, we truly believed that cognac would be the clear winner. Once again, we were wrong. And in this case, one of the least expensive options proved to be our very favorite.

We talk about this generally in another article about using different spirits for extract makin g, but we want to get even more specific here. We are going to talk about specific brands of alcohol that we have tried and the different outcomes we have experienced. Vanilla Extract making is all about trial and error, and we have tried and failed a LOT in our experience and we're starting to get pretty good at getting it right. This is obviously a top shelf rum. It's pure, clean, rich and sweet. It's stored in a sherry cask, and its production yields a taste that includes hints of caramelized sugar, honey and vanilla. We start with this rum, not because we recommend that you use it. For most extracts Kirk and Sweeney is cost-prohibitive. However, a good vanilla extract will only be as good as the spirit used for extraction. We couldn't believe the rich, deep, bold flavors that came out of this extract after just six months of extraction. (And even more after a year!) The spirit only enhanced the natural taste of the beans, which makes this one of the best extract experiences we have ever had. Is it worth it? In some cases such as vanilla flan, vanilla creams or cream pies, a bold extract really enhances the taste. We set the bar very high with this delightful extract. It's clearly a top shelf, A+ experience. This is one of those instances where price and final quality did not match up. Four Roses is a nice bourbon and a little more expensive than Maker's Mark. But something about its bold spice and honey tone made it a difficult marriage with vanilla beans. The final taste was too complicated and hard to find an application for. While it wasn't the worst bourbon extract that we ever tried, it certainly didn't meet its mark in our experiment. Just whizz equal parts of vanilla vodka, Baileys, Kahlua (or similar) and cream (or milk) with loads of ice in a blender until smooth. It’s the McDonald’s chocolate milkshake that gets you drunk. In other words, a guilty pleasure. Yum.

Grey Goose Master of Chai, François Thibaut retrieved the original recipe to bring this iconic flavour with a limited production run While I generally gravitate to vodkas with more pungency and cleansing astringency, it’s easy to see why people continue to love Grey Goose. It is pleasant and perfectly innocuous — and most of all, it never feels like booze… at least until that third vodka-soda, amirite? We will be looking at several spirits below. We grade each spirit based on its vanilla taste after extraction and its ability to be used across multiple applications. Here's why you may want to consider cognac instead of brandy for vanilla extract: If you are conducting experiments on the impact of vanilla beans in different spirits, then you want to hold the spirit constant. A Hennessy cognac from grapes only grown in the Cognac region of France and approved by Hennessy's rigorous tasting standards will provide you a consistent, standard spirit base. Try one with Tahiti beans and one with Mexican beans and you will clearly note the difference in the final extract based solely on the beans. For its price, Maker's Mark is a great bourbon to begin with. It's made with a soft, red winter wheat instead of rye, which softens the bold tones found so often in most bourbons. What that means to you as an extract maker? It means that the vanilla has room to shine through and present itself within the complicated overtones of the bourbon. Simply stated, it's a perfect mixture of smokey and sweet and allows for a pure, rich bourbon extract experience. We recommend this bourbon as a great starting point for new extract makers.In the same way that all bourbons are whiskeys but not all whiskey is bourbon, all cognacs are brandies but not all brandies are cognac. Where whiskeys are derived from ryes, corn, barley, etc., cognacs and brandies are derived from grapes and fruits, so they are naturally much sweeter than bourbons and whiskeys. Cognacs are made only from grapes grown in the Cognac region of France, whereas brandies are made from grapes and even other fruits (like apples) from anywhere around the world. We hear that vodka is vodka and, since it is largely tasteless, who cares what vodka you use? Well, that is mostly correct. We have tasted many different extracts with many different types of vodka and they truly are quite similar. This makes vodka the perfect kind of spirit to begin with because it's hard to mess up your extract based on the kind of vodka you use. However, we did notice a clear difference in vodkas that have been distilled 5 times and those that have not. We also noticed a difference over time in the top-shelf vodkas vs. the bottom shelf. Blend the vanilla vodka with Kahlua (or other coffee liqueur) and milk (or single cream, if you can handle the lactic overdose. Personally, I can’t) and pour over ice. Works so much better than it should. Very gentle on the nose, Grey Goose shows an almost ephemeral note of medicinality, the only hint that it’s actually a high-proof vodka and not something more innocuous, like coconut water. Slight notes of sesame oil, almond, and a hint of vanilla give it a light sweetness, again evoking something you might drink at the spa instead of the bar. The body is creamy and gentle, again showing on the palate a modest vanilla note and some spun sugar, making for an iconic New World experience that is often copied today. The gentle sweetness, marshmallow-like at times, really rounds out on the tongue, eliminating any sense of boozy sharpness or heat. The finish is equally clean and simple, lightly sweet with no bit whatsoever.