42 Below Vodka

42 Below started in a garage in Wellington after Geoff Ross saw a vodka ad bragging about coming from a pure country and figured New Zealand was a hundred times purer. He was right enough that Bacardi bought the brand in 2008 — but not before the ads made it famous: a bottle in a paper bag with eyeholes reading "The vodka no one has heard of from the country no one has heard of." The name is the latitude that runs through the center of New Zealand, and the vodka is GM-free red winter wheat, distilled three times, washed with spring water to pull impurities, distilled a fourth time, then filtered 35 times before being cut to 40% ABV with volcanic spring water from beneath the North Island's central plateau, graded Aa by the WHO as some of the purest on earth. Best Tasting Spirits found a sweet, creamy wheat aroma with a citrus backing, a soft, sweet wheat entry with lemon-leaning citrus, and a finish with a gentle sting and a hint of mineral. Difford's found aniseed on a clean nose, initial sweetness giving way to cracked black pepper, and licorice overriding aniseed on a peppery finish. Vodka Valley notes it shares more with Scandinavian vodka than Russian or Polish — built for purity rather than flavor. Honest note: VodkaBuzz's crowd is split between calling it perfection and calling it fine. Smooth, clean, a Kiwi original with a sense of humor — for a vodka soda, a Martini, or a Cosmo with a story.

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