Friday, April 18, 2014

Lift off: Russian Spirit and Kruto, 2 new vodka brands launch. Tulleeho's Sweta Mohanty was there, to taste and compete.



I was invited to this launch a couple of days back at this quiet little joint at Bandra by the name of Nom Nom. A new vodka launch had got me excited, so I was at the doors of Nom Nom bang on time.
 
I was greeted by Neha Kapadia, Director MIRSpirits and Mahesh Chauhan, Founder Member, Salt Brand Solutions
               
Neha Kapadia

                                
Mahesh Chauhan
                                                                   
We were all seated at a long table for the tasting, and to kick things off were given a beautifully designed handout.

               
Mahesh was at his wittiest best and started for off the conversation by saying “do you want me to take off my shirt??” While we looked on and were trying to figure out what he meant, he immediately explained – Isn’t that what you see in all Vodka promotions. Foreign ladies, skimpily clad girls ……… we do not want that for our vodka. We want it to stand out because of its taste”. Point taken Mahesh!
Neha and Mahesh were of the opinion that their vodka is all about taste. And they don’t need to have skimpily clad girls to promote it.
Mumbai is the 2nd city after Goa in India where they have launched. Russian Spirit as we were told uses golden wheat from the ecologically pure soil of Ukraine. It is 15 times distilled and undergoes a pure gold filtration to get the smooth finish. This is supposed to be drunk “Neat” as a sipping vodka. Here we did a comparative tasting with Grey Goose, Belvedere and Absolut. How it went, we leave it for you to taste and decide!!! Russian Spirit is competitively priced at INR 3200 in Mumbai.
Russian Spirit

Very interestingly the Russian Spirit tagline says “Introduce Yourself”, which to some might sound arrogant because it means the person drinking has to introduce himself/herself, as the vodka needs no introduction.
Nom Nom’s food was yummy…… My favorite out of the lot was Wasabi Prawns & Mushrooms and Crab Meat Sushi. A must visit to Nom Nom for everyone.
Kruto, the other vodka is priced at INR 1800/- in Mumbai and is 9 times distilled. The tag line for Kruto says “Chase Me”. This one is being promoted as a cocktails base. And they had some interesting cocktails like Guava Island (Kruto + Tabasco & Worcestershire + Lemon Juice + Green Chilli) and Bitter Sweet (Kruto + Orange Juice + Lime Juice + Lemonade + Angostura Bitters)

Kruto and Russian Spirits


When MIR Spirits had sent the invite, the first sentence said there would be a surprise element to the event. We had nearly come to the end of the evening and I was wondering where the surprise was and as if reading my mind, Neha announced an impromptu Cocktail competition, in which you had to make your own cocktail and name it too.
I volunteered to go first!! Something that I don’t do often….. Can you guess why I did it this time??
Swetalicious
Ingredients
·      Kruto – 60ml
·      Kiwi – Muddled 
·      Lime Juice – 10ml 
·      Sugar Syrup – 10ml 
·      Tabasco – 4 to 5 dashes

Method: Shake and Strain into a salt rimmed rocks glass filled with Ice. Garnish with a Kiwi Slice.
                                          



Have you still not guessed why I volunteered to go first? :p

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