By definition, vodka should be odorless and flavorless. Kalak Single Malt Vodka is neither—and that’s exactly why bartender Julia Momose likes it. “What I love is the fact that the flavors really shine through,” she says. “I get notes of lemon, freshly baked brioche and croissants, hints of cacao. It’s opened up the possibilities for vodka—that it has all this flavor and complexity that can be played with [in cocktails] is really intriguing.”
She didn’t hesitate to put it on the menu at (soon-to-be-shuttered) GreenRiver, where she was working when Kalak was released in Chicago a little over a year ago. “It was the first bar in America to have a Kalak cocktail,” she says. Since then she’s also created one for Oriole, a play on the Vesper that involves Nikka Coffey Gin—a Japanese gin made with unusual citrus fruits and sansho, a Japanese pepper. “It was kind of like the Kalak was an extension of the gin,” she says. “The botanicals are so intense, the Kalak helped tame it just a touch so you could taste more of the citrus notes.”
