Stumbras Premium Organic Vodka takes home the top prize at this year’s New York World Spirits Competition.

Earlier this year a panel of expert judges convened in a nondescript hotel convention hall in Brooklyn to assess merit across all major categories of spirit. It was part of the annual New York World Wine & Spirits Competition, which in just several iterations has already grown into one of the city’s premiere tasting events.

We’ve spent significant time covering the top-rated whiskies from that competition. It included several jaw-dropping surprises, all of which are worthy of exploration—if you fancy aged spirit. Now we’re going to venture into the realm of vodka. But first we must address the elephant in the room: how does one define greatness in a category that is flavorless by design?

Well, for starters, vodka isn’t flavorless, exactly. It is often conflated with neutral grain spirit, but that’s a vast oversimplification. And an outdated one. Vodka doesn’t even have to be made from grain at all. It can be distilled from vegetables, fruit, honey, starches—we’ve seen compelling examples come from all sorts of base ingredients. And it certainly doesn’t need to be neutral in flavor or aroma. If you have doubts, you ought to consider cracking open a bottle of the very expression that the New York Wine & Spirits Competition dubbed the best of 2023: Stumbras Premium Organic Vodka.

The first organic vodka to ever be produced in Lithuania is carefully crafted following strict production guidelines. It starts as wheat grown on an organic farm nestled in the heart of the Baltic nation. After distillation, the fluid undergoes a unique linen-based filtration process. This process bestows upon the vodka its renowned smoothness and slight viscosity.

You may argue whether there’s a hint of a gimmick involved, but what’s undeniable is that the core wheat infuses a delightful sweetness onto the taste buds. This sweetness persists, lingering in the aftertaste and leaving you to ruminate over the subtleties of this flavor. Yes, we’re indeed talking about a flavor in vodka.

Just to make it clear, we are not discussing flavored vodka. As a matter of fact, Stumbras also excels in that area, particularly in a cranberry variant, which was likewise lauded by the judges in New York for its outstanding bitter notes. Having honed its craft for over 115 years, the company knows its business inside and out.

You can conveniently find its award-winning organic version on American store shelves, priced at approximately $20 per bottle. The aforementioned nuances of its tasting profile make it a perfect pair with tonic or soda, served over ice. It’s particularly delightful if you’re planning to add a twist of lemon or lime, as the tart and bitter components of citrus offset the sweetness from the wheat in the vodka.

Or do the unthinkable: try the 80-proof spirit neat. Maybe you’ll be able to call out some of the same grassy aromatics in the liquid that won over those contest judges back in Brooklyn. Perhaps you, too, will call it one of the more interesting vodka on shelves today. But what you won’t be able to do is call it flavorless.

LITHUANIA – NOVEMBER 25: Mill, Open air ethnographic museum, Rumsiskes, Dzukija, Lithuania. (Photo … [+]) by DeAgostini/Getty Images)