Three Olives Vodka

If you haven’t heard of Three Olives Vodka it’s not due to a shortage of advertising. You may have seen the advertisement of a popular male actor in your newspaper or one of your magazines recently. Vodka companies are known for advertising sexy female models with their products, but Three Olives Vodka seems to be going after sophistication and class. Three Olives seems to be marketed as a high-end vodka with an affordable price tag. I purchased a 1.75 Liter bottle of  Three Olives from Costco for a price of $20.00. Since this particular liquor store has extremely competitive priced, I would imagine the typical street price is around $23-$25.00 per 1.75 Liter.

Reviewing Method of Three Olives Vodka

I’ve come to the conclusion that vodka has three taste ranges: High, Medium and Low. The high is that first taste at the tip of the mouth and usually an indicator of sweetness. The mid-range is the where the body and intricate flavors come into play. The low end is how smooth the vodka goes down and what kind of after tones or tastes are left in your palate.  To make the perfect martini, a vodka must excel in all three ranges. It was the distinctive first sip of Three Olives that gave me this idea as a method for reviewing vodka for the first time ever. As you’re about to see, this is not necessarily a ringing endorsement of Three Olives.

Three Olives Vodka Taste Test

Don’t be fooled by it’s inconspicuous, nearly-invisible aroma. Three Olives has one of the most bitter, front-end tastes I’ve ever experienced from any vodka. The burn is reminiscent of pure, 90% rubbing alcohol. The taste is similar to what you get when your tongue touches the inside of those rubber balloons that you are blowing up for your kid’s birthday party. Those that criticize Taaka vodka must not have much of a sense for the bitter, stringent and offensive flavor of a truly bitter vodka. Taaka has a far better top-end flavor.

Once you get past the first, bitter sensation at the tip of the tongue, the Three Olives continues to offend even in the middle range. It does mellow out somewhat, but just doesn’t have the quality of a really smooth vodka.

This unfortunate vodka finally begins to mellow out a bit after you’ve swallowed it. It is relatively smooth going down and after a few swigs or so, it is not impossible to enjoy an entire martini. The problem is that there is no real benefits to tolerating the stinging bitterness that it leaves in your mouth in the first place. Three Olives has so no redeeming character or qualities to it that would compel me to use it in place of some of the other vodkas I tried in the same price range. That list includes Superia, Blue Ice or even, Ruskova which is far cheaper. If there is any redeeming qualities to this particular vodka it’s the pretty bottle; reasonable price tag and the fact it didn’t cause me to have a headache the next day due to it’s relatively smooth finish. But for the money, there are plenty of other vodkas that taste much better all the way around.

Truth be told, we’ve reviewed a lot of cheaper, vodkas on this site that are far superior to Three Olives Vodka: See our Vodka Ratings category.