Vodka’s Pop Culture – 360 Vodka’s Cola Flavored Vodka

Last Summer I stumbled onto something that revolutionized hot weather drinking. FireFly Vodka pulled vodka out of the “Give me some Fris Vodka so I can warm up and stop freezing my nads off” category and planted it firmly into the “Drink it out of a Mason jar while watching fourth of July fireworks” category.

“For those of you still trying to figure out that analogy, here’s the Cliffs Notes: Firefly Vodka made a spirit normally reserved for cold weather and made it acceptable to drink in the middle of Summer.”

Such a monumental hadn’t been achieved since Charlie Sheen convinced someone to pay him $2million and episode for the worst sitcom on TV.

But it’s 2010 people. We have a black President, oil spewing into the gulf and Cola Flavored Vodka. That’s right. I said cola flavored vodka. This summer the crew over at 360 Vodka decided to make vodka that tastes exactly like cola.

Now I’ve actually had vodka mixed with Coke before, but it wasn’t by choice. I was drinking Smirnoff and Simply Orange when I ran out of Simply Orange about four drinks in. The only thing I had left was a 2-liter of Coke to mix it with and I was to drunk to even drive a nail, let alone a car. But I digress.

As with most peculiar alcohols I review here, I came across 360 Cola Flavored Vodka by chance. I was perusing the vodka aisle when I noticed the coolest bottle I’d ever seen. It looked like the love child of a bottle of vodka and a Grolsch Ale.

It was a tall, slender bottle with one of those cool mechanical caps on it – Like on a Grolsch bottle. There were actually three of them. One regular, one chocolate flavored and one cola flavored. Since the economy sucks and I’m now on a drinking budget, (Thanks a pants load Dave Ramsey) I had to choose just one. I chose the 360 Cola Vodka since it was by far the strangest of the three.

I paid the $16 for the 750ml and headed home. At this point its probably good to mention that around the neck of the bottle was a rebate form for $10 off my next bottle of 360 Vodka. SO essentially, if one were to become a 360 Vodka drinker, they could do so for $6 a bottle. They actually give $20 off the 1.75L bottles.

I got home and filled my favorite tumbler full of ice. True to the style on my behalf (Snoop Dogg lyric) I filled half the glass with the 360 Cola Vodka ad the other half with Coke. Completely expecting to have a flashback of the last time I mixed vodka with cola, I took a drink.

Somewhere in Siberia, the clouds parted, the sun shone through and a lone tear ran down a Russian’s cheek. At the exact same moment, Jarred Williams – a 23-year-old who works in the mail room at Coca-Cola, but will one day become President and CEO of the company – had a vision of Joseph Stalin giving him a thumbs-up.

Absolutely amazing. It tastes exactly like a Coke. The only thing that gives it a way is a brisk aftertaste like your mouth just got cleaned out by a toothbrush with an outboard Mercury attached to it. In a good way.

The stuff is only 35% alcohol, so you can actually drink quite a bit of it before you think you’re invisible.  And if you need another reason to go out and try it, 360 Vodka is the first eco-friendly vodka. The distillery takes every step imaginable to ensure this vodka is produced in the most eco-friendly way possible.

The bottle is made of recycled glass, as is the label. And it even comes with a pre-paid envelope for you to send back the mechanical stopper to be re-used. Not only will they re-use the stoppers, they’ll donate $1 for every one sent back to various environmental causes.