🥃 Grey Goose

Grey Goose is a French vodka made from soft winter wheat grown in Picardy in northern France. The spirit is diluted with water from the brand's own well in Gensac-la-Pallue, in the Cognac region, and blended there too. Classic Grey Goose is 40% ABV. The brand was created in 1997, and since 2004 it has been owned by Bacardi.

The idea came from the American entrepreneur Sidney Frank, who wanted to offer the US market an expensive French vodka. The recipe was developed by François Thibault, whom the brand calls its cellar master. The first flavoured versions were L'Orange (2001) and Le Citron (2002). In 2004 Frank sold the company to the Bacardi group.

According to the producer, wheat of the highest French bread-making grade (blé panifiable supérieur) is grown and harvested by three farmers' cooperatives that have worked with the brand from the start. The grain is milled at the distillery, enzymes convert the starch into sugars, and the fermented “bread wine” is about 10% ABV. The spirit is then distilled once in steel and copper columns; the brand stresses that it does this to preserve the character of the wheat. Water from a depth of about 150 m is additionally purified by reverse osmosis, and the finished vodka is passed through a cellulose-and-charcoal filter only once.

The range includes classic Grey Goose (40% ABV), flavoured vodkas L'Orange, Le Citron, La Poire and others (40% ABV), and versions with natural flavourings at 30% ABV.

Why this matters to you. The Cognac region on the label does not mean grapes: Grey Goose is a grain vodka made from wheat, not a brandy. In the EU, flavoured versions belong to a different category from plain vodka, and those at 30% ABV are no longer vodka by strength. Look at the name and the percentage. The WHO reminds us that no level of alcohol consumption is safe.