Grey Goose VX (80 proof / 40% ABV,$74.99) – the nose is clearly different from the base Grey Goose Vodka, with soft cognac notes including honey, raisin, milk chocolate, and shortbread cookie. While the bottle looks stunning, it’s a hefty bottle and completely unyielding to pour from, making spills almost a guaranteed occurrence. Grey Goose VX is packaged in a bottle that very much looks like a fusion of the classic Grey Goose Vodka bottle with the traditional bottles often used for XO Cognac (very similar to Chateau de Montifaud Cognac).

There’s also some sort of filtering process, as the final Grey Goose VX is crystal clear. The Grey Goose VX bottle does disclose that it’s a blend of 95% Vodka and 5% Cognac, the same ratio that’s common with spirit whiskey. Otard), the same cognac house that Bacardi uses for their D’ussé Cognac. While there’s no specification on which cognac is in the mix, it would be reasonable to assume that it comes from Château de Cognac (a.k.a. Grey Goose VX is essentially Grey Goose vodka “finished with a hint of precious cognac”. Oddly enough, Grey Goose VX isn’t technically a vodka: the TTB has slapped a ridiculous “Spirit Drink” classification on the brand and bottle, which goes hand in hand with their outdated classification for the vodka category itself. Although Bacardi is testing the waters for this product in Travel Retail first, it’s clearly a peek at how one premium vodka brand is responding to the competition. This changing landscape is what makes the new Grey Goose VX so important. While we don’t think vodka is going to lose its dominance any time soon, the landscape is clearly changing, and brands have no maps to navigate the road ahead.

The problem with the vodka category, and its players, is that the category has enjoyed such effortless success for decades with very little need for innovation (aside from coming up with wild and crazy flavors to release, and then discontinuing them). Part of this sharp decline is attributed to Grey Goose’s decision to not chase the flavor trend too hard, but a more significant factor was unexpected competition from non-premium brands like Tito’s Vodka and Deep Eddy’s Vodka, which took significant share away from premium players like Grey Goose. In 2013, Grey Goose saw a sharp drop in sales, with a whopping 5% decline (source: Impact Databank). Bacardi’s Grey Goose is one of those brands that’s really trying to navigate these changing vodka waters.

Now that the flavored vodka boom is clearly ending, vodka companies are scrambling to figure out ways to hold on to their growth and remain relevant in a marketplace that is increasingly shifting towards whiskey. The vodka category is beginning to go through a real identity crisis.

Grey goose 1l