Rhuby

The main flavour ingredient – natural Rhubarb – is currently being bought from the farms in the vicinity of the distillery. In the next 2-3 years it will be harvested off her own land where the planted Rhubarb bulbs are left to fully grow and mature to start harvesting. The main bulk of the rhubarb will come from their own fields going forward.

The juiced rhubarb has the addition of sugar and some Bourbon Bean vanilla for a rounder and sweeter liqueur finish. The small Alambic copper still helped to perfect the final colour and aroma in Rhuby.

Solveig Sommarstrom is the master blender of Rhuby and has previously headed up the lab at V&S (owner of Absolut Vodka). 10 years ago she departed and opened up her own company in Malmkoping, Sodermanland where Rhuby is being bottled.

Rhuby is a singular Rhubarb offering where the true delights of Rhubarb comes through clean on the palette, no tricks involved and certainly no artificial colourants or flavours.

RHUBY is made from the highest quality Swedish wheat Vodka from Akers Styckebruk, Sodermanland, where Ylva was born, and married in harmony to make a 20% ABV (40proof) product.

Vodka can be produced from grain, potatoes, molasses, beets, and a variety of other plants. Rye and wheat are the classic grains for Vodka. Swedish distillers favour wheat mashes. Potatoes are looked down on and molasses, a sticky, sweet residue from sugar production, is widely used for inexpensive, mass-produced brands of Vodka.

Distillation - The choice of pot or column still has a fundamental effect on the final character of Vodka. All Vodka comes out of the still as a clear, colourless spirit, but Vodka from a pot still (the same sort used for Cognac and Scotch whisky) will contain some of the delicate aromatics, congeners, and flavour elements of the crop from which it was produced. Pot stills are relatively “inefficient,” and the resulting spirit from the first distillation is usually redistilled (rectified) to increase the proof of the spirit. Vodka from a more “efficient” column still is usually a neutral, clear spirit.

Type – Since Vodka tends to be a neutral spirit, it lends itself to blending with flavours and fortifying other beverages.

Vodka production in Sweden – dates back to the 15th century, having its origins in the local gunpowder industry where high-proof spirit (originally called brännvin) was used as a component of black powder for muskets. When distilleries were licensed to produce beverage alcohol
(primarily spice-flavoured Aquavit, but also Vodka), it was with the understanding that gunpowder makers had first priority over beverage consumers.

Home distilling was long a part of Swedish society. In 1830 there were over 175,000 registered stills in a country of less than three million people. This tradition, in a much diminished and illegal form, still continues to this day.