The Snow Queen has Landed
Elite Kazakhstanis celebrating on this Independence Day weekend may soon have more in common with their rich brethren in the United States. According to a Kazakhstani Embassy dispatch Snow Queen Vodka, the “best non-flavored vodka in the world” and product of Kazakhstan, is being rapidly introduced to the US market.
“Based on international demand, a United States launch plan was moved ahead of schedule,” relates an Embassy representative, “in addition to [Washington DC], Snow Queen Vodka is now available in New York, Chicago, Miami and the Caribbean, with a
nationwide rollout staging over the coming year.”
The vodka has thus far received a very warm welcome, particularly in DC. “We are thrilled with the incredible reception that Snow Queen has received in the nation’s capital,” said Rowland Hill, CEO of Snow Queen, “Snow Queen has fast become the vodka of choice for so many important Washingtonians, and while this is no surprise based on the quality of our product, we are delighted with the rapidity in which this has occurred.”
Mr. Hill’s statement may not be your run-of-the-mill PR fluff: according to recent reports, Snow Queen essentially sponsored Vice President Dick Cheney’s Christmas Party. Now they need only work their product into the liquor cabinet of incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and America (or at least its political upper crust) is theirs.
And what do locals think about Snow Queen? Hard to figure- no one in this area of Kazakhstan can seem to afford it. “[But] Vodka was better in the Soviet Days,” a local carpenter, and rather heavy drinker, assured me.
on December 18th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
And what is your opinion of Snow Queen, Arthur? Is it new in Kazakhstan too, or has it been around for a while?
on December 20th, 2006 at 9:25 am
Yeah no kidding, too expensive 5600 tenge a bottle! I mean I’ll go all out for a 700-1000 tenge bottle for holidays. They’re really putting themselves in the high-class market with the pricing. Hopefully it’ll go down after the holidays.
on December 25th, 2006 at 6:52 am
We bought a bottle for Christmas–on sale for 3000 tenge at Gros supermarket. Not bad, but definitely not the smoothest vodka on the market. In fact, pretty harsh for the price. Definitely strong. Can’t say I’m suffering the morning after. In all, a disappointment. Maybe it’s designed to be mixed not drunk in shots.
on December 31st, 2006 at 5:34 pm
Is that the same brand that used to come in a ‘furry’ white bottle?
It looked nice, but tasted about the same as any bog standard, cheap brand, last time I tried it, assuming it is the same…
on April 28th, 2008 at 1:15 am
I bought a bottle that I was going to share with very important clients. You can imagine my surprise when one of the clients after a sip of Snow White Vodka almost instantly go ill and without even enough time to go to the bathroom vomited blood on the carpet and 10 minutes later (by then I had already called 911), collapsed. Fortunately help came promptly; it took them 2 minutes for his heart to beat again. He spent the night in the hospital. The next morning he was dead. The night before the autopsy his body dissapeared from the hospital morgue and the blood analysis that had been drawn while he was still alive had disappeared.