Jarzębiak Rowan is a Polish flavoured vodka produced by the AWW Group (PHP Wiesław Wawrzyniak) of Kalisz, bottled at 40% ABV and marked by a distinctly fruity, rowanberry character. This version won a gold medal at the alcohol market competition for speciality vodkas held in Toruń on 24 May 2014.
The spirit is based on a grain vodka developed from luxury-grade rectified spirit. Jarzębiak Rowan is created by combining this vodka with carefully composed infusions of rowanberries, plums and raisins, and its flavour rests on a precisely selected blend of fruit macerates. According to the tasting description, Jarzębiak Rowan is made from macerates of frost-treated rowanberries, with an addition of raisins.
Dried fruit and herbal accents dominate the aromatic profile. The nose reveals notes of dried fruit, rowanberries, raisins and dried fruit and nuts, along with subtle woody and green accents. A separate tasting note specifies the sweet-tart character of the nose – green apples, plums, greengage. On the palate the vodka brings together two opposing poles: the delicate tartness of rowanberry harmonises with the sweetness of plums and raisins. Deeper notes emerge further on, and the mouth is both sweet and tart, with hints of dark chocolate and walnut shell, while the finish rings out mainly with sweet rowanberry.
The brand is rooted in the Polish tradition of fruit spirits. Jarzębiak is a Polish brand with a long heritage, taken over by the AWW Group in the 1990s. The producer offers jarzębiak in two guises – the plain version and the dry Rowan – with the Rowan version more closely resembling the spirits of old in flavour. The plant itself has solid raw-material resources: in 2003 it opened its own spirit rectification and dehydration facility, and the company also has its own farmland, thanks to which almost all the production ingredients are its own, with the exception of the fruit for infusions and liqueurs.