Flavoured vodka and vanilla vodka: what the label means and how to infuse it

Plain vodka may carry no predominant flavour: category 15 of the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008 admits only what the distillate brings with it. Under category 31, flavoured vodka is vodka given a predominant flavour other than that of its raw materials, at 37.5% ABV or more, and the regulation says it “may be sweetened, blended, flavoured, matured or coloured”.

It may be sold under its main flavour with the word vodka, which is why the shelf reads vanilla vodka or lemon vodka rather than flavoured vodka. Category 31 is built on vodka: the flavour goes into a spirit that already meets the rules set out in what is vodka.

American law reaches a similar place by another route: there a flavoured vodka belongs to the class of flavoured spirits under 27 CFR 5.151: the base spirit must meet its own standard first, sugar is allowed, the floor is 30% ABV, and the label names the spirit and its main flavour. An American bottle can therefore be weaker than any flavoured vodka allowed in Britain.

Category 31 allows sweetening and names no ceiling. Some vanilla vodkas taste close to dry, with the vanilla only on the nose; others taste of custard. The vanilla vodka page records most vanilla bottlings a fraction above the floor, at 37.5 to 38% ABV, and the sweetness changing from one brand to the next.

Recipes are balanced for a middling bottle. If a drink runs sweet, cut its syrup by 5ml before you change the vodka. With a dry bottle you control the sugar through the syrup, which is the easier way round.

Flavour can also bring an allergen that plain vodka does not. The gluten exemption covers cereals used to make a distilled spirit, not what is added afterwards, and nuts and milk are declarable allergens in their own right under the same annex. Read the label of a flavoured bottle before pouring it for someone who avoids either.

The strength floor decides the name. Under 37.5% ABV a vanilla spirit is not vodka of any kind in Britain, under category 31. Sweetened to 100 grams or more per litre, at 15% ABV or above, it is a liqueur under category 32 of the same regulation, and is sold as vanilla liqueur. With less sugar than that, the same regulation puts it in the general class of spirit drinks.

That is why vanilla vodka is not a liqueur. Its category carries a strength floor more than twice the liqueur one, and a vanilla liqueur is a sweeter, weaker drink that changes a recipe if it is swapped in. What is a liqueur covers the sugar and strength rules for the whole family. The strengths and sugar in the table follow Annex II and 27 CFR 5.151; the keeping times follow BBC Good Food and our vanilla vodka page.

Article 16 of the retained Regulation (EC) 1334/2008 governs the word natural on a flavouring. When a label says natural vanilla flavouring, 95% or more of that flavouring by weight has come from vanilla. Natural vanilla flavouring with other natural flavourings is a mixture in which the vanilla can still be easily recognised. Natural flavouring on its own means a blend of sources that the name of any one would not describe.

Vanilla extract, pods steeped in alcohol and water, carries several hundred compounds besides vanillin, and the vanilla sugar syrup page notes that most vanilla flavouring sold is vanillin made without the pod, which gives the familiar note with little behind it. The front of the bottle only has to say vanilla vodka; where a producer names its flavouring, these are the words to read.

The Pornstar Martini is Douglas Ankrah’s: Wikipedia’s article records it first mixed at his bar, the Townhouse, in London in 2002. The IBA gives 50ml of vanilla vodka, 20ml of passion fruit liqueur, 50ml of passion fruit purée and two bar spoons of vanilla sugar, shaken and double strained, with 50ml of Champagne on the side. Ours swaps the sugar for 10ml of vanilla sugar syrup, which blends evenly in a cold shake. A sweet vanilla vodka doubles up on that syrup, so taste first.

The Spicy Fifty is Salvatore Calabrese’s; Wikipedia’s article dates it to 2004 and 2005, for the first menu of his bar FIFTY in London. The IBA shakes 50ml of vanilla vodka with elderflower cordial and fresh lime at 15ml each, 10ml of honey syrup and two thin slices of red chilli, then double strains it. The vanilla rounds the chilli’s heat, and the honey syrup is the measure to trim.

Without vanilla vodka, use plain vodka with a drop or two of vanilla extract for the aroma, and keep the syrup as written.

The IBA’s Cosmopolitan names citron vodka: 40ml, with Cointreau and fresh lime at 15ml each and 30ml of cranberry. Wikipedia’s article records Gaz Regan’s account that the Odeon version of 1989 used Absolut Citron. Our page keeps the measures and finishes with an expressed orange twist, flamed if you like.

BBC Good Food’s method starts small: about a quarter of a bottle of vodka in a sealed, very clean jar, so a batch that goes wrong costs little. Clean kit matters, because a dirty jar can turn the spirit sour.

Timing depends on the ingredient. The same guide gives less than a day for strong flavours such as vanilla, chilli, cardamom and citrus, five to seven days for hardy spices, three to four weeks for berries and other strong fruit, and up to a month for milder ones such as apple, melon and flowers. Taste every few hours at first, and lift the flavouring out when the drink tastes right, not when the clock says so.

For vanilla, split a pod so the seeds meet the spirit, taste after a few hours, and lift the pod out once the vanilla is clear. Leave it for weeks and you are making vanilla extract, which the same publisher steeps with four scraped pods to 100ml of spirit.

Strain through a fine sieve, then through a coffee filter if fruit has clouded it, the way how to make sloe gin strains its fruit. Bottle it, date it and keep it sealed in a cool, dark place. Spices and herbs hold their flavour longest; fruit infusions can oxidise and change colour. BBC Good Food puts a well-sealed flavoured spirit at up to a year.

A home infusion carries no sugar. Sweeten the drink rather than the bottle, with simple syrup or a flavoured syrup, so one jar serves sweet and dry drinks alike. The syrup page gives the keeping time for each kind.

The flavoured vodka, vodka and liqueur definitions are categories 31, 15 and 32 of the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, Annex II, and the American class of flavoured spirits is 27 CFR 5.151, all checked on 12 October 2026. The flavouring terms are Article 16 of the retained Regulation (EC) 1334/2008. The infusion timings and keeping are from BBC Good Food’s guide to flavoured vodka and its vanilla extract recipe, read the same day. The two vanilla recipes are the IBA’s, with our changes as each cocktail page records them, and the histories are Wikipedia’s summaries, each linked where it is used.