I went on a bar crawl with Jason Momoa — he was even cooler than expected

When I was invited on a bar crawl with Jason Momoa to launch his craft vodka, Meili, I may have flipped my keyboard over in the flurry to say yes.

Wouldn’t you, though? He is the coolest-looking man I’ve ever laid eyes on, and that’s saying something as I’ve met Idris Elba.

Both have a cool-factor that knows no bounds, but Jason is the only man that can make a waistcoat with a tank top underneath look like a fashion smash. I, on the other hand looked like I’d got dressed in the dark when I tried it once… Ah, the early noughties.

I’m not going to lie, being in the presence of Jason piled on the pressure to like his vodka. It wasn’t just him either. My plus one, Clara Batten and I were rubbing shoulders with Jason’s entourage; his security team, girlfriend (the actress, Adria Arjona from Blink Twice) and business partner, Blaine Halvorson.

In my mind, the slightest side-eye, purse of the lips or head shake between Clara and I would have been clocked in a heartbeat.

Look, I’m always going to be honest in my feedback about drinks. I felt bad when I smack-talked Dolly Parton’s range of wines for a Metro taste test, saying they were poorly-made, and I’m a giant Dolly fan.

What happens if Jason’s vodka tasted like paint stripper? I really wouldn’t want to be in a feud with Aquaman, even on dry land.

As it happens, I needn’t have worried.

Firstly, the vodka is good, but we’ll get into that later. Secondly, Jason and Blaine (who is also achingly cool to look at because he’s a designer) are charming with a reassuringly warm demeanor and a shared passion for water. Yes, water, and before you ask, that has nothing to do with the whole Aquaman thing.

It’s because Meili Vodka (pronounced ‘may-lee’) is allegedly made from the purest water on earth.

Blaine explained that he fully geeked out in researching the world’s water sources in anticipation of making their chosen spirit. He knew that the key to, as he put it, ‘mending vodka’ was to produce a spirit that was so naturally pure and delicious that it could be sipped neat, warm, chilled or on the rocks like a top-tier whisky, tequila or cognac.

Given that vodka is 60% water, the duo spent nine years researching the purest water for the job.

Spoiler alert, it wasn’t arctic water that proved the purest. What surprised them was that it came from an unlikely source – a 300 million-year-old aquifer in the US state of Montana, of all places.

For those, like me, who haven’t the foggiest what an aquifer is, Blaine explained it’s an ancient underground river. Hence, he refers to it as ‘old water’, which doesn’t do it justice. So pure is this water, in fact, that they don’t even need to filter it.

But, given that neither Jason nor Blaine were vodka drinkers before creating their own brand, why did they choose, um, vodka?

Their strapline explains it succinctly; ‘vodka sucked, so we fixed it’.

It was precisely because they saw the vodka category as ‘broken’, or at least underdeveloped and unexciting, that they chose it. For them it was far more rewarding to reinvent a spirit that’s known for its eye-watering burn, flavourlessness and its primary role as the neutral accompaniment to mixers in a drink, than hop on the celebrity tequila train in rush hour.

Until now, vodka has (on the whole) been deliberately multi-distilled to achieve a kind of homogenous spirit lacking in flavour or texture. The more a spirit is distilled, the more is stripped out. So, when you hear the words three-times distilled, you know it’ll be super pure but lacking in personality. It becomes a blank canvas to which the drinker can introduce flavour by adding in other components, like coke, orange juice or vermouth, in the case of a Martini.

Jason and Blaine wanted to create a vodka with its taste profile in tact, that wasn’t just an ingredient, but the main event. That’s why you don’t have to be an expert to smell and taste that Meili Vodka is single distilled. It’s also housed in 100% post-consumer recycled glass, with no bottle being the same as another.

How does Meili Vodka taste?

That’s all fine, but let’s cut to the chase, how did Jason and Blaine do overall? During my time with the pair, we stopped at several different London bars to try Meili Vodka in various different forms. Here’s my verdict on each…

Neat

A tumbler of neat Meili vodka (not full) was thrust into mine and Clara’s hands on entering the Karma Sanctum Soho Bar’s roof terrace. All eyes were on us (they probably weren’t) as we went in for our first sip. We both found it to be soft, textured with a sweet cereal nuance to it. A good start, even at a slightly warmer temperature. 9/10

Vodka Cranberry

Look, all I’ll say is diluting this vodka with cranberry juice is a heresy. It was fine, but tasted predominantly of cranberry. Best to use one of the mass market bottles for that. 5/10

Dry Martini

The first version was brought over with a touch of vermouth in the mix. It tasted, well, like a perfectly decent vodka Martini. Blaine took a sip and deemed the vermouth level too high. He then ordered one made with vodka and a twist of lemon only, so basically neat vodka again. He was right, the smooth, chilled, creamy vodka took on the lifted nuances of the lemon rind, making it a delicious sipping experience. 10/10

Dirty Martini

We tasted this in the Artesian Bar at The Langham Hotel. Waiters were bringing out trays of Meili cocktails from all angles, and at one point, Jason joined the bartenders behind the bar, to uproarious applause. The Dirty Martini was transformed by Meili’s cushiony texture and sweetness, into a more approachable, softer landing of a cocktail for anyone who finds Dirty Martinis overly aggressive and intense. 7.5/10

Negroni

The fact that you can swap out gin in a Negroni for vodka was one of the biggest reveals of the evening. Unlike the botanical nature of gin, vodka’s creaminess dials back the bitterness, softening the angles of the Campari and Vermouth for a smoother riff on a classic. I’m a Negroni purist though, so will be sticking to gin for this particular cocktail. 7/10

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