Fahrenheit 212 commissioned Steven Noble to create an original custom illustration for award winning Belvedere Vodka (Heritage 176) that includes two separate vignettes with one illustration showing the rye being steeped into water, and another showing the rye being kilned, and dried through very hot temperatures in a scratchboard etching style. As the story goes, Belvedere’s Master Rye Distillers apply fire to the rye before distillation, to further demonstrate its potential for nuanced taste. Belvedere Heritage 176 is quite simply a taste of vodka’s past. Up until the 19th century, Polish Vodka-makers relied on the old technique of ‘malting’, using fire-kilned drying —a tradition which also naturally revealed rich and distinctive flavors. Over time, as the vodka category expanded, and technology evolved, these old traditions sadly faded out, and vodka became more associated with neutrality.
