Crystal Head is so named for its container, which in turn is modeled after the 13 crystal skulls that have been found around the world, carved by seemingly impossible means that have led many to suspect their origin is extra-terrestrial. Canadian-born actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd turns out to be as much into the paranormal as Dr. Stantz and has chosen to dedicate a vodka to the mystery of the crystal skulls. According to the website, the bottle came first, and the decision to put something in it apparently came later. Vodka was chosen I believe because it is clear, or perhaps because of its "purity." (There used to be videos of Aykroyd explaining all of these decisions, but lately the site design is far more sparse.) The water for this spirit came from glaciers in Newfoundland, Canada. The vodka is quadruple distilled and then filtered through Herkimer diamonds, a process which, while interesting and quite beautiful in a poetic way, seems to have accomplished nothing whatever. The website implies that your vodka may be haunted. It is also supposed to be lacking in glycol, citrus oil, and sugar. (Which I guess make it into other vodkas?)
Now, the verdict. It has been a while since I last tried any of this vodka, but I did have a bottle of my own. Even as a relative novice, I realized the first time I tried Snow Queen that it was smoother for a cheaper price and had more of the "sweet cream" flavor that Aykroyd claimed was in Crystal Head. Snow Queen did become my favorite vodka, but still... With Crystal Head, you're really paying for the cool bottle, Dan Aykroyd's name, and the chance that he'll sign your bottle with his name one day. When it first came out, he did tours across America, but unfortunately I never made any of them.
To clarify, it isn't a bad vodka. But if you've tried Snow Queen, Grey Goose, Ketel One, Hangar One, or probably any of a larger number of vodkas I haven't personally tried, you'll find them smoother and more complex than Crystal Head. But if you're like me and you collect skulls in every medium, then you need to get at least one of these.
misterfuffie sez:
Akroyd is huge into the paranormal, and filtering the vodka through the crystals is supposed to charge it with positive energy. Also, only one of the four skulls (not thirteen) that have been presented for study seems to have been "impossible" - the Mitchell-Hedges skull - that turns out to not have been very impossible once specialist laboratories got involved. The owner, who claims to have found it under a Mayan altar in Belize and to have been told by the Mayans that it was a death totem, withdrew it from testing once details of metal tools being used came out.
Much appreciated illumination on two topics worthy of much research. I leave it to you to follow those threads to their end, my friends.