Taste: Haute Stuff

In late 2004, husband-and-wife team Melkon Khosrovian and Litty Mathew launched Modern Spirits vodka out of their Los Angeles kitchen, hand-infusing vodkas with exotic ingredients to create flavors like Chocolate-Orange, Black-Truffle and Celery-Peppercorn.

Most of their products are still affordable for those on a bourgeois budget ($22.99 to $49.99 a bottle, depending on size and ingredients), but Modern Spirits’ Haute line of custom vodkas is strictly for the upper crust. Using questionnaires and personal interviews, Khosrovian and Mathew create flavor profiles for Haute customers, matching their clients’ personalities and specific preferences. For a recent customer, Mathew says, they fashioned a Lavender Honey flavor to evoke his favorite childhood summer in Provence, France. But creating such memories comes at a price: The minimum Haute order is 10 cases (120 bottles)—and comes with a bill of $15,000.

For more info visit modernspiritsvodka.com.