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It's hard not to notice Ultimat Vodka even amid the sea of luxury brands on the shelves nowadays. Just look for the cobalt-blue, handcrafted, Polish-crystal decanter, the one with the fat cork-and-glass stopper and the price sticker that reads $99.95.

The bottle's eye-catching look isn't Ultimat's most striking design feature, though. To get the full aesthetic effect, you have to pick it up. Or, at least, try to.

Tipping the scales at 2.3 kilograms - roughly twice the usual weight of a liquor bottle - it is reputed to be the heaviest 750-millilitre product ever carried by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

"It's amazing, the weight difference," says Alex Patinios, owner of Dionysus Wines & Spirits Ltd. of Toronto, the importing agency that launched the brand in Ontario seven weeks ago.

Lest the greenhouse-gas lobby start to raise a stink over the gratuitous freight weight, Mr. Patinios is quick to point out that the container is designed to be reused and could make a handsome - or at least very stable - candlestick holder.

And the Polish-made Ultimat, also available in Alberta, is by no means alone in the aesthetic-overstatement department.

Have you noticed? The premium-vodka aisles are starting to look like the crystal department at Birks.

In another arresting new entry, French-based giant Pernod Ricard SA has just relaunched Polish brand Wyborowa Exquisite in Canada with a new bottle designed by Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born architect of Polish descent. Tall, narrow and square-sided, it resembles a small skyscraper, but with a helical twist along its vertical axis. It costs between $43 and $50 across Canada.

Taking its cue from the jewellery world, Diva, from Scotland's Blackwood Distillers, comes in a tall, cylindrical bottle with a column of colourful Swarovski crystals running down the front on the inside of the glass. The gems aren't just decorative, either; they're meant to echo the production process, which - believe it or not - involves filtering the spirit through crushed diamonds and other gems, reputedly for a smoother, more polished taste. Diva sells for the equivalent of $70, mainly in Europe and Asia.

And eschewing semi-precious stones for a space-age metal, Russian distiller Veda announced last month that it had signed a deal with Pininfarina, the iconic Italian design house best known for its work with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Alfa Romeo. The special edition package, due out in September, is reported to involve a combination of Chinese lacquers and titanium. Projected cost: €300 (about $430). No word yet on Canadian availability.

Why are vodka makers pimping their pours? Because, frankly, it's the best way to justify higher and higher prices for a spirit that in principle costs less to produce than most others and inherently offers little in the way of brand differentiation.

Not that all vodkas taste exactly alike. I concede that Ultimat has just become my favourite vodka of all time. Still, I'm not sure I'll be buying it. Whenever I get the urge to splurge on a luxury vodka, which is rare, I quickly remind myself of the fact that vodka, at least according to federal law, is a colourless beverage based on grain or potatoes and absent of distinctive aromas or flavours.

Vodka makers don't even have the burden of one of the biggest expenses faced by their fellow whisky, rum and brandy makers - years of aging in costly wooden barrels. I mean, where do they get off charging as much as patiently mellowed, 10-year-old Laphroaig or 16-year-old Lagavulin single malts?

The subtle differences in flavour and texture between brands often have as much or more to do with the water added to dilute the spirit down to 40-per-cent alcohol after distillation than with the base spirit itself, and I don't like to pay $100 for water, with or without a hernia-inducing decanter.

And, ironically, it's the most expensive brands that tend to contain the least flavour because they tend to be distilled more times and filtered more assiduously, leaving behind fewer taste-imparting impurities.

"In many of the premium vodkas on the market right now, they're trying to make them as neutral as possible and have as little flavour as possible, so essentially you're paying more for less," says Josh Pape, bar manager at Chambar Belgian Restaurant in Vancouver, which specializes in signature cocktails designed to match the menu. He is not an advocate of deluxe vodkas costing $45 or more.

"It's almost like people are flexing their wallet when they order premium vodkas," he says. "I notice it more with vodka than with anything else. Scotch people ask questions and try new things. In the vodka world, they don't do that."

Not surprisingly, the emphasis on designer decanters comes at a time when vodka distillers are pushing the price envelope well beyond the pale. Building on the decade-old success of $40 French megabrand Grey Goose, which still accounts for 75 per cent of the $35-plus vodka category in Ontario, they're carving out what's come to be dubbed the ultra-luxury category.

Stolichnaya, the popular Russian brand distributed by Pernod Ricard, recently launched Elit, a $70 elixir that could be considered the icewine of vodkas. Its filtration process involves freezing the spirit (not unlike the grapes used to make the famous dessert wine) until only a small core in the middle of the vat remains in a fluid state. The ice, which reputedly contains all the crystallized impurities, is then discarded, leaving nothing but the pure, cold-filtered nucleus of liquid.

I'm not sure about the vodka, but I do like the tall, cylindrical Elit bottle, which has a conical top and looks vaguely reminiscent of an Apollo moon rocket.

"That's done very well for us," says Chris Robertson, the LCBO's category manager for spirits. "We brought in about 200 cases last year, and it was gone in a flash."

Another recently launched brand in Canada, U'Luvka, which like Ultimat comes from Poland, sells for $69 in Ontario and British Columbia. Mr. Pape says if he had to pick a favourite among the ultra-luxury brands, it would be U'Luvka because of its relatively distinctive, characterful taste.

Pricier than all the above is Smirnoff Penka, a small-production offering from the world vodka leader. It was introduced last year in Ontario and sold out of its 300-case inventory in months - at $125 a bottle.

Are sexy bottles energizing sales? Wyborowa Exquisite, the traditional brand that got the Gehry makeover, is up 52 per cent in year-over-year sales in Canada since introducing the new bottle.

That's right: new bottle, same old vodka.

In a sense, the emphasis on distinctive packaging is the vodka sector's attempt to borrow a page from the wine playbook, the way cognac and grappa producers have done in the past, replicating the conditions of scarcity and exotic-label buzz more commonly associated with small-production "trophy" cabernets.

It also plays into the cocktail-culture trend of club-goers ordering entire bottles, rather than individual drinks, enabling them to show off their favourite brands like badges.

Taking the wine-marketing model literally, Boisset, the Burgundy-based wine company, has introduced a line of "vodkas" called Idôl, distilled not from grain or vegetables but from pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. The latest addition to the lineup, launched earlier this year, is called Idôl Gold 2005. It uses only grapes from a single harvest to showcase the peculiarities of the vintage, much like a fine wine.

But don't look for Idôl in Canada. It's not available here. A Boisset representative says Canadian law would require the beverage, because it's distilled from fruit, to be reclassified as an eau-de-vie and shelved along with the brandies, which would defeat the company's objective, namely to tap the fast-growing premium vodka market.

Canadians eager to sample it will have to pick up a bottle next time they travel to the United States, currently the only market in which it's available. Don't worry, the bottle's not that heavy.

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Tasting notes

ULTIMAT $99.95

Superb. Remarkably sweet and smooth, with a clean, winter-breeze aroma, voluptuously round texture and long, harmonious finish. Drink it straight. No vermouth necessary.

WYBOROWA EXQUISITE $43 to $50

Starts out slightly aggressive but segues into a smooth mid-palate, with nuances of vanilla and fruity sweetness, and a crisp wintergreen-and-spice finish. Good in premium cocktails.

STOLICHNAYA ELIT about $70

Exceptionally smooth, round and silky, with very subtle hints of grain and vanilla. The barely-there spirit many vodka drinkers are looking for. Drink it straight or in a dry martini.

Beppi Crosariol

bcrosariol@globeandmail.com