UK's first draught vodka is unveiled

The industry’s first draught vodka has been launched to speed up service and cut down on waste.

Vodka One – crafted and five-times distilled in the US, and distributed in the UK by Hi-Spirits – is dispensed by a font that delivers 25ml or 35ml shots at 1°C in just one second.

The font has been trialed in a number of high street venues in the past five months. It has built-in stock control software that allows licensees to cross-reference data with EPoS and manual stocktakes.

Hi-Spirits chairman Jeremy Hill said the font provides licensees the option not just to offer standard ‘vodka & mixer’ drinks, but also super-cold vodka shots and drinks such as Gimlets and Mini-Martinis.

He said: "Vodka One has been shown to dramatically reduce serve time to the customer, not least because it’s a single-handed operation, allowing mixers to be added at the same time.

“A lot of time, and often product, is wasted at the moment as staff switch over bottles of vodka on optics."

The Vodka One font, which has been developed by beverage dispense company Lancer, is said to be simple to install.

Hill added: "It leaves no residual vodka, unlike bottles and optics, and reduces the risk of spillages during busy trading sessions."

The font is served by two five-litre PET containers, meaning there fewer changeovers required than optics. A five-litre PET container is also claimed to be more environmentally friendly, weighing one fiftieth of the equivalent number of bottles needed to serve the same amount of vodka.