Crystal Head is an vodka bottle that I’m sure you’ve seen in stores: a crystal-clear, shotput sized skull filled with Canadian vodka. You’ve probably also heard how Dan Akroyd is a 1/2 owner of the brand – he appears on some of their advertising.

Crystal head is a top-shelf vodka brand, competing with Grey Goose, Belvedere, and others. There’s 2 things that classify this as top shelf: first, it’s about $50 a bottle, and second, the artist-designed glass decanter that it arrives in is awesomely cool. There’s other selling points here, like that it’s quadruple distilled through diamonds from Canadian sweet corn, it’s made with Newfoundland glacial water…. all of these are what we have become used to hearing when a brand establishes why their vodka is superior.

So let’s get to taste. Crystal Head is mild with little alcohol burn. Tasted straight, it’s a touch earthy, and I’d just call it clean. I sipped a glass on the rocks and it was pleasant and smooth.

Time for some obvious questions here: is Crystal Head as good as other $50 vodkas I’ve tried? No. Is it better than bottom shelf $10 vodkas? Absolutely! In my book, Crystal Head is really a package deal: decent quality vodka and the coolest decanter I can think of makes Crystal Head a fair buy at $50. This is the only liquor bottle that I will keep when it’s empty so that I can continue using it as a decanter for my spirits.