The Departments

DARTZ RussoBaltique Vodka: The Bottle, the Rally and the Heist

By DARTZ Editorial · 5 November 2026

DARTZ RussoBaltique vodka was created in 2008 for the centenary of Russo-Balt car production. RFE/RL reported 625 bottles, one for each Russo-Balt car built from 1908 to 1912, each made from 3 kg of gold and 3 kg of silver under a diamond-set imperial eagle. In January 2018 a bottle on loan to Café 33 in Copenhagen was stolen and found empty days later. DARTZ traces the recipe to the 1912 Monte Carlo Rally.

Most vodka comes from a distillery. DARTZ says its own came from a rally car.

Born on the road to Monaco

In the winter of 1911 and 1912, André Nágel and Vadim Mikhailov drove a Russo-Balt 3,257 km from St Petersburg to Monaco for the Monte Carlo Rally. On the car were containers of pure military spirit. On the way, DARTZ says, the crew mixed it with snow and Alpine water, and that is how RussoBaltique vodka was born. Read the full story of Nágel’s 1912 rally.

Every year, DARTZ says, it goes back to the Alps to collect Christmas snow for the same recipe.

The bottle

According to RFE/RL, DARTZ created the vodka in 2008, for the centenary of Russo-Balt car production, in 625 bottles, one for every Russo-Balt car built between 1908 and 1912. Each bottle is made from 3 kg of gold, taken from Tsar Nicholas II coins minted in those years, and 3 kg of silver. Its cap, in white and yellow gold, carries the Russian imperial eagle set with diamonds.

Gold DARTZ RussoBaltique vodka bottles under pink bar lights

DARTZ does not claim the vodka is made from rare grain or filtered a thousand times. It is pure military spirit mixed with clear Alpine water, and, DARTZ admits, it is diamond filtered: a natural diamond filter sits inside the bottle, and you can watch the vodka pass through it. The Rally Edition bottle copies the containers found on Nágel’s car.

The Copenhagen heist

In January 2018 the vodka became world news. A RussoBaltique bottle on loan from DARTZ was on show at Café 33 in Copenhagen, home of a collection of some 1,200 vodkas owned by Brian Ingberg. In the early hours of 2 January, masked men let themselves in and took it.

A few days later the bottle turned up on a building site north of Copenhagen, found by a member of the public. It was intact but empty. BBC News, The Local and newspapers around the world followed the story from the theft to the find.

A man holding the gold DARTZ RussoBaltique vodka bottle at Café 33, Copenhagen

On Netflix

DARTZ says its vodka world reached television too. In the third season of House of Cards, a gold bottle of Osobaya Sayanskaya is given as a gift between presidents, and DARTZ counts it among its screen appearances.

Gold Osobaya Sayanskaya vodka bottle, as seen in House of Cards

Today

DARTZ has made its vodka part of owning a DARTZ: the RussoBaltique Rally Edition has been one of the gifts that come with its cars, alongside Imperial Prix 1912 caviar with gold. For the table, there is RussoBaltique Vodka The Drink Edition.

About DARTZ

DARTZ is a Riga carrosserie that builds bespoke, opulent vehicles, armoured or non-armoured, in strictly limited numbers. It calls them BONDs: Bespoke Opulent Noble Drives.

Its heritage runs back to the Russo-Baltic Wagon Factory (RBVZ), founded in Riga in 1869, whose automobile department built its first car in 1909. Leonard F. Yankelovich revived that heritage as DARTZ in 1988. The group, DARTZ Grupa OÜ, is registered in Tallinn, Estonia.

Its Prombron’ models, from the Iron Diamond and Black Dragon to the Black Shark, Black Alligator and Black Stallion, have been covered by Top Gear, Forbes, Robb Report and Fox News, among many others.

Questions we are asked

What is DARTZ RussoBaltique vodka?

A vodka created by DARTZ in 2008 for the centenary of Russo-Balt car production, sold in bottles of gold and silver. DARTZ calls it the world's most expensive vodka.

What is the RussoBaltique bottle made of?

RFE/RL reported 3 kg of gold, from Tsar Nicholas II coins, and 3 kg of silver, with a cap of white and yellow gold carrying a diamond-set imperial eagle.

How many bottles were made?

RFE/RL reported 625, the number of Russo-Balt cars built from 1908 to 1912.

Was a RussoBaltique bottle really stolen?

Yes. A bottle on loan to Café 33 in Copenhagen was stolen in the early hours of 2 January 2018 and found a few days later, empty, north of the city.

Was RussoBaltique vodka in House of Cards?

DARTZ says its vodka world reached Netflix's House of Cards, where the gold Osobaya Sayanskaya bottle appears as a gift between presidents.

Where does the recipe come from?

DARTZ traces it to the 1912 Monte Carlo Rally, when André Nágel's crew mixed the car's pure military spirit with snow and Alpine water.