Think of a Vodka app and your brain may conjure images of nightclubs drenched in purple light, packed with men doing their best rapper poses as they're surrounded by young women. But Vodka Farmer from Koskenkorva is something quite different, and much better.
Vodka Farmer takes you through the process of growing the barley that goes into making the spirit, turning it into a classic resource management game. But fear not, there are no IAPs here.
You start off with one farm worker, cultivating a single patch of land. You dig, you till, you sow seed, water it, wait for the sun to do its bit and then harvest the grain. Each crop harvested gives you the cash to hire another worker and some fuel that lets you speed up each stage of the process.
But unlike Clash of Clans, the most you have to wait for each stage of crop growth is 1 minute 30 seconds, not three days.
This little game is addictive in its own right, and we've plugged away for more than an hour already. However, there's a very neat incentive to get us growing crops in our own little virtual Koskenkorva, the Finnish village in which the crop is grown.
Back in the real world, Koskenkorva Vodka is out to put Koskenkorva the place back on the map by building its own 'great wall', onto which the names of everyone who "wins" the game will be engraved. You'll get your very own little plaque. Winning the game involves amassing a nice 'n' big store of barley. We've already managed it. Have you?
As an extra sweetener, players are also entered into a competition to win a trip for two to the village of Koskenkorva valued at 5000 Euro. Not bad. The competition is open until May 1 2017, and you can enter as long as you're of drinking age: we get the feeling the trip will involve imbibing a fair amount of the local tipple.
Koskenkorva itself is a tiny little place with only around 2100 residents. Don't worry, if you win the trip you'll be taken on several trips around Finland rather than just hanging around the barley fields that are Koskenkorva's main feature.
The Vodka Farmer app also offers some info on the various types of Koskenkorva vodka, including blueberry juniper, lemon lime yarrow and the bourbon-infused sauna barrel. A final section offers a whole bunch of vodka cocktail recipes.
One of the more unusual cocktails is the Village Mar-Tea-Ni, which features Earl Grey tea, honey and lemon juice, and is served in a pottery cup. Watch out, Hoxton.
If you fancy getting your name its own piece of real estate in Koskenkorva, Vodka Farmer is available for Android and iOS, and is free.
