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As a Russian I have to say that I was more than shocked by the American way of serving vodka - either warm (are you guys serious? In Russia drinking warm vodka is considered sacrilege), or "on the rocks" or "chilled". The first time I was served the "chilled" version (huge glass, 2/3 melted crushed ice and a straw/stirring stick! ) the look on my face was apparently of such awe that the bartender came over and asked whether anything was wrong.
But I digress.
My top vodkas would have to be Beluga (can't get that one anywhere outside of Russia, and it's a thing of beauty), Akvinta and Ketel One. Smooth, clean taste, no putrid smells (hello, Grey Goose!) and, most importantly, a clear head the next morning.
Anything with added artificial flavorings IMO should not be considered vodka. At all.
I'm Russian, as well. My vodka lives in the freezer. That's where it's happiest, until it meets its good buddy, selyodka.
Last edited by weltschmerz; 06-23-2013 at 02:34 AM..
This is one spirit whose following I could never quite understood. To me, it has no flavor and few notable characteristics outside of straight alcohol. I mean, I drink alcoholic beverages for the same reasons other folks do, including the taste of a finely crafted beverage. With vodka, I feel like that last bit is lost. I might as well be drinking pure ethanol. The only reason I have found to pay more for vodka is to get a brand whose consumption will not lead to a headache the next day. Since I'm not a heavy drinker, I might as well save the money and buy the cheap crap if I ever decide to buy it.
So to the vodka drinkers who may disagree with my assessment... What makes a great vodka so great? Sometimes, it seems as though it's simply the price tag that dictates a vodka's quality because they all taste the same to me. And I'm Polish. My family never drank vodka. They all favored whiskey if they ever drank spirits outside of wine and beer. Never saw a family member of mine reach for the vodka.
This is one spirit whose following I could never quite understood. To me, it has no flavor and few notable characteristics outside of straight alcohol.
That is correct. The US Treasury Department's legal definition of unflavored vodka is an odorless, tasteless alcoholic beverage. Although that is not literally true in practice, the differences are extremely tiny, amounting primarily to very slight variations in aftertaste.
When you strip away all the hoopla, the point of drinking vodka is to get a buzz on. I had a Russian girlfriend once who taught me to drink vodka Russian style... keep the vodka in the freezer so that it is syrupy, pour it into thimble sized glasses, shoot them down while they are icy cold, repeat many many times, laugh a lot.
Vodka is also treasured as the ultimate cocktail spirit, since it blends with everything. And this is the secret of vodka's success... it has long been the most popular liquor category in the US by a wide margin, largely because it goes well with any other beverage ingredient.
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I mean, I drink alcoholic beverages for the same reasons other folks do, including the taste of a finely crafted beverage. With vodka, I feel like that last bit is lost. I might as well be drinking pure ethanol.
That is correct. 80 Proof Vodka is 40% ethanol and 60% water.
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The only reason I have found to pay more for vodka is to get a brand whose consumption will not lead to a headache the next day. Since I'm not a heavy drinker, I might as well save the money and buy the cheap crap if I ever decide to buy it.
The cheap crap is actually made by the same small handful of companies (Archer Midland, Heaven Hill, etc.) as the better stuff, but it's just not as well filtered by the bottlers as the better brands, so it isn't entirely flavorless, and the traces of what impurities are left in it by the cheapest ones, like McCormick, are also what makes hangover headaches worse. But you only need to go slightly up the price scale to get as good as you really need to get.
In this famous New York Times blind taste test, 21 vodkas, including Grey Goose, Ketel One, Wyberowa, and Belvedere were sampled by expert tasters, and the winner was Smirnov Red Label:
[/quote]So to the vodka drinkers who may disagree with my assessment... What makes a great vodka so great? Sometimes, it seems as though it's simply the price tag that dictates a vodka's quality because they all taste the same to me. [/quote]
That is correct. Premium vodkas are primarily marketing devices. People like to feel good about themselves, and spending an extra couple of bucks on a drink made with top shelf vodka is a cheap, easy way to give yourself some strokes... and maybe to impress others. The success of super-premium vodkas is almost entirely due to the conspicuous consumption habits of hip-hop and rap stars, and the public likes to emulate celebrities.
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And I'm Polish. My family never drank vodka. They all favored whiskey if they ever drank spirits outside of wine and beer. Never saw a family member of mine reach for the vodka.
It may have been a cultural thing. In some areas vodka drinking was associated with peasants, so drinking whisky showed you were of a better class. There's a remarkable Czech single malt whisky on the market now that shows the power of ones beverage choice to bestow class. During the Communist era, real Scotch whisky was very highly prized, and almost impossible to obtain. So some very clever and enterprising Czechs imported peat from Scotland... trainloads of peat... and used it to smoke malted barley, and thence to distill whisky, and age it in old wine barrels. It was actually quite a good tipple at the time, and bestowed great status on those who could get their hands on it and serve it to their guest. Now, 60 years later, the remaining limited stocks have achieved a wonderful mellowness and complexity, and are commanding top prices.
OpenD, I enjoyed and appreciated your assessment. It seems as though mine wasn't too far off thankfully. I was largely making a stab in the dark pertaining to the subject. I have never really taken the time to learn about vodka, and always found it a rather uninteresting and perhaps boring spirit. As you mentioned, it seems the greatest appeal is in the fact that there is nothing to it, making it great for mixed drinks.
I favor beverages that have more obvious and prominent characteristics (other than flaws of course). To each his/her own. At this point, I can safely say vodka is not the spirit for me, and investing the time/money learning more about it would be a rather wasteful pursuit.
Deep Eddy and Tito's are both from Austin area. Tito's is so highly rated that Deep Eddy can't really compete straight on, so they are marketing several flavored vodkas, like sweet tea. It was served at a movie premier for a Western I went to a couple of years ago... True Grit?
New craft distillers like to make vodka because they can sell it right away, no aging required.
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) the look on my face was apparently of such awe that the bartender came over and asked whether anything was wrong. 
