homepage Forums SimHQ Community Community Hall Best vodka you have had?

I've heard horror stories about the Smirnoff hangovers.

High end vodka is a scam

Vodka is desigend to have a neutral taste. Ideally as mixer and to get results.
Destill the raw material properly. This can be done in a very technical scientific way.

Once you reach a certail level you only pay for marketing. Russian Standard or Parliament are good a�nd resonably priced

With single malt whiskey you get something for your money. In a way you still get scammed.
The stuff is mass produced for a global market by large cooperations that just want to maximise their profit.
Singe malt whiskey is not created by bearded rugged scotsmen that follow traditions. It is created by process engineers. Still there are more ways to create different and intensive tastes adjusting the raw materials (how much smoke is used drying the barley) shape of the stills and the aging process for example

Still we pay a lot for an idealized image that is not true.

Luksasowa, Polish potato Vodka, very smooth (doesn't taste like turpentine).

Not quite. The price of Single Malts largely depends on the number of casks (the therefore filled bottles) produced. Simple supply and demand. And currently, demand for "rare" Whiskies is high, regardless of taste.

BTW, many distilleries have been bought up by large companies/ conglomerates (Diageo, Suntory, Pernot Ricard, Louis Vuitton Mo�t Hennessy, Bacardi, Campari...), but there are still privately owned distillers (Springbank) and independent bottlers (and distillers) like Signatory or Gordon & MacPhail.


And Russian Standard is priced in a way that I would not call it a "scam": the normal 0.7 l bottle somewhere between 10 and 12 Euros.

Belvedere is more expensive than most other vodkas.

Vodka might be designed to have a neutral taste, but that design goal isn't always met. If making a Belvedere quality vodka were easily done for less money, then why are there so many cheap vodkas that taste like #%&*$# in comparison? I'm not arguing whether or not Belvedere is overpriced, but I am arguing that the quality is by far superior based on years of drinking a decent variety of liquors.

@Jayhawk, yeah russian standard is an example of the good enough cutoff.

Stuff like grey goose or belvedere in the 30 euro region is what I was refering to.

Whiskey, yeah good point about supply and demand. Due to the aging needed they can not ramp up output quickly if demand rises.

What they can do (and unfortunately do) is reduce the age of their standard product and sell a lot of whiskey without age information.

Highland Park einar is a good example. 55� per liter and most likely quite young. if it would be 10 years or older you can bet they�d put that on the bottle.
Talisker is doing the same with their storm.

Quite a lot of examples here

Regarding the post with the honey lemon throw it all down in one shot method of drinking vodka, what is the preferred way to drink vodka? Is it a sipping drink, or a shot drink?

Like, when I drink Jameson, I like to put a couple of finger's worth in a rocks-type glass with about 4 ice cubes and sip it. Is that an appropriate way to drink vodka? Do you drink it straight?

Favorite vodka?

The one on the breath of a total spinner.

The russians/polish drink it cold but not freezing say around 5�celsius. Neat out of large shot glasses or small water glasses. Its also combined with salty food, Bread, Caviar (normal russians have the orange cheaper one) salted cucumbers, stuff like that.

If you drink alone and/or without food you�d probabyl do it for the effect alone.
Strangely this is frowned upon.

My favourite vodka is called Green mark, it's great Straight from the freezer or mixed with coke or orange.

I've always wanted to try the Polish spiritus, the Polish guy that used to work with us used to talk about it and it sounded like it was worth a shot or two.

Ah, vodka!

Grey Goose is my current favorite. Oddly enough, the French seem to have broken the code on really smooth vodka.

Put it in the freezer. Pour into shot glass. Drink.

Good alcohol needs no flavoring, watering down, or mixing.

I'm a fan of Tito's if I'm drinking vodka. It's inexpensive and they don't mess around with fancy bottles or marketing. Just, in my opinion of course, a good tasting, smooth vodka.

It's out of Austin but it seems like you can find it commonly outside of Texas as well.

A strange brew called Green Moon Vodka. It comes infused with absinthe (hence the green part).

A few cocktails of that with pineapple juice and melon liqueur and...

and...

Err... was was I taking about again?

I taught at a technical college in Poland for a year in the mid 90s. My students usual routine involved downing a shot of Spiritus from a bottle straight from the freezer after finishing off a pint. I tried keeping up with them but for the first few months, even the girls would put me under the table. I eventually was able to keep up with them but that involved the worst montage ever.

A few years later, I was working in Japan and Spiritus started showing up in the liquor stores there. I convinced most of my local haunts to get a bottle in and it quickly became the go to drink as the penalty shot in drinking games (Japanese love to play drinking games). Rather than putting it in the freezer, they'd pour a shot out at room temperature and then light it on fire. Drinking it straight when it's been in the freezer isn't too bad but flaming spiritus is just plain evil.

Anyway, as I posted earlier, check out a Russian vodka called Five Lakes. It's by far the smoothest vodka I've ever had. Almost no burn at all.

http://fbworld.com/2013/02/21/georges-rants-and-raves-5-lakes-vodka/

The best vodka I've ever had was Crystal Head Vodka. Just ask Rider/Smokey10/Mol for a voucher.

Ok, so when I was at the liquor store tonight I paid closer attention to the Vodka aisle.

Belvedere wasn't too badly priced at ~$30 for a 750ml while Jameson was about ~26 for a 750ml so now I have a point of comparison.

I also saw Tito there, but I don't remember the price. I want to say in the $17 range but I'm not sure.

There were a lot of brands I didn't recognize, though. I'll have to take closer notes next time.

Regardless, I grabbed a 1.75 of Clan MacGreggor, so that's all you really need to know about me.

I bet that took it's toll on the ole liver Mugwump

I nearly got to Poland a few years ago but my daughter was hospitalised the day I was due to fly, my friends loved the place, all the lagers are silly strong too, they didn't enjoy the food so much though!

This talk about purity and quality reminded me, I saw
someone on a TV talk show (a regular one, not an
infomercial) promoting Skyy vodka. He said he had
developed it because he had allergies and was unable
to drink any alcohol, and he was sure it was not the
alcohol but trace impurities, so he had this stuff made
from pure ethanol and distilled water, and sure enough,
he could drink it and got no reaction. So, it's guaranteed
the cleanest vodka you can buy.

Russian Standard is my favourite and the only one I enjoy neat.

Although, I have never tried any of the expensive vodkas that are out there.