Why are there so many different kinds of new vodkas, while brands of gin, rum and tequila stay the same?
Freakonomics thinks since other liquors have more unique tastes, while vodka is flavorless, it’s easy for a new guy to enter into the market, especially if they’ve got a fancy marketing campaign. For instance, the whole Grey Goose story is mere fanfaronade. Sidney Frank decided he was going to make a more expensive vodka that people would buy into because of its price and mystique driven backstory. France, oh, they are so refined… and not exactly renowned for their vodka distilleries.
Those who disagree may be guilty of drinking the packaging.
Is Vodka Different? [Freakonomics]
(Photo: What Rhymes With Nicole)
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There’s totally a difference between vodka, as it pertains to the hangover the next day. The cheap stuff makes you feel like death warmed over. More expensive, filtered ones, aren’t as bad.
@krylonultraflat: Luksusowa is totally made by Belvedere so you are ever so subtly paying for your nice label.
Try this yourself. As a vodka-lover, I can tell you that I personally enjoy potato-made vodka. Try this:
Go to a bar. Get a mixed drink. Vodka and coke. You’ll be able to definitely distinguish the coke, from the vodka. Now, try it with house-brand vodka, and also try it with KetelOne vodka. Then try it with Grey Goose. Then, again, try it with Stoli. Then… Smirnoff.
By now, you should be really drunk and just not care about which Vodka was better.
Too much talking, not enough drinking! Those of you who can afford it, buy the expensive stuff. You deserve it, and you’re subsidizing the cheap stuff for the rest of us.
Smirnoff is fine – better than fine, it’s quite good. It just annoys people that professional alcoholics can afford to drink it every day. It’s a brand problem, not a product problem.
Grey Goose is for suckers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine, but not better than Ketel One – which last time I checked was ~$10 less per fifth. And Ketel One is better than Smirnoff (to my taste) but, again, not enough to justify the price difference.
I will say that Popov, Georgi, Majorska, Fosnoff, etc. are pretty damned raw and I avoid them if possible. The beauty of vodka is that even Smirnoff drinkers can be a little snobby.
I would like to
I would like to point out that Russian and Polish vodkas are harsher… because thats what those countries consider better vodka.
So many people spend so much money on higher-quality vodka, only to ruin it by mixing it with low-quality, re-constituted orange juice.
BY JESSE IN JAPAN AT 12:41 AM
So many people spend so much money on higher-quality vodka, only to ruin it by mixing it with low-quality, re-constituted orange juice.
So true.
I’m polish, I drink middle shelf vodka (Stoli) and I don’t mix it, I drink it cold. I’f you’re mixing vodka, you’re doin it wrong!
I also laugh at those of you buying Smirnoff. Especially flavoured smirnoff! HA!
I tend to drink Ketel One. I was out to eat with some friends and ordered an Absolut (they didn’t stock K1) and Cranberry (I’ve read what most of you think of that) and my friend ordered a well version. When the waitress brought our drinks she set them down and said, “I think I’ve got those right”. I wanted to see if I could tell. I tasted mine, which tasted fairly smooth. Then I tasted hers, which tasted really harsh and alcohol-y. Blech, hers was nasty. Assuming mine was the smoother one, I think I can tell the difference even when mixed.
Now I’m curious to do a blind taste test. I have some K1 and Smirnoff at home…just need to buy some Popov.
By the way, I hate it when bartenders measure out an actual shot. Somewhat tangential I guess.
“imagine a peach-flavored whiskey would be pretty nasty.”
This is Southern Comfort, esstentially, a peach liquer made from whiskey. I like to call it “Janiskiller,” throw a few ‘ludes in there and you can feel what it is to die like her.
As for vodka, when I lived in Idaho there was a potato vodka called Glacier (IIRC) made from Idaho Potatoes grown near the distillery. About $20/fifth. I thought it was extra yum but I could have just been fooling myself with the local pride factor. They also made a very good berry liqueur called “Hideous” (yeah, I don’t get it either”) with area berries which is yum++. Wish they had this stuff down in New Mexico, where you can’t get Dickel or Rebel Yell anywhere, either. They do sell liquor in grocery stores, though, which more than makes up for it.
What happened to Pepper flavored vodka’s my last trip to the mega liquor store (CORRIDOR LIQUORS in Laurel, MD) the only pepper flavored one was ABSOLUTE PEPAR. Meanwhile, the local Cyber cafe/bar I go to has a giant jar of vodka on the bar which they themselves have filled with hot peppers. The jar is fitted with a spigot so they can drain off a shot at a time for drinking straight-up or for mixing into a Bloody Marys.
I stopped buying vodka a while back. I just get 190 proof grain alcohol and use half as much.
Cheaper and tastes better. A consumerist win!
Grey Goose has a back story? I like it because it doesn’t burn as much as the bottom shelf crap I normally buy.
I don’t drink because I like the flavor or social aspect, I drink to get jacked up. Grey Goose (and other top shelf brands) are the only think I can do shots of. The first Grey Goose shot I ever had, I said to the buyer “This shit has to be expensive”, as it was like drinking water.
My drink of choice is a $7 bottle of rum and whatever generic cola is on sale. Normally Faygo. Zero to drunk in $8 is a great feeling!
Now we see, marketing does work for the masses, so much proof
here. I can tell the difference in a neutral, flavorless, drink. Excuse me, what does neutral and flavorless mean? Doesn’t neutral and having no flavor always mean by definition that it equals soemthing else that is neutral and flavorless? And except to mix, is there any possible reason to drink vodka?
ummmm…the other brands do have lots and lots of flavors! Look at Bacardi (razz)…they have orange, raspberry, vanilla, etc etc.
Tequila is a much stronger flavored drink, but Cuervo has orange, lemon-lime…
Drinking french vodka is like drinking russian champagne…it just shouldn’t be done.
@hoosier45678: OK Strike those. For some reason I thought that both Plymouth and Boodles were just old names that had fallen out of use and been resurrected for the cachet of saying things like “Oldest working distillery in the world.” I pretty much always assume that any claims in the back-story are fairly dubious.
I bartended and manages bars and restaurants for 10 years.
I’ve had this debate hundred of times over vodka.
Vodka is flavorless in nature. But even more telling, Vodka is nothing more than grain alchohol mixed with filtered water.
To be clear here (no pun intended), I’ve set up tastings left and right. Not one person ever has been able to guess correctly on one over the other in a blind test.
When I made it easier and told them which vodka they would be tasting, one in ten could specifically name one of five vodkas correctly.
My tip? Stop wasting money on brand names and start using your taste buds.
My personal rec? Smirnoff triple distilled vodka is the best tasting, smoothest vodka out there. It’s also far cheaper.
But most of all, understand that most folks drink vodka with a mixer that completely masks the flavor of the vodka.
You cannot tell the difference in taste between a cosmo made with smirnoff, chopin, belvedere or ketel one.
The same is true for Vodka and cranberry juice.
And for all of you out there who mix expensive vodka with redbull, know your bartender is laughing at your order.
We used to call them night ruiners.
Vodka gets you drunk and red bull wakes you up. The diuretic effects of alchohol and the ingredients in red bull makes you need to urinate more frequently. And the caffeine and other ingredients make have a mild laxative effect.
So essentially, when bartenders watch folks get drunk on red bull and ketel, they know that the person will likely find themselves awake for hours, drunk as a skunk, and sitting on a toilet.
Which is funny.
Some folks will never break their brand loyalty, and that’s fine (drink what you like), but unless you are ordering flavored vodka, the taste is the same – tasteless.
I do think that most Vodka brands do taste the same but I dare ONE person to tell me that Mr. Boston Vodka tates the same as Smirnoff or Grey Goose, Mr. Bostons Vodka tastes like grains of salt and is absolutely the worse alcohol to date.
I bartended at a “Vodka Bar”. One day I lined up samples of our 2 dozen or so ice-cold vodkas for taste testing. Grey Goose was noticably ‘better’, but not enough to justify the 50-100% markup over other brands. Absolut was among the worst.
Stick with a normal Polish or Russian vodka (Wyborowa or Stoli) and you can’t go wrong.
“Premium” vodkas are for ignorant suckers, especially if mixed in a cocktail.
Run el cheapo vodka thru a Brita pitcher… but do not filter it more than 5 or 6 times, otherwise there’s nothing left to the vodka at all, taste-wise.
Personally I’d suggest using the Brita-filtered swill vodka for mixing with Red Bull or Fresca, or whatever citrusy bevvy you wish, but don’t use it in a vodka-tonic. But that’s just me. My days of vodka and Red Bull have long since passed, but red Bull was quite good at masking skunky vodka.
Nowadays I really enjoy Absolut Peppar — makes for an awesome Bloody Mary, as well as being a great ingredient for penne a la vodka. mmm…
Everyone should, however, try Zubrowka at some point in their life. That shit is the bomb.
@bambino: there’s a reason some liquors are top shelf while others are wells.
You’re absolutely correct. It’s due to an age-old distillers’ principle called “taking more cash out of the customer’s wallet.” Emperor’s new clothes, baby.