Vodka Is Pretty Much The Same No Matter What Brand You Buy
In what may have been the most awesome blind taste test ever, a BusinessWeek writer served his friends chilled shots of various brands of vodka to see whether there was any noticeable difference in taste. His argument was that vodka is a neutral spirit and by definition is nearly indistinguishable from one brand to the next—and that consequently the "brand story" (including country of origin) is really all that separates a Grey Goose drinker from a Ketel One alkie. To test this, he asked his subjects to pick their favorite brands from shots and mixed drinks.
It turns out, no one could really tell one vodka from the other—there was one successful pick, but it wasn't repeatable. (Probably because the subjects were all half-drunk by that point.)
The other conclusion I drew was that when it comes to mixing vodka with fruit juice, or unpurified ice, you might as well as save your money and keep a bottle of Popov around. After mixing with fruit juice, muddled mint, simple syrup, or tap-water ice, the slight subtleties of the vodka in these concoctions go out the window faster than the promise of a contractor who says he'll come to your house every day to work until the job is done.
Oddly, there's a related slideshow of various vodka brands with "tasting notes" that seem to imply that every vodka is a unique and beautiful creation. Hmm, looks like we'll have to try our own blind taste test.
"World's Best Vodka? It's Anybody's Guess" [BusinessWeek]
"The Best Vodkas" (slideshow) [BusinessWeek]
(Photo: Getty)
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Well it really depends on the tasters. I feel like I would taste the difference, but if you want to FEEL the real difference, drink a bunch of Skol, or McCormicks, and tell me how you feel in the morning. I can drink Grey Goose all night long and wake up with no hangover.
There may be little discernible difference in taste, but at least from cheaper to nicer vodkas, I always understood that there was a difference in next-morning-pain due to filtration and other quality issues. My own anecdotal experience bears this out, but that's obviously limited.
mythbusters did this a while ago, filtering cheap vodka 6 times to see if it tasted as good as expensive stuff. to the average joe, it did. but the "vodka expert" could still taste the difference. myth busted, yo.
:)
(i'll drink anything, as long as it's got alcohol in it)
They did a vodka taste test on Mythbusters and the expert they brought in was able to perfectly arrange the vodka by quality and level of filtration. in a blind taste test.
@snoop-blog: I couldn't agree more! I can tell the difference when I taste *any* vodka in a plastic bottle vs. Grey Goose or Effen, but the difference does go away immediately when you add the olive juice, etc.
The next morning though - my headache or lack thereof ALWAYS knows the difference!
The best way to make cheap vodka taste like good vodka is to get an ice luge. For those poor souls to never attend a party with an ice luge, it works like this:
- Call a local ice dealer and ask for a 120 lbs block of ice. It will be about 4'x2'x1' and costs around $60.
- Place the block on an angle.
- Get a chain saw and carve a couple lines down one of the wide sides with a deep pool at the top and have it cut right off the edge at the bottom (if you curve it a bit, it will allow for more cooling).
- Poor drinks into the top of the pool and let the booze flow down and drink away.
Popov = Grey Goose.
Don't worry about germs or anything because by the time you could catch anything, you will be too drunk to care.
One difference is that the ones made in, um, less-that-first-world-countries fish rats out of the vats and don't have strong controls on alcohol content!
That stuff really WILL make you go blind. (And the impurities will make you sick as a dog in the morning if you try to keep up with your Russian hosts during shots.) I don't care what vodka I drink, as long as it's from a first-world country.
Pour drinks even.
I was just about to mention the MythBusters episode. That expert they had was spot on (guess that is why he is). Jamie was almost there (considering the Russian history degree I guess).
@rest:
I think to 99% of people there would be no difference, ESPECIALLY in a mixed drink. To the others it matters too, typically they have the wallet to do it, and why is there even a question?
Gas station vodka for the win!
As a vodka drinker, I somewhat half-disagree. To me, the higher quality Vodka is the one with the least taste so yes, once you reach a certain level of quality, 'its all the same' is correct. But the cheap stuff (aka Cossak in the plastic bottle) is awful, and the mid-range stuff (Sky, Absolut, Three Olives) tend to taste the same among themselves.
The Best Vodka I ever tasted: Chopin. Not the US store bought kind, but the locally available one while I was travelling in Poland. They bring the whole bottle to the table, like wine. It was like drinking butter - butter that would cleave your skull in half the next morning, but butter all the same.
Also: Even the cheapest vodka can be vastly improved if you run it through a Brita water filter about two dozen times.
I'm no expert, but I can definitely taste a difference. Even when mixed with juice. The cheaper vodkas sting my mouth, whereas something like Grey Goose or Vox has a more subtle flavor.
There's also a difference between grain and potato vodkas. You can't really find a cheap potato vodka that I'm aware of, they're all grain.
Vodka always struck me as the Dasani to Gin's Coca-Cola. Why buy the spirits without the flavors? A nice gin with citrus/juniper and other botanicals is amazing, straight up, with water (or with tonic, more commonly)
@B: That's what it's SUPPOSED to be, ethanol and water. The trick is to avoid the rotgut brands that do a slapdash job of filtering out the nasty things that aren't either ethanol or water. A lot of that is pretty bad stuff that makes your vodka taste bad and gives you hangovers.
I use Smirnoff red label. Middle shelf. In our area, $20 for a 1.75 bottle. No need to spend more.
In a mixed drink, I don't think it matters (though I would still prefer not to drink bottom-of-the-barrel stuff). And I don't believe there is much perceptible difference between different brands of "top-shelf" vodka. There's probably a detectable difference between cheap vodka and expensive vodka, though.
I once heard a rumor that Grey Goose was created precisely to test this particular myth. That is, if you created a vodka that was just like every other vodka on the market and created a "brand image" (priced it and marketed it to the 'higher class'), could it be perceived as being a "premium" product?
No idea where I got that from.
You really have to train your palate to notice much difference between brands of vodka. If you're not a regular vodka drinker, you probably won't notice any difference.
@sleze69: Took advantage of one of those at a party in law school. It was a mid-day Saturday affair. I don't think I made it out that night.
Usually cheaper vodkas are only distilled once and not filtered. This leads to some other components remaining in the vodka. More expensive brands usually distill their vodkas multiple times and filter them to remove impurities (also taste). However, the additional expense of the extra steps is usually not worth the premium vodka makers charge. Compare that to expense of making scotch which is distilled using peat and, by law, aged for a minimum of 3 years (most single malts age for at least 10) and being stored in oak barrels.
sure once you get to a higher quality vodka, If its chilled you can't tell the difference. If its warm you can notice different taste to it. But if you threw a cheap vodka (The crap where you get a liter for $8.99) into that taste test I'm positive they could pick that one out, Chilled or not.
You see, my friends, this is why NYC is the greatest city in the world. Boston drinks to get drunk, Los Angeles drinks to get laid and San Francisco drinks to chase the tendrils of SFPD tear gas away, while Manhattan drinks for science. Science!
Mythbuster's did something similar. However their test was filtering cheap vodka to make it taste like better vodka. using science they did notice a difference in quality between the brands, and the filtration did take out some defects if i recall. They then brought in a professional taster to swill the vodka's. While the staff couldn't really tell the difference the tester was still able to determine the higher quality vodka.
Its probably true that once you start mixing there is little to no discernible difference, but on its own there seems to be. But mostly with particulates and of coarse the ingredients used to make it.
What is this, alcohol story day? I salute your bold new direction, Consumerist!
@kylenalepa: True, if you have a bird-dog sharp palette for straight shots. But I'd wager, as the article suggests, once you mix it, or let ice stew in it, the taste-tester would be baffled. At least, above the level of $6/liter stuff.
@Trai_Dep: I was having a bad day because I ruined the burnt butter frosting for my brown sugar cupcakes but you just made it better what that. Thank you, stranger.
So experts can still tell the difference. The trouble remains: everyone thinks he's an expert ;-)
Is anyone else ever tempted to by Tito's Handmade Vodka? I think that's the brand. It looks so ridiculous.
Vodka is my drink of choice. While when mixed, I can't tell the difference, the feeling is different. Some vodkas, like Absolute, give me indigestion. Yet Grey Goose I can drink all night and be fine. Same thing with the feeling the next morning, as cheaper vodkas make the next day rougher.
So if you plan on getting hammered, go for the better stuff.
Yeah, I don't care what this taste test says, the bottle of Ciroc my step-brother gave me for my birthday was some of the smoothest vodka I've ever had the pleaseure of drinking. I even did my own "smoothness" taste test onNew Years between the Ciroc, Smirnoff & SKYY & the Ciroc won hands down.
they obviously didn't use Jean-Marc XO.
I've also noticed some flavors in vodka (not actualy "flavored" vodkas, like the pretentiously named Grey Goose L'Orange) but subtle flavors in plain vodka. Belvedere, neat, tastes a bit lemony to me, in a pleasant sort of way.
The country club I bartended at during college made us refill bottles of Absolut, Ketel, and Stoli with Smirnoff (whic is still a good vodka right away). Very illegal in my state btw. We learned quickly which patrons knew the difference... the women who drank their vodka straight with either 1 olive or a twist of lemon. The woman who came off the tennis court and asked for a "Ketal-One Screwdriver Mist (i.e. blended)"... she got the Smirnoff.
The men drank scotch or beer.
As an avid vodka drinker, I have to disagree, and I won't even claim to be an expert. Shot for shot, I don't think theres a question that there is a fairly significant taste difference.
It's no different than a water debate, the stuff at an amusement park water fountain always tastes entirely different than the stuff coming out of my sink, or Fiji, or even Voss.
@generalhousewifery: Tito's is damn, damn good, especially for the price. It's locally made here in Austin, so it's pretty ubiquitous around here. Enough so that another local vodka distillery (Dripping Springs) has, uh... sprung... up.
THe problem is COLD. We did a room temperature tasting when deciding which vodka we would buy, Hangar 1, Belvedere, Chopan.
You could REALLY taste the differences at room temperature: Chopan has a potato-vodka greasiness that is nice/bad, while hangar 1 had a SNAP note from the non-trivial amount of Viognier in the still.
The thing I like about vodka is that no matter how much you've consumed, you can still order another one. "Vaakaa!"
Try that with Jaegermeister.
this is a complete lie
Top Shelf goes down way better than the cheap stuff
@Kilgore Trout: Interesting. Maybe I won't contain myself the next time I'm in the market for a bottle.
three sheets zane lamfry would beg to differ
20/20 did a study on this a while back too. Had a bunch of self-proclaimed experts. None could tell the difference in a repeatable way.
I like my vodka with OJ so I get my vitamins and my drunk at the same time.
I feel its important to emphasize CHILLED SHOTS is the reason for this outcome.
The various esters (complex organic acids, etc.) that affect the subtle flavors of ALL distilled products are only detectable when they are vaporized in the mouth. These are volatile compounds that vaporize at relatively low temperatures (like body temperature), but when the entire mixture is chilled, especially below the freezing point of distilled water, then they remain in-solution, so you can't taste them. Hence, no discernible differences between Vodkas.
This is why true Scotch, Whiskey, and Bourbon drinkers look down the nose at anyone two takes theirs on the rocks. (Make mine neat, thank you.)
Its also why I personally tend to think Vodka in general is a horrid liquid, since most people have to chill it or mix it to make it tolerable. Room temperature Vodka (at least the non-premium stuff), is like gasoline.
i thought vodka was supposed to be tasteless? leading to believe that the only difference is the proof.
now something could be less refined or more refined or not kept in a good place etc to give you a bad taste.
As I said in a previous post, if you're a vodka drinker, you can tell the difference. Period. Even in mixed drinks. A cosmo, long island iced tea, or screwdriver tastes vastly different when you don't have a horrific after taste in your mouth.
My husband wasn't a believer in this whole "more money means better vodka" thing until he sampled a drink made with Grey Goose instead of his usual Stoli. He is now a believer.
It's sort odd to talk about the 'taste' of vodka. Wouldn't doing a gin comparison be more appropriate if you're talking about taste.
Also for most common people it would probably be very difficult to tell the difference between different top tier brands as done in this article. But let me assure you there is a pretty big difference between Grey Goose and Boston's Vodka that comes in a plastic jug :P
I also disagree. You can taste the difference between brands when consumed straight, and to a certain degree when mixed. Cheap vodka can give a sour or tainted taste to juice, whereas a top shelf brand will blend seamlessly.
This article is essentially saying "All tap water tastes the same when you make Kool-Aid with it.". While this may be true, the tap water from one municipality tastes different from the tap water at another.
Popov is one step up from paint thinner. There's a reason most bars use it as the "well brand", and a reason you feel crappier in the AM after drinking it all night than you would drinking Skye or Absolute in a similar quantity. It's filtration.
From Wikipedia:
When done correctly, much of the "fore-shots" and "heads" and the "tails" separated in distillation process are discarded. These portions of the distillate contain flavour compounds such as ethyl acetate and ethyl lactate (heads) as well as the fusel oils (tails) that alter the clean taste of vodka.
This makes the difference between "OMG this is horrible!" and "What? There's vodka in this?".
@MikeHerbst: It's the same with Sake. You can serve the same Sake hot, at room temperature and chilled and have three completely different taste experiences.
By Federal law, if you can tell the difference it isn't vodka.
But as someone above noted, just because a few individuals can tell the difference, that doesn't mean that most of us can. I knew a musician who could tell the frequency a sound generator made to within 2 cycles per second. But, what does that mean to most people?
@MercuryPDX: I'm also kinda surprised no one in his group managed at least to say 'this stuff is awful' about the Popov. Admittedly it might be hard to tell the difference between Grey Goose and Ketel One though.
Not much of a surprise, cause vodka is just alcohol and water.