I blind tasted 12 VODKAS and this is what I learned
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- Опубликовано: 27 апр 2024
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Today we’re blind tasting 12 vodkas! I’ve never been a big fan of vodkas. The cheap stuff usually taste like acetone, while the subtle flavors of the top shelf bottles get lost in cocktails. But because some of you have told me to give vodka a chance, that’s what we’re going to do. I’ve grabbed some different styles of vodkas that were made around the world to see what, if any, the differences are. Once we’ve picked a winner and the least favorite, we’ll mix them both in separate cosmos. Then we’ll see if it really matters which vodka you’re using in your drinks. Cheers!
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TIME STAMPS
Intro: 0:00
Factor: 1:23
The Lineup: 2:25
Round 1: 4:00
Semifinalists: 8:58
Finalists: 9:44
Least Favorite: 11:25
The Cosmo Test: 12.23
Final Thoughts: 13:45
THE COSMOPOLITAN RECIPE 12:27
1.5 oz. (45 ml) Vodka
3/4 oz. (22.5 ml) Luxardo Triplum Triple Sec
1/2 oz. (15 ml) fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. (15 ml) cranberry juice
Expressed orange oil
Lime wheel for garnish
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The Vodka I go for is Stolichnaya Elit Vodka (Beats most of these vodka in a blind imo). Perfect in an Espresso and Pornstar Martini
Thanks for doing this Anders. Vodka is Not My Favorite either. But I do try to keep one for guests. I will see how my friend deal with Ketel One
Please publish the out take where you take a shot of all the vodkas mixed together. For science!
Give Froggy B vodka a try. French option that is smooth, clean to sip neat or chilled, no ethanol after taste. And as a Texas-based bartender, Tito’s is overrated.
I always buy the cheapest potato vodka they have in stock; it's always better than the best grain based - doesn't have that everclear aftertaste.
@@joewhite4564 Not fond of vodka either. But friends mostly prefer Ketel One.
I'm Polish and BIG fan of your channel! :)
A good way to compare vodkas is to add 30-50% of neutral (spring) water. It is easier to detect differences in taste and aroma.
Vodkas really differ from each other depending on the raw material used (potato - sweetness and creaminess + intensity, long-lasting smooth finish / rye - spiciness and pepperiness / wheat - mildness). The differences can be significant, but they will not be as obvious as in the case of whiskey or rums. In addition to the raw material used, the method of distillation and rectification is important. With maximum purification, any vodka can become bland.
If you want to see the difference in a cocktail between a tasteless vodka (ethanol only) and one with character, make two cocktails each - Bloody Mary and Moscow Mule. Use Skyy Vodka and Chopin Black. Even here you will see clear difference. You will feel even more in Vodka&Soda and Martini Cocktail :) Pure vodka should be accompanied by Polish appetizers - tartare, herring, pâté or pickled vegetables and mushrooms.
I love your channel and naturalness in front of the camera. If you are in Poland, come to the PanoramaSkyBar in the Warsaw Marriott hotel for a vodka tasting! my Instagram is sztuka_mieszania
Cheers
Bro this comment gave me a whole different understanding of vodka. I’ve always been a whiskey drinker who thought every vodka tastes like rubbing alcohol, and I think I might have to pick up some vodkas try some tastings.
Chopin is wonderful but Skyy is one of the worst, totally disguting.
P.S. I'm a Pole too 😊
Your comment is a great example of why it's worth participating in the discussion. I've already subscribed to your IG channel. I completely agree with you regarding the composition of vodka for flavor experiences, and temperature plays a significant role in the sensory perception, especially in the case of vodka. It's great to see Chopin holding a high place on podium. Greetings also from Poland!
@@tomaszs98the only not-Polish vodka I liked was ciroc tbh
Belvedere, wyborowa and rye Chopin neat cold. Cocktails are for girls and all the other pronounce people.
Fun fact: a number of years ago the New York Times also did a blind taste test of vodka. The winner was Smirnoff vodka. That was interesting, because most people thought of it as a bargain brand, it actually was not, but was heavily promoted in bars as a well vodka, so that the brand could be in as many places as possible. It would have been interesting to throw in a wild card/cheap vodka, like Burnetts into the mix and see how well it fared. I have a feeling that the reason we think one vodka is so much better than another vodka is primarily marketing.
I remember that.
Personally - I don't see the point of vodka, though I do keep a bottle of Titos around if someone comes over to our house and wants it in a cocktail or whatever.
That being said, I recently had some cheap vodka because we were at my in-laws and she got some to mix with her grapefruit or something, and mother of god it was awful.
If I remember correctly, it was the average person, rather than a critic, bartender or craft cocktail enjoyer
Thank you for the background information, I found that interesting. I initially came here to add that @AndersErickson might have wanted to include Smirnoff Red and I see you’ve already beaten me to the punch. I admittedly don’t know as much about vodkas as I do about other spirits but I thought I’d add that in the UK, Smirnoff is ubiquitous and is the go-to vodka in virtually every pub and bar. I always carry a bottle in my own home bar because it’s dependable, reasonably priced and complements every cocktail I make that calls for this type of spirit. I wonder how it would stack up in a blind taste test. Incidentally, I found Anders’ spiced rum blind taste really useful and it confirmed my suspicions that a number of affordable and easily available rums such as those by Kraken and Bacardi were punching above their weight.
@@mikev.2945Keep in mind that premium quality vodka in Russia and Poland costs $4 for a bottle. It is accessible to a point when it can be dangerous in terms of abuse. Higher cost single malt whiskeys make it inaccessible for poor people.
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i know theres already a more extensive rum video, but I WANT MORE RUM VIDEOS. taste testing all the different styles/brands? tiki basics (tools and ingredients)? idk just more rum
Noted
Would be great to see your reaction to El Dorado reformulating their lineup by removing all added sugar. Also, a real Corn n’Oil (without the idiotic blackstrap floater).
Seconded the Rum. It's my go to drink so I'd love to see more videos about it
Agreed. I'm a big rum guy, but in my area rum is a tough sell. Everyone wants Bourbon. And I have at least 3 craft rum distilleries within 30 miles of me.
Could not agree more my friend 😂
I think making cocktails with vodka involves a very different philosophy behind cocktail making. Generally I make a cocktail to showcase/accent/modify the distinct flavor of the base spirit. I think you would use a vodka cocktail to showcase all the other components while the vodka fades into the background. Thoughts?
Great point. I do think vodka can work great in a supporting role, like in the Vesper.
Vodka makes a great base for infusions too. If you want to extract the flavor of something else than a blank canvas will give it the most versatility.
@@AndersErickson or even the espresso martini, if you just llike the taste of coffee and want a coffee tasting drink without the big flavours other coffee based cocktails use, it makes sense to use vodka really.
What is the alcohol actually adding then tho? Why not run a lower ABV cocktail and add water?
This is a great point and pretty true!
Finlandia is my standard for mixing cocktails because it disappears.
There are sipping vodkas I enjoy because of their flavour and texture, and Blackforest Vodka is one of them. But honestly, I recommend nobody pays more than 30 bucks for vodka because one hits the diminishing returns ceiling hard at that point. Which is good.
I like using Finlandia for infusions for exactly the same reason
Hard disagree. I would say vodka is one of those drinks where, unless you just wanna get fucked and are short on money, its almost always worth it to pay more.
@justhair17 Yeah, and the ceiling is, well now with inflation, about 35-40 bucks.
Best finish vodka is koskenkorva
@@ugislayer6793 Seems you are right. The reviews are very good. I'll order some. Thank you for the recommendation!
Finlandia was the vodka that introduced me to the Vodka drinking. I didn’t like vodka back then and one time in a Scandinavian restaurant they served Finlandia, neat and chilled, and it was so smoother than any other vodka I have ever tried!! After this, I began exploring a bit, and ended up getting to like it. My favourites are Finlandia and the original Stolichnaya.
But for cocktails i find it a waste of money to use expensive vodka. I use cheap ones or at the most Absolut.
Used to be my 2 fav's, until I tried Luksusowa. Just a thought. Cheers!
Idk man, I think Finlandia is pretty bad
@@pudimdecana51 Finlandia is a fairly inexpensive choice. I can find it for $14/750mL.
Best finish vodka is Koskenkorva
Oh Anders, thank you so much for putting yourself through this! I absolutely loved the spiced rum episode you did and was hoping you would do this with vodka,; just never expected it!
Thanks to you and this endeavor, I will be purchasing a bottle of Hangar 1. And Finlandia , too!
Cheers!
I usually go with Luksusowa, which is a potato-based vodka similar to Chopin. Since vodka isn't really meant to have a taste, the smoothness is more important, IMO - and potato-based seems to be the smoothest to me. Never tried Hangar One, so thanks for the new recommendation 👍
Yes, Luk. has been my choice for a sipping wodka since Stoli dropped its chili-infused variety back in the 90s (from the freezer, a song of ice and fire). But as I say elsewhere, there's no need to spend this kind of money for a cocktail vodka.
Cheap Polish Vodka (Luksusowa, Sobieski) is head and shoulders above more expensive US Vodkas (Titos, Ketel). And superiority of Chopin and Belvedere over everything else shouldn't be questioned :)
Luksusowa isn't potato based for last few years right now.
That's what I thought too, but then did side by side room-temp potato and rye comparison and liked the ryes intensive taste more than vomit inducing potato blandness. To each his own. Really, there is no good or bad answer here, just gotta try yourself.
ANDERS!!! This was awesome!!! Being a former Vodka guy, I DO know that snacking on dill pickles while sopping Vodka makes a huge difference!!! I really brings out the different nuances in those bottles!! Great video!!!
Speak like a true Pole!
When I lived in the US my go to Vodka (which I didn't use much) was Tito's...partly becuse the price point was great as well. Since moving to the UK, my go to vodka is Black Cow...made from whey (Black Cow makes amazing cheddar cheese as well).....a very rich and heavy mouth feel, smooth going down and doing some good for the world.
Also coming from a Russian. We never drink vodka without Russian bites, zacuski. After a thanks/welcoming/commemoration/anecdote/long tail/how I met your mother speech, you drink the shot and immediately chase with something pickled, cured, fermented, smoked, or neutral like bread. They either completely kill the flavor of the vodka or enhance it. Hence why we could polish off bottles during the holidays because all we do is literally drink and eat. Hope this helps.
1. Favorite vodkas: Belvedere, Tito's, and stoli. 2. Now that you have more of an appreciation for vodkas, I would love to see you mixing cheaper or lower tier vodkas such as Kirkland brand, Sam's club brand, Provo, and many of those other slightly cheaper brands and compare and contrast them to more expensive brands.
I love Kirkland vodka. Super cheap, no hangover. I don’t know who makes it, but God bless ‘em.
Not gonna lie...I think this is one of my favorite video formats you do. I definitely enjoy the variety of cocktails you make with a particular spirit....but these are super fun.
Love this kind of videos! I would suggest making a video tasting other spirits as well. Also maybe tasting their differences in cocktails idk
If You liked Chopin, You should definitely try Belvedere vodka. This is another polish vodka. In my opinion even better than Chopin. Cheers from Poland🙂
Polish vodka is definitely my go-to vodka. I usually get źubrówka although my favourite is Ostoya from bieszczady region. Hard to find abroad though... Love your country btw :)
*For the region Grasovka vodka has actual character in my opinion its more unique.
Ostoya - best value for money. For me, it is the default vodka that I buy not only for drinks but also for solo consumption. But the best vodkas are still Polish craft vodkas. For example, the brand Podole Wielkie. Especially their rye vodkas. To be drunk alone at room temperature. Absolute world top.
Fun fact; Sobieski is one of the cheapest vodkas in Poland, it costs about $7 ;) You drink it if you can't afford anything better.
Belvedere is rye, Chopin potato. That's a big difference. Both good vodkas, same price point.
Nicely done, Anders. I agree, if you are drinking it straight, it makes a difference but in a cocktail it gets lost. Fun video, thank you!
Hello from Ukraine. We have 2 types of vodka-like products: gorilka and vodka. Historically Gorilka should be made from 100% wheat and artesian water, vodka from any grain and distilled(filtered) water. Khor(named after Khortytsia island - capital of the cossaks) is common middleprice brand, you can find one in any grocery shop. I prefer (only for cocktails) Finlandia or local fancier brands.
Thanks for another fun video!
it might be a fun idea to do another spirit comparison video like this but with both you and Oz doing the same taste tests aside by side to show how much individual preference can influence the outcome of a cocktail. Cheers!
I love these comparison episodes. Nicely done!
LOVE these longer videos!!
Hi Anders, thank you for participating in this rigorous experiment!👏👏👏I also am not a fan of vodka on its own…I usually use absolut vodka for cocktails….your taste test was very informative👌👌👌-will use as a guide for next purchase!! Thank you and CHEERS!🍹
I made my own Vodka. My Polish neighbors couldnt tell the difference between it and Potaki. Fun fact. The most taste and smell actualy came from the water. My tap water is pretty crap. SO I bought spring water. Big difference. I went a stage further and got a load of activated carbon and ran water through that, as well as the spirit. No smell, not taste. nothing.
Love you videos! Keep em coming!
please do more of these kind of videos!!! i love them
Excellent video. I think another element that sometimes gets overlooked is the texture of a drink. Ketel One for example is really creamy and less viscous. So i find it adds a certain dimension to a cocktail that other vodkas dont have
I get a different, silkier mouthfeel with potato vodkas vs. grain vodkas, but it really is so subtle that it might just be in my head.
Others agree with you about potato vodka, myself included.
I totally agree, it doesn't matter much with vodka. In fact even some of the 'not premium' vodkas can easily be used in a cocktail. I am going to try Hanger 1 as it is local and I agree with supporting local business. Well done, sir. Thanks
I’ve seen videos like this before but this was the best. Really speedy and concise, no BS. Nice :)
I agree , mostly all the same, just ethanol tasting. However, there is a difference between top and bottom shelf that is Very distinguishable..
This was interesting, thanks Anders! I really like a/b comparing of whiskey, it’s fun to Nerd-out on them. Never thought to do this with a vodka. I keep one bottle in my liquor cabinet for the occasional Bloody. I may have to invest in a couple more…for science! 😁
Really good video! The conclusion was very reasonable and useful. Tks!
Anders, love these videos. I would really enjoy a video of you tasting different ginger beers and letting us know which are your favorites!
What a great episode, thank you!! My go to vodka is another Polish potato vodka, Luksusowa, which translates in English as 'luxury'. I like it straight on ice with lemon, and very affordable! Probably not the best Polish vodka, but I also like it for sentimental reasons. Love your channel, super informative!
I've tried something similar to this at my restaurant with Titos, Absolut Ketel, Goose, Stoli, Chopin, and Belvedere and I can honestly say the only 2 that tasted any different to me were the smoothness of Chopin and the subtle sweetness of Titos. Chopin was the only one I actually "liked" because it was so much different in texture to me that it was actually kind of interesting. In cocktails the all taste the absolute same to me. Could not distinguish at all.
Great video! Thanks for putting yourself through it!
Excellent content as always. This was very informative. Anytime I ordered a vodka cocktail I always ordered Ketel One. Not for the taste but because in my experience I usually wouldn’t get (as bad) a hangover the next day. I figured top shelf = better experience.
Really glad to see this because it verifies the results I've been getting in a long-running taste-test of ten different vodkas against my local distillery's spirit. I've compared them against the local distillery neat side-by-side and I'm working on comparing them the same way in seven different cocktails. What I found first was that the differences found between the spirits gets accentuated when compared in a Vodka Soda. I've also been finding that, in general, the vodkas that are cheaper do taste worst than the ones that are pricier, but the differences are so subtle as to not warrant splurging on premium brands. Stocking a local spirit is definitely the way to go if cocktails are the goal. Just for reference, my local vodka is from Albany Distilling Company and it definitely punches above its weight. Cheers!
Try Stroyski. Talk about punching above its weight!
I remember there being a vodka fad in the 90s and a paper did a lifestyle piece which recommended drinking shots with the bottle straight from the freezer. It's a good test for being 40% as below that it forms crystals. We used to drink a bottle of black label Stoli down on a school night and wake up for work no hangover. Grey Goose used to be my favourite but as Anders says the marginal difference doesn't warrant the £££. Now I get the luxury bottle from a discount supermarket and £15 from Lidl gets you a Grey Goose-a-like; the same stores cheap bottle is undrinkable lighter fluid that somehow is below 40% because it won't freeze properly!.
Really well made video as always, and that must at the end is awesome
Thanks for doing the leg work Anders, I’ve always wondered if there was a huge difference - for me it boiled down to avoiding harshness/burn so I go grape vodka but then again there’s rarely call for it in the drinks I mix so guests end up drinking it
Anders, thanks for taking 12 for the team! I make, and drink, virtually no cocktails with vodka as the base. One bottle lasts a really long time! I agree wholeheartedly that we should choose to support our local, small distillery by purchasing theirs. Luckily for us in the SF Bay Area, There are a few excellent options, including Hangar 1 and St George. Skol!
When I'm not making drinks for friends and roommates, they prefer vodka neat and the go-to has been Khor. It's exceptional for the price, but a blind tasting of our comparatively priced local distilleries is a great idea. Cheers, Anders & Az!
Chopin is my personal go-to. It feels more viscous in a way that I enjoy, plus as you said it's soft, sweet, and somewhat creamy. It doesn't make a ton of sense to spring for it if you're only making cocktails with it, but at the same time I (like you) don't tend to use it that often, so if I'm only going to have one bottle of vodka, I like it to be a slightly better one on the off chance that somebody wants to do shots or sip it neat.
I drank Skye, Absolut, Tito's and Grey Goose all in the same night with the same mixer and I 100% prefer Tito's over all those. So smooth.
12 bottles of vodka on the table - party like a russian, end of discussion😄 My go to vodka is Russian Standard, like it. Onegin is good premium one. And there are Green Stamp and Belenkaya on the market and these are not for drink, you would rather have a gallon of gasoline than take a shot of one of those) Thanks for a video, Anders!
It would have been nice to see the final comparison with a dry martini. It would expose the nature of the vodka more. My wife can tell between Tito’s and Grey Goose when blind tested… I definitely can’t. 😂
Love your videos, thanks!!!
Informative and entertaining video. Thank you.
An honest review of vodkas! Thank you for your stance on supporting the local distillers. I love your content!
TO THE BAR! ➡️🥃
I always get excited when he says this!
*insert batman jingle*
My friends and I did a blind vodka taste test awhile back. We did the same as you: straight (though not any of us drink it that way) and in a cosmopolitan. I preferred Absolut straight. Smooth. But with a cosmo, the winner by a long shot was Grey Goose L’Orange…which, not surprisingly, is how I normally order it. (Side note: I also prefer basic Triple Sec-as opposed to Cointreau-in my cosmo because it’s sweeter. Again, just my own preference.) I did not like L’Orange straight; pretty harsh as I recall. So, it seems that one can absolutely enjoy a particular vodka on its own, while preferring a competitor in a cocktail. Love your vids! Always on the lookout for new recipes…especially vodka ones 😁
i love to use vodka to make the other ingredients pop while adding a bit of a kick to the mix. loved the video btw, I like ketel one for the burn and citrus notes. keep on rocking anders 🤘 amo ver tus videos
Great tasting! We did nearly the same blind tasting of vodkas last year. Grey Goose came last for several people who swore by it!
One other note, I think it was on an Imbibe podcast a couple years ago, where one of the folks mentioned they used a bit of "Stealth Vodka" in cocktails to play with ABV or dilution without putting it on the menu spec. Hmmm
Finlandia is my favorite for mixing. It's super smooth, it doesn't give you so much of that burn. They also have really nice flavored vodkas like nordic berries. But I just like it a lot. Much more than Absolut which has that burn in the end, which isn't bad. I just like the smoothness of Finlandia.
After drinking Finlandia for years, I tried Luksusowa 100% potato and now prefer it.
Nothing beats getting drunk off of the potatoes. Must be because I'm Irish.
I think that Andres should do a second run of this episode a while from now... same 12 vodkas, randomize the letters and see if the results are the same! Would be an cool experiment!
this was a great video!!
when i first started bartending and getting into craft cocktails, my go to was ketel one as well! and similar to you, i pretty much no longer drink vodka. funny how some of us have similar palettes and experiences
Thank you for the work you have done for us all here. I would suggest adding a blind tasting of the top two and bottom two. Just in case your senses were numbed after all 12. The fact that the first one you tasted came out as the worst is interesting. Keep drinking. You're doing a great job.
Hi, Anders! I’m an American who’s been living in Poland for 10 years. I thought this was a great review of vodkas and showed that they really don’t “all taste the same.” I can’t remember the last time I had vodka in a mixed drink, unless you count plain water, and was happy to see that you picked up on the different characteristics that different bases impart. I have bottom and middle shelf choices: Luksusowa (potato, not the grain version), and Baczewski (a really smooth moderately-priced vodka). I haven’t really had a top shelf pick, but I’m going to try to find Hangar 1 and give it a shot. One last note: I like taking a really cold shot of vodka, then letting it warm so that the flavor you correctly observe is missing when it’s iced wakes up inside the mouth.
Agree on potato Luksusowa, the best kept secret which can be found @~$20/1.75L, cheers.
Vodka is like water.
The "it all tastes the same" thing is BS.
The taste differences are minimal but there.
Smoothness is the BIG one.
Please do try Chopin. I lived in Europe for many years, and both Luksusowa and Chopin were often recommended.
Luksusowa is also my go to, I've only been able to find it at one local liquor store of mine but its there so im happy :)
Tomas, I have been aiming to track down a few rye-based Polish vodkas in the US: Wodka, Wyborowa, Givori and Potocki. Based on your personal experience or reputation in Poland, are either of these 4 worth the effort? Luksusowa (potato) is easy for me to get, and of course Belvedere (rye) is readily available.
I bought Reyka Vodka out of Iceland because I like the way the bottle looked. That seemed to be the best reason to get picky about vodka. I actually really enjoyed it when I got it home! I get the vanilla tasting notes from Tito’s straight.
Reyka is very good in my opinion. I sip it neat or over a cube or two, tastes smooth with a clean buzz…consumed responsibly, of course.
Thanks Anders! I agree with your thoughts on supporting local distillers. I think the main difference is the water that is used to make the vodka.
Thanks for taking one for the team!
Sounds like I should try Hangar 1... I have not cared for Stoli, tend to prefer Kettle One, but find it very hard to beat Cosco's Kirkland vodka for taste and value.
Kirkland hasn’t done me wrong…and I’ve had a lot of reps. The price is unmatched.
Great video. I do think you find a difference with cheap vodka. My daughter brought home a cheap one from college. The smell was terrible (strong ethanol) and the taste was so bad we dumped it out. Thanks for this video!
Bought a bottle of Hanger1 a few years back because they’re a hometown biz, found myself really enjoying that bottle - it brought vodka back into my repertoire.
This was an awesome comparison, as was your spiced rum comparison. Nice to see that the super expensive bottles go toe to toe w/lesser-known brands. Vodka is def a toughie to compare, for all the reasons you elaborated in this vid. You’ve got a lot of years of experience with a lot of different spirits & cocktails to make it very interesting.
Pssst: Your ‘Indian Paintbrush’ cocktail was a FANTASTIC win at a cocktail nite a while back… I made a tried & true Paloma pretty giddy after many years writing-off vodka.
Cheers, Anders!🐻🍸🏅
Anders, I always love your videos, and you do a great job communicating useful information (even if the subject is boring vodka) in a fun and interesting way, but watching this video, I started realizing that the real star of this channel is Oz. She does such a fantastic job producing and editing the videos in a way that makes me want to come back to watch, every time. You two make a great team!
I first started getting into cocktails because of Tito's since it's so smooth. I could add it to almost any drink to make it alcoholic like all the fruity lemonades I make in summer. Then I got into tiki drinks and now I'm deep into rum and love all the different styles and flavors. I recently tried Tito's against Costco's Kirkland American vodka. While I do like Tito's a little more, they are too close to justify spending double on Tito's. Now I mainly use vodka for homemade liqueurs.
Kettle One is my preferred, I got that recommendation from a Ukrainian friend of mine. Interestingly, I ran out once and tried Titos. Made my wife's favorite and said it tasted horrible. She must have super tastebuds. LOL! Great video as always! Cheers!
I'd say that if you are making a vodka martini (tbh not something I usually do) then having those higher end vodkas helps. Personally I use the vodka of a local distillery called Old World Spirits. Their basic St. Blaise vodka is actually quite good. They also have a version where they distilled the vodka from peach juice and it adds this wonderful hint of peach flavor without becoming a peach infused vodka. I'll also note that the distillery makes a great aged gin called Rusty Blade that I would highly recommend.
On the other hand my mother who drinks a lot of vodka based drinks did a blind tasting similar to this to determine which vodka she preferred and both her and my father actually picked the Kirkland brand vodka (their US made product, not the French made one).
Great vodka test the best yet
I'm also not a vodka fan, but I feel like its place in a cocktail is that it IS neutral. It provides an opportunity to showcase the other ingredients while providing the alcohol content that the drinker may want. Still not for me, but that has always been how I've viewed its purpose. I'd be interested in a video where vodka cocktails are compared against similar cocktails made with another spirit to see if any of the vodka cocktails prevail. I suspect gins would come out favorably in that video.
As a seller in a local spirits retailer I can admit that at least from my experience, consumers are almost non concerned at all about the flavour profiles of different vodkas. The thing that is of real importance to the most of our clients is a "spirit quality" of vodka, which is measured by the severity of the hangover the other day. That's primarily the reason some people prefer premium vodka over some "regular".
you mean purity. any of the crap that isn't ethanol or water. I think the so called premium advertise how many time it's distilled to show that. But I think the industrial distiller can produce something that is just as good.
Ridiculous. You're putting a toxin in large quantities in your body, flushing out the nutrients and dehydrating yourself. It goes with the process. This hangover nitpickery is a complete waste of time. If you don't enjoy the taste as much as possible of what you are drinking, you're doing it wrong. That's all that matters and whatever happens when you get up the next day is to be dealt with when the time comes.
This was a great video idea Anders. My all time favourite vodka for sipping neat and for martinis is Uluvka. Cheers
Love seeing Polish vodka represented... got familiar with it when I was stationed there. For me, potato or rye is the way to go. Potato is smooth, but like rye whiskey, rye vodka has a much spicier taste than wheat or barley, which I quite like
I recently attended a Japanese Whisky tasting event, and the presenter described vodka drinkers as very brand loyal and whisky drinkers as promiscuous as they tend to try everything and move from brand to brand. Not sure how true that is, but it's certainly an interesting hypothesis.
I've been using vodka to make other liqueurs. It's neutral and let's the other parts of the liqueur shine through. I really don't use it for anything else. However, lately I've been using shochu for making liqueurs (since I live in Japan). I've been amazed at the improvement in my liqueurs. Even though I'm using 25% alcohol shochu (because it's cheaper than higher alcohol ones which tend to be koshu) I find that with a 3-4 week maceration I get plenty of flavor. It's really changed my thoughts. Sweet potato, sesame seed, chestnut, rice, barley shochus all have such different character and they all complement different fruits and spices. Sooo.. I'm still not on the vodka bandwagon and have been wandering away from what little I used previously.
I'd love to see you do something similar with shochu given how interesting it can be, but I imagine that might break the bank :-) The markup on shochu in the US is really shocking...
I am not much of a drinker but I tried Koyomi Shochu with 7up and it was really good. Like, I was amazed how good it was. It was like it brought out the flavours of the Shochu so well, without over powering it.
And it had to specifically be 7up, because I tried another lemon drink and it didn't work.
My current top pick is Belvedere vodka out of Poland. Smooth, neat flavour that just disappears in a drink (which I know is not what you're looking for). Having said that, they also make a single estate rye called Smogóry Forest that is really good. The bottle describes it as "Rich and savory with notes of salted caramel, baked bread, and white pepper."
Anders - love your shows - you definitely need to take the same vodkas and do this again!
Russians(who are known to be a big time vodka drinkers) have a saying that there’s only good and very good vodka for a reason - and you just explored this reason in your video!
I think the title “inventors of vodka” is better for your point than “big time vodka drinkers”
I think I read Ketel One is the most environmentally friendly spirit in the world. Pretty sure it's distilled in an active windmill or something... kinda cool I guess
I love ketel one, it’s the only vodka I buy. Loyal to the soil
thanks for the taste test I personally like 360, and pearl, but will be trying some of the ones you tried
I am laughing at myself for enjoying watching you drink vodka. Great Content!
I use Tito’s Vodka 95% of the time in a mixed drink which is on sale at my local store most of the time. My cocktail nowadays is the bloody caesar cocktail (I really like it as a change) or the ubiquitous vodka martini although I prefer a gin martini with a GOOD cigar.
9:40 Honestly, I would be down for you to do a second blind run through and see how closely / differently your final rankings end up
Agree - a "take two" is necessary, with the twist that the final two are not revealed until the cocktail has been tasted and voted on.
Two videos I would like to see: one about vermouths and vermouth-adjacent (cocchi, lillet, even sherry) bottles. One about bitters beyond Angostura, orange and Peychaurd;s,
Not a vodka fan but a huge fan of the channel!
Honestly one of your best videos to date !
I remember watching the Mythbusters episode on vodka, and how Jamie could instantly tell the difference between cheap and expensive vodka. That day I went out and bought a bottle of Grey Goose and some cheap vodka to see if I could tell the difference, and I could. It wasn't a matter of taste, just of burn. So yeah, there's a difference... but only straight up. In a cocktail, just choose the cheapest vodka you can find.
A little surprised you didn’t try Zubrowka, the Polish Bison grass vodka. That IS a vodka with a flavor profile and a vodka that is sweet and tasty to drink neat.
My “go to” vodka is Ukrainian Heritage A) because my dad’s Ukrainian B) because it’s a rye vodka C) because I can’t easily access Khor or other Ukraine made vodkas, but I still might prefer UH vodka. I find it does have enough flavors I like it neat and like you, don’t do vodka cocktails.😉
Another great video Anders!!
Glad you made this. I'm a very amature guy when it comes to cocktails, but I have found a vodka that I very much enjoy and one that I very much don't care for.
I love Titos. My favorite thing to make at home is a Moscow Mule. And Titos is smooth and I feel enhances the other flavors. I used to use Svedka, and that was... distracting. It was quite harsh, and just not very good. Noticed a very big difference between the two vodkas.
This was great. We lean into local craft vodkas rather than the European or Russian brands, and I think you explained why. Breckenridge Vodka is a consistent one on our shelves along with Tito's.
Respectfully, I wouldn’t consider Tito’s a craft vodka haha
Thanks for the video! And thanks for spreading gluten knowledge. Not enough people know about gluten free alcohols.
Reyka is my personal favorite vodka and I was kind of surprised it wasn't in the video. I just find it so smooth and with a nice minerality. A great video even with a minor omission and no list would really be exhaustive enough. You showed a good varied list of vodkas that would be behind a bar in most cities. I do love your end comparison of both the best and worst just to prove in the end it really comes down to whether you want to know you're drinking something boozy or not. I'm personally more of a gin, whiskey and wine guy so I also feel lost ordering something with vodka. The only time I feel something calls for vodka is a club night where I'll order a blueberry red bull with vodka and it tends to be with Absolut for being the cheapest.
What do you think about Belvedere
when i drink vodka, i typically go with russian standard. i also like gzhelka. monopolowa is also good. sometimes i'll get skyy cherry vodka and mix it with coke for a cherry coke with a kick. if i'm at a club or bar i just do stoli if i want a screwdriver or something. outside of screwdrivers, i don't use vodka in cocktails a lot. i will sometimes use it if i'm making a homemade liqueur though.
Only thing I would add - vodka companies LOVE to tout how many times they run their vodka through their distillation stack “12 times distilled!”… but that’s honestly not the optimal way to judge them… in fact it tells you just how neutral they are.
The taller the distillation column they’re working with, the more precisely they’ll be able to separate the heads and tails from the heart of the run. As a result, very tall columns require fewer cycles to produce clean vodka (or any spirit for that matter), and the fewer cycles they have, typically the more flavor you’ll be left with from whatever product they distilled. It’s actually wild how much of a difference it makes!
I'm not much of a vodka drinker either, but I do like Kastra Elion. It's distilled from a mix of wheat and olives, and has a very velvety texture. If you can find it, it's definitely worth a try. Bonus, it comes in a gorgeous stone bottle, so even if you don't like the juice it's still a great display piece.
I love these bracket episodes. I use Tito's, but I haven't shopped around all that much.
I wonder if the small differences in vodka might matter more in a cocktail where it's not competing with powerful sweet and sour flavors. For instance, I do really enjoy it in an ice-cold vodka martini. If you've ever seen I Heart Huckabees, where they punch themselves in the face with a rubber ball to achieve a deeper more satisfying sense of nothingness-a good vodka martini is kinda like that.
My go-to vodkas are Ketel One and Stoli. I was surprised that you rated Ketel One the worst but I absolutely agreed at the end, I like it because it is less neutral in a cocktail without being detrimental. I would add that another criteria I have for vodkas is purity. Some vodkas (like Titos) taste great but they give me the worst hangover. So distillation techniques and filtering are a factor in my choices.
I enjoy your videos. My girlfriend and I have never been drinkers, but we are starting to try different drinks. Your videos are inspiring and instrumental in our discovery of spirits. Currently we are stocking out bar with tools and spirits we like. Keep up the good work.
Happy you're finding the channel helpful with your journey! So much to explore. Cheers
Great video! I like this format a lot. Good way to show the variety of spirits. One thing I would note though is that for me vodka is less about flavour than it is about texture. Like you say, a good vodka should have very little congeners, and those should be discernable only when sipping neat. But for me the texture of the vodka is what makes a great vodka stand out. When I rate vodkas, texture and mouthfeel are the key element. In cocktails, I find that this has a bigger impact, particularly on stirred spirit-forward cocktails like a Vodka Martini, or a Vesper with inverted gin/vodka ratios. In those cocktails, I find that the texture of the vodka is much more in evidence and makes a difference. I find Finlandia has a fat mouthfeel that adds a nice texture to cocktails. Grey Goose, Stoli and Chopin all also have very nice mouthfeels. Absolute, Kettle One and Tito's, for me don't have the weight that vodka is all about, but those work well in cocktails with citrus juice where they tend to fade into the background.
Wow. Great video. My go to's have always been Tito’s and Ketel One but, like you, not a huge fan of vodka cocktails so I’ve never really explored the spirit. So glad you did this one. I’m running out to buy Hangar One today! Thankfully I’m in Calif!