I don’t drink vodka but is it all created equal?

If not any recommendations for a gift for a vodka fan?

a vodka fan

A lot of people just use vodka as a means of adding alcohol content to non-alcoholic drinks, so it really doesn’t matter a jot. It’s the lowest common denominator in spirits – even though I have a few polish friends who get excited about it and can talk about the difference between wheat/rye and potato vodkas.

Just get them a bottle of anything and a bucket to be sick in and they’ll likely be thrilled about it.

Bottle of Chase is fine – ticks most boxes (and they’ll never notice the difference in a blindfold test with coke!).

Interestingly in Poland i had some very good, local stuff neat. Tasted good. in Russia, it was Russian Standard – same as the cheap stuff here. Sadly that all had to the drunk neat as well.

There was a place in bath that would serve you a bottle of vodka and as many mixers as you liked for about £70. Grey Goose if I remember correctly. Can’t recall what it was like (or anything more of the evening!)

http://www.stoli.com

Beluga is tasty stuff. Decent vodka can be take straight, no need for mixers unless it’s cheap tat.

Had some Tito’s the other day. Very nice indeed.

William chase.

Leagues ahead of most vodkas. Fantastic history too.

How much do you want to spend?

http://vodka-beluga.com/?lang=en

I am not a big Vodka drinker but I have a Russian colleague who lives in Moscow and always brings me a bottle of this when he pops over to the UK.
Very drinkable. I only drink it neat.

Having tried Chase and Beluga it all just tastes like vodka to me. I could probably taste a difference between it and cheap supermarket stuff if I tried them at the same time but otherwise I wouldn’t say they’re nicer or more drinkable, I certainly didn’t enjoy either neat. Vodka to me is just a mixer or something to do as shots to get drunk fast (although I’ve kind of grown out of that…)

Waitrose has some great offers on vodka from time to time. Worth a look

Russian Standard was the shiny new thing when I was working over there last – same harsh old rubbish as stoli.

I used to like the Smirnoff Black Label, but not much of a spirits drinker these days.

I think we have a bottle of Grey Goose in the cupboard at home if any guests ever want one.

Red lable smirnoff has to the the worst, it’s vile after taste even cuts through mixers.

Nonsense to those who think all vodkas are the same.

Probably the one I have enjoyed most is a Polish potato vodka called Luksusowa. It should be available from any purveyor of finer alcohols.

Let the sceptics try that against Russian Standard (or whatever) and still maintain that they’re all the same!

EDIT: And please, if you can help it, don’t buy Russian. At least not right now.

2nd EDIT: Here it is.

As above if you are going to mix it then it matters less. However, you only need to look at the huge range and variety to know that people do care.

We don’t drink much Vodka at all so we take the view that buying a decent one is a good idea as guests who are afficiandos will appreciate it

Absolut – pretty mainstream, good
Grey Goose – bit more special and comes from a specific area of France with all the wheat (?) grown locally

I can’t abide the stuff but my mother and father were/are Poles, and they rate ?ubrówka.

Zubrowka +1, drunk straight, from the freezer

Belvedere

If it’s served ice cold (where it becomes a bit more syrupy) then nice stuff is really nice – had some lvoely stuff on a work trip to Russia but can’t remember the name of it (our clients were insistent that we couldn’t leave the table without having polised off the whole bottle…).

What I’ve found with the better stuff, even with mixing, is that it is SO much purer than the cheap stuff you can drink quite a bit and have almost zero hangover. In the above mentioned anecdote I was definitely gone when we left the restaurant (lightweight..) but woke up for an early flight the next day feeling great other than being a bit tired.

Having tried Chase and Beluga it all just tastes like vodka to me

All Vodka I had drunk neat previously would make me, not quite gag but I get the ‘shudder’. I don’t get that with the Beluga stuff, it seems to go sown pretty smooth.

Zubrowka bison grass vodka, hands down.

Thanks all

Ended up getting some Blackwoods Nordic Vodka from Amazon – delivered today so will see how that goes down

I’m no vodka aficionado, but I had some Polish Chopin vodka in Poland a couple of years ago.

Didn’t taste as bad as I remembered vodka to taste when I drank vodka down the rec on Friday nights after school.

Zubrowka +1, drunk straight, from the freezer

it needs to be drunk straight from the freezer. It’s like liquid razor baldes.

Chase on the other hand, is the only vodka I’ve been happy to drink at room temp with no mixer. it’s smooth as butter.

Valt. Not neutral but pleasing.

Finlandia straight from the freezer.

Chase Marmalade vodka is an excellent sipping drink http://chasedistillery.co.uk/vodka/

Grey Goose , kept in the fridge served over ice .

Grey Goose – my boss gets it imported from Spain, about 1/2 the price.

I watched a TV programme recently where a group of tasters blind tasted grey goose, absolute and supermarket brand vodka. The supermarket brand came tops but there was not much in it. A vodka ‘expert’ then explained why vodka is all basically the same. I guess if you have spent £50 on a bottle you have to convince yourself it tastes better.

I said

It’s the lowest common denominator in spirits

You said

I watched a TV programme recently where a group of tasters blind tasted grey goose, absolute and supermarket brand vodka. The supermarket brand came tops but there was not much in it. A vodka ‘expert’ then explained why vodka is all basically the same. I guess if you have spent £50 on a bottle you have to convince yourself it tastes better.

Tom-ay-toes, tom-ah-toes 😀 I guess a bottle and a bucket really would be the best present 8)

tetchypete – Member
Zubrowka bison grass vodka, hands down.

‘Looks in cupboard, counts 4 bottles of this’

So, so this is my fave..

Zubrowka, with apple juice for the win

Drunk vodey for over 15 years now, Used to hold Russian standard in high regard. Not now though, seems to give me the mother of all hangovers. Makes me think that they’ve “dumbed it down” and laced it with crap. Grey Goose? For the price I’m not impressed. Chase however is the shizzel imho, drank neat straight out of the freezer it’s soooo smooth! Only have a couple though, then it’s onto Smirnoff with coke. It’s like a good whiskey, you only have a couple while you can still appreciate it, then it’s onto the crap stuff because you’re to pissed to care 😀

Zubrowka or Belvedere. Krupnik good too