Vodka - Smooth and Clean.

Guyon said:
Tito's. :thumbup: The Visitor Reviews at vodkaphiles.com give it 4.54 stars (out of 5) with 41 reviews.

I've also become a fan of an inexpensive potato vodka from Norway called Viking Fjord. (4.76 out of 5 with 21 reviews).
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Funny.....these are my two favorites as well with Kettle One right behind. Dirty martinis make my heart happy.
 
fishface5 said:
here's a vodka tip I tried and it actually works - run cheap vodka through a Brita filter a couple times and it becomes entirely drinkable!

But generally I like Gray Goose
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That's called "polishing" spirits and most vodka makers use that process to some extent. But using a brita filter to do it is crazy expensive compared to just using activated charcoal and a paper filter.

Here's the real story and DIY how-to:

http://homedistiller.org/polish.htm

Basically you soak 1 cup of (clean) activated charcoal per liter of spirits for 1 week and up to several months to soak up the bad-tasting fusels, then filter it through a paper filter to remove the carbon, leaving clean tasty pure vodka.
 
Despite I was born and grew in Russia but frankly, my preference order is as folllows:
1. Finland
2. Absolut
3. Smirnoff
Cheers,
Ed
 
Pravda is by far my favorite (got to get over the gaudy bottle). Great stuff for the price :)

Chopin is good. Belvedere used to be one of my favorites, but they have been really jacking up their prices :( Not worth it now imo.
 
All I know, stay away from the really cheap stuff. Heaven Hill Vodka and orange juice separate like oil and water. :eek:
 
I'm happy to see the love for Austin's own Tito's. I'm not a vodka drinker, but my daughter has some experience in these matters. She likes Tito's, but her absolute favorite is Reyka, distilled in Iceland.

Jack
 
Ketel One is great.

Unfortunately, it's a little too smooth.

I drank about a 5th of it on my 21st, and don't remember the majority of that night.
 
Another vote for Finlandia Vodka. I admit to not being a connoisseur of vodkas (more of a whiskey guy) but when I want a smooth sipping vodka (as opposed to a mixer) I always reached for this one.

enderwiggin said:
Unfortunately, it's a little too smooth.

I drank about a 5th of it on my 21st, and don't remember the majority of that night.
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Heh! I had a similar problem on my 25th. Someone gave me a bottle of Finlandia frozen in a block of ice. After sitting around talking and laughing with my friends for a while, sipping the frozen Finlandia the whole time, I stood up to walk one of my friends out and the room started spinning and I almost fell on my face.
 
My favorites, in that order:
1. Russian Standard (premium and platinum)
2. Stolichnaya
3. Absolut

Smirnoff is great, too, but I like those three better.

I drink em cool and pure and there are many differences you can taste. But the biggest difference is the way you feel the day after drinking them. Cheap vodka will make you feel sick, good vodka doesn't.
 
I've found Svedka to be a great value for the money. In my college days, me and my buddy kept on refilling one belvidere bottle with svedka and no one ever knew the difference.
 
I work in a liqour store and have had the luxury of trying many different vodkas (vodka also happens to be my "go to" spirit). To me the best values (price to quality) are the afformentioned svedka, and even better a recent import from poland called sobieski. The sobieski is very smooth while still maintaning character. In my opinion it compares favorably with belvedere (it is actually from the same distillary). I do also like Vikingfjord and to a lesser degree because of price luksosowa. As far as high priced brand names...they are all overpriced because of their names. These companies also tend to rest on their laurels, and thus the product is often inferior to some lesser priced vodkas. Stolichnaya and Finlandia are two brands that come to mind that are very good and only somewhat pricey. Although better values can be had (vodkas that are just as good at much better prices) these two are not ridiculously overpriced. There is enough competition in the industry to allow premium vodkas to exist without premium prices. Of course once those blow up for their quality and value prices, their prices will go up and the quality will diminish because all of their money is being spent on advertising.
Good vodka values (premium stuff): Iceberg, Svedka, Ruskova, Sobieski, and Vikingfjord. There are of course more but this is off the top of my head. Of those listed my current favorite is Sobieski. It is actually the cheapest and best tasting to me. Keep in mind that the values listed are as good or in some cases better then the super high priced "premium" vodkas. I think Sobieski compares favorably with the very best the vodka world has to offer.

Anyway my 2 cents...give some of these reasonably priced brands a shot and I doubt you will be dissappointed.
 
My favorite vodka is Thor's Hammer from Sweden. Since being turned onto it 6 years ago, I have not purchased another vodka.
 
So many great vodkas already mentioned. I used to avoid flavoured vodka, but that was until I tried Wyborowa almond vodka from Poland. Drink it neat and ice cold for a real treat.
 
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