The difference between cheap vodka and expensive vodka is in the hangover, IME. For unflavored vodkas, they all taste like alcohol…for as even sven pointed out, vodka is nothing but alcohol diluted with water.
That said™, all vodka tastes pretty vile when drunk as room temperature shots. Conversely, all vodka becomes much more smooth and palatable when drunk frozen.
Smirnoff would be exempt, assuming that there actually is or was someone named Smirnoff involved in the company. I’m thinking more of the ones sold exclusively in plastic mouthwash bottles, all of which seem to pick a random Russian word or city as their brand name.
My secret:
First two drinks are “cheap” vodka and whatever mixer (sours, cranberry, grapefruit juice).
Next few drinks are Belvedere vodka chilled in a martini glass.
Next few drinks are Belvedere chilled shots.
Next few drinks are water/urinal cake. 
Not everybody can buy their liquor in a grocery store…and I’m willing to bet that dedicated liquor stores don’t do discounts as often as that.
Why buy any kind of vodka for mixed drinks? It’s cheaper to buy plain old grain alcohol, such as Everclear. More bang for the buck.
If the drink has a strong flavor, the taste of the booze is drowned out. I really doubt that any connoisseur can tell a Bloody Mary made with Everclear from one made with Grey Goose.
Yep, that’s my experience. I always tell folks you either pay for it tonight or pay for it tomorrow. Well vodka around here is generally Wolfschmidts, which makes you feel like wolfshitz the next day. I just usually go with Stoli for mixed drinks and it seems to treat me fine.
You’d probably want to use 1/2 the volume of Everclear that you would of vodka. Otherwise, drinks will be unpleasantly strong.
We use Wolfschmidts to prepare electric melons (cut watermelon in half, pour vodka into cavity) and to clean food preparation surfaces. I do not consider Wolfschmidts to be potable.
What’s your point? I was sharing an informational tidbit about my local price of Smirnoff and not claiming anything about liquor stores or otherwise. Some people cannot buy liquor in their county after a certain time, or on Sundays, or AT ALL. I think it’s fairly obvious my anecdote does not apply to them either.
That’s what I meant by “more bang for the buck.” Everclear is 190 proof. A little goes a long, long way.
Sorry, I was…
Well, I don’t know what I was thinking. :o
Which just means all the more drunk per bottle! Brilliant!
Eh, peoples tastes differ. I know some people that absolutely cannot stand anything below Absolut’s price range, even Skyy. I think those people are crazy-go-nuts, of course, but hey, to each his own. Me, I can choke down almost anything.
I can live with vodka being “diluted” with water. I mean, we don’t call watermelon “diluted fruit”, do we? Some things just need that water.
I have noticed that vodka can be distilled from a large variety of fruits and grains.
Is one fruit or grain better than another?
Aw, I’m just testy… Let’s have a drink! Ahhhh…that’s better!
No grain sold in Pennsylvania…
Stupid quaker state…
Grain alcohol like Everclear isn’t legal in all states.
Assuming that the alcohol was distilled to the limits of technology, then no, there is no difference. Vodka is ideally just pure alcohol mixed with pure water. If the distillation isn’t all that great, then you can have impurities left from whatever was fermented to produce the alcohol.