# Explain "Designer" Vodkas to me, Please! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987 "2007-04-13T17:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/21 "2007-04-13T22:12:57Z")
[QUOTE=myskepticsight] I can only tell the difference between really cheap vodka…and stuff like Grey Goose. [/quote] > [@Tahssa](#): > > In my experience some expensive vodka’s are really good and some are not. Same goes for cheap vodka except the good ones are only good and not “really good”. So buy one bottle of incredibly expensive vodka with a fancy bottle everyone envies. When it is gone, save the bottle and fill it up with cheapshit. Make sure the drink recipient sees the bottle. You may be amazed at how good the vodka becomes, especially to snobs. Must be the design on the bottle, leaking into the liquid. Yeah, that’s the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/22 "2007-04-13T22:16:37Z")
[QUOTE=brownsfan] A few weeks ago I heard on WNIR FM radio here in Akron that Kamchatka (sp?) is the largest-selling brand in the country. I drink it at room temperature, and it’s not bad. Bottom-shelf stuff, so it was surprising to learn it was number one. Then again, hmm… [/QUOTE] Reminds me of Fred Sanford’s favorite wine. You know – the one with the snobby french name, pronounced “jay-zee-pen-AY.” (J.C. Penney) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/23 "2007-04-13T23:55:52Z")
Blast it! I’m trying to remember a Wall Street Journal article that appeared years ago that would address the OP. I remember a part being…the taste could be influenced by the water used to cut the alcohol. Is it from a particular spring and is it iron-free? In any case people paying a premium to drink “Pure Russian Vodka” from Stolichnaya might be getting ripped off. At least if they buy it outside of Russia. If I remember correctly (someone will come along soon enough with a cite) the Stoli sold in the West does NOT come from Russia. It comes from a distillery in Latvia. The firm that owns the rights to the Stolichnaya name and distribution here is forbidden from selling their vodka in Russia. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/24 "2007-04-14T00:25:47Z")
I’d like to put in a word here for potato vodkas, which do have character and taste. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/25 "2007-04-14T01:45:22Z")
[QUOTE=Shamozzle] Isn’t it true that most Russians (or maybe it’s most rural Russians) drink a Vodka that still has a lot of character to it in that it’s yellow from grasses and herbal oils? [/QUOTE] I think this is a hold-over idea from prohibition days when the homemade stuff had a milky-white to yellowish tint due to incomplete distillation (usually from fermented sugar, no grain) ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/26 "2007-04-14T02:02:31Z")
Speaking of pretty vodka bottles, I picked up one of [these](http://www.urbanhonking.com/digest/archives/thebottle.jpg) in Russia. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/27 "2007-04-14T03:07:10Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] As for the alcohol filtration: Smirnoff advertises that their stuff is filtered three times-surely that would remove anything that might impart a taste to the vodka? In any case, paring $45.00 for a bottle of designer vodka srikes me as insane. [/QUOTE] Try the cheap stuff through a [Brita water filter.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=287413) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/28 "2007-04-14T04:31:15Z")
[QUOTE=Shamozzle] Isn’t it true that most Russians (or maybe it’s most rural Russians) drink a Vodka that still has a lot of character to it in that it’s yellow from grasses and herbal oils? I got the impression (can’t remember where) that our stripped-down, neutral version of vodka is considered a bit unusual… [/QUOTE] [Zubrowka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?ubr%C3%B3wka) is Polish but seems to fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/29 "2007-04-14T05:10:12Z")
**Slate** did a [blind tasting](http://www.slate.com/id/2106004) a few years ago. Their final choice was _Chopin_. It’s a nice article. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987/30 "2007-04-14T05:19:57Z")
But undoubtedly not as nice as my homemade method. Unless one has an odd goal, mine will “get you where you are going.” Presuming one drinks vodka for effect, not for some ephemerous “goal,” mine will take you there and leave you asking, “did I really drink THAT MUCH?” I assume NOBODY drinks vodka, versus, say, wine, for any reason other than effect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-designer-vodkas-to-me-please/399987.md?page=1)