Mind you, there’s nothing wrong about drinking vodka on the rocks, and garnishing it with whatever lights your fancy. (I mean, other than it tastes like cleaning fluid.) It’s just not a martini.
Great, you’ve just given them permission to overprice it some more. Nice going.
Alfredo? Pesto?
C’mon, I gotta know!
Ragu?
Blotto?
I don’t think that the shape of the glass has much relevance to what a drink is called. But I’m willing to concede the point that vodka on the rocks isn’t actually a martini, though I think the point could be made that it’s “martini-like”, in the sense that it’s almost entirely dominated by cold vodka the same way that a martini is dominated by cold gin, and both can be complemented by a touch of vermouth and/or olives should one be so inclined.
What I will say, though, is that vodka on the rocks is a legitimate beverage that is not at all the same as vodka straight up. The ice chills the vodka and also slightly dilutes it, creating a much more mellow beverage than straight vodka. It works for the same reason that most other beverages have an optimum serving temperature, usually ice cold or hot. The temperature doesn’t actually change the flavour, but it does change the subjective perception of taste. Many liquors like a good rum or scotch can be served straight up at room temperature because they have rich flavours of their own that balance the alcohol.
In the strict sense that a cocktail is a mixed drink, this is true. But the ice is an important part of the drink for the reasons I just said. It would be a totally different drink without it and not one that I would enjoy.
The kind that come out of an ordinary ice cube tray. I’d love to have a fridge that dispenses ice cubes but I do not. Particularly because a friend who attended a bartending course informs me that when making Caesars (a health-giving beverage that I practically live on!) lots of ice is important. So you can imagine the amount of ice I go through! 
The ultra dry martini fad I found equally silly. If you just want gin, ask for gin!
I started this about 8 hours ago but never hit [Send], so the convo has moved on a smidgen. But since it was almooost done and it’s still mostly relevant I’ll post it anyhow. So there neener! 
One thing I will say on the gin and vodka front beyond the obvious point that different people like different things:
All vodkas taste very similar to one another. What overtones they may have are subtle. The goal in fact is to create an utterly tasteless spirit.
Gin OTOH covers a very wide range of flavors. Technically it’s “pure grain alcohol infused with [damn near any strongly-flavored plant matter]”. What those flavorants are makes a huge difference in how the stuff tastes. And how many headaches are in each bottle.
If you’ve only had crap gin, well, … it tastes like crap. Speaking of wells, 100% of well gin served in bars is crap. If you’re not asking for a brand name, you’re going to get turpentine. And some of the largest selling brands in the USA are still crap. If you drink better gin it tastes good to better to great.
YMMV in matters of taste, but the fundamental difference between a class of flavorless booze and of highly flavored booze remains indisputable.
Well wolfpup, according to the post above, your Absolut Peppar is not vodka
Also
G&T are good in hot weather but Ricard/Pernod is even better
“Vodka sauce” is an abomination (like any tomato sauce with cream) made up by the marketing team at Olive Garden/Darden restaurants. You cant taste the vodka since its boiled off, and adding the cream makes it another campbells tomato soup. Yuck
But will Richard/Pernod stave off malaria?
I agree that there are many liquors that have a broad range of flavours and quality grades, and certainly gin does have a distinct taste (I believe the one consistent flavour in gin is that of juniper berries). Vodka is more subtle. As @Alessan said upthread:
But I will disagree with both of you that vodka has no taste. Even water has a taste, which is why I can say that I hate the taste of tap water but love bottled spring water. In both cases, the difference comes from minerals, dissolved gases, and other “impurities” that actually create the taste sensation. The closest thing to a truly flavourless liquid is probably distilled water, and there’s a good reason it’s not typically sold for drinking – most people don’t like it, precisely because of its tasteless purity.
The difference between the taste of Smirnoff – possibly the most popular brand – and Absolut is indeed subtle, but it’s there. It’s hard to describe, but Absolut has a smooth quality that is almost faintly caramel-like. There is probably no detectable difference in a Caesar, but Absolut is preferable in my controversial vodka-on-the-rocks concoction which I’ve apparently had the unmitigated gall to refer to as a “martini”.
Ah. Your friend is helping you stay hydrated. Good friend!
Maybe, if you drink enough you’ll give off enough fumes it will repel anything.
But as far as tonic, one needs to check to see if it really has quinine as an ingredient. Not many do anymore. A test is if it glows under a UV flashlight!
Lean in, dawg! Don’t let anyone mitigate your gall!
I mean, you’re wrong, in a way that only a person who likes fishy tomato juice can be, but you’re a Doper! Gotta support that.
I once again must disagree with you, my friend. On all points.
Tomato-cream pasta sauce was not “invented by the marketing team at Olive Garden”, it goes all the way back to 17th century Italy. Its main virtue is a mellow smoothness, where the cream cuts right through the acidity of the tomatoes. If you think it tastes like Campbell’s soup, you haven’t had a proper tomato cream sauce.
Vodka sauce is much more recent, and may have come from New York restaurants around the mid-20th century. And yes, you can still taste the vodka (or least, I can) because even though some (not all) of the vodka evaporates in simmering, the residues bearing the subtle vodka flavour remain. @pulykamell is correct that the vodka serves the important role of enhancing the tomato flavours, but it also adds to the sauce an essence of its own.
Yeah, vodka angels are what you see after one two many.
Not that I’ve ever noticed. If there’s anything, it’s the faintest taste of clean alcohol. Yea, alcohol is a flavor I guess, but might as well stick grain alcohol in there. As you may guess, I’m not one for vodka sauce.
My fridge at The Home does not have an ice cube maker either. So I buy a couple of 7 lb. bags of ice from HEB every 10 days or so. They are beautiful and crystal clear and there is no longer any need to ration them. I can even plunge newly cooked hard boiled eggs into an ice bath-- can’t do that when you’re limited to ice cube tray quantities.
I propose that you consider including bags of ice from the store when you do your grocery shopping. The feeling of liberation is tremendous. As much ice as I want! Woo-hoo! When I lived at my house, I had a second fridge in the garage so I could stock up on ice. But two 7 lb bags fit nicely in my small freezer now, and they make me happy.
If you think I can put one, let alone two, 7 lb bag of ice cubes into my freezer, you have not seen my freezer. Remember that I’m a pup with a great affinity for prepared foods, which encompasses both frozen foods and fresh prepared meals that I freeze, along with frozen commodities like dim sum, frozen fries, chicken wings, frozen French onion soup, frozen veggies, and on and on. It’s a pretty big freezer, too, but I’m just a natural hoarder.
Your suggestion is a good one but I’d need a chest freezer to implement it!
ETA:
True, but you reside in a part of the world that is approximately the temperature of the surface of Venus at the equator. Here in the Great White North, tap water tends to be cool year round so I can cool hard-boiled eggs just by running a bunch of cool water into the pot and letting them sit.
Though recently I’ve discovered an even better solution. There have long been prepared hard-boiled eggs available, sold in pairs and immersed in water, and I never liked them at all. But recently, while searching for pickled eggs, I found packages of 6 machine-peeled hard-boiled eggs that are every bit as good as those I make myself, and no peeling needed! I still buy raw eggs for breakfast, but I may never hard-boil eggs again. They cost about twice as much as raw eggs, and they’re not large eggs, but for this pup, convenience is all-important!
Tomato cream sauce is the black & white cookie of the sauce world— trying to please both sides, kids, adults, plebs, veteran eaters. Pass…
Tomato sauce is great. Cream sauces are delicious, but never the two shall meet. Imagine going to your garden on August 17th, taking the nicest plum tomatoes you have, making a sauce with them, and adding cream. You completely lose that tangy sweet, almost winey taste of the tomatoes. I can see adding a clump of butter, but never cream, nor sugar. Not even to decent (eg Cento) canned tomatoes.
To be continued (writing on my phone, which I really dont like to do)….
“One two many” is what you write when you’ve had one too many!