Oh wow. I think a lot of this must just be personal preference and very subjective. I don’t consider myself a vodka snob or expert, but I’ve purchased and drank quite a few bottles of different brands. Skyyy and the local grocery store brand were the only ones I’ve ever poured down the drain rather than finish the bottle. Grey Goose and Ketel One seem like “good” vodkas in the sense that they’re smooth and flavorless – I can’t tell them apart from each other or even Smirnoff for that matter (a brand which I don’t really mind too much), though the Smirnoff may have a little more burn to it. I really like Svedka, which I think has a slight flavor that is probably offensive to the vodka purists who insist it be flavorless, but I think it’s a very drinkable and even tasty vodka at a very affordable price. I ended up recently with a bottle of Pearl, and I really like it too, though I’m not as familiar with it yet as I am with Svedka.
Certainly cheap vodkas have an off taste. But once you get beyond a decent vodka (**Gangster Octopus’s **suggestion of Skyyy is one, Smirnoff is another) then you are paying for a pretty bottle and a marketing campaign.
Yeah, start with the mid-priced vodkas and you will almost certainly find something to suit your needs. The only reason to buy an expensive Vodka is if you truly find it more to your palate.
All of my Russian friends prefer Smirnoff. It is (supposedly) filtered througha “mountain” of charcoal. That should remove any taste !
Thanks for all the responses; this is my 1st thread and I wasnt sure if it was even worth posting or not…
For the record, I went with Finlandia. It was on sale for around 16 dollars, which put it right in the middle price-range wise. I havent opened it yet (though I seem to remember having bloody marys made with Finlandia on Delta Airlines flights before- I think its Delta’s “house brand”) but when I do end up drinking it, it will be with OJ, Grapefruit or Cranberry juice, so even if its not great vodka, I probably wont notice the difference!!!
Again, thanks for your opinions, Matthew
PS It sounds like for the types of drinks I will end up making with vodka, it seems like I can get a lower priced brand and not have it be very noticeable.
Finlandia will be perfectly fine for your purposes. Just stay way from the plastic bottle brands.
I have found that the expensive vodkas do not taste like vodka, and it was therefore difficult for me to mix drinks that weren’t way too strong. (I just pour without measuring.)
I stick to Smirnoff. It’s quality is just fine with me, and I can taste the drink.
Exactly! And, what a username/post combo!
We did a double blind Vodka taste test at a party last year. 5 bottles of Vodka ranging from $7-$40 a bottle. The first guy assigned each bottle a number, and wrote it down. He then poured each bottle into unmarked containers and labeled them accordingly with post-its. Then, I went into the room and wrote a letter (A-E) on each bottle, removed the post-its, and wrote down which letter corresponded to each number.
By the time we were done, no one knew what brand was in each container.
We handed out score cards and had people test throughout the night. Taste each vodka straight@room temp, straight chilled, and mixed 50/50 with OJ.
The results? Almost everyone rated the $7 plastic jug vodka near the bottom, but that was the only correlation. The rest were all over the place.
So, buy in a glass bottle. Don’t get the cheapest stuff possible - get the second cheapest and you should be pleased.
My first experience drinking as a kid (besides wine, at Shabbat dinner and Passover, and the occasional beer shared with dad) was from a bottle of “Gordon’s” vodka in the liquor cabinet when I was 12 or so. It had a yellow label and the head of some menacing animal on it. I remember it as being palatable, if strong. Do they still make this stuff? Is it well-regarded in the world of vodka? I generally drink only whiskey, rum and beer nowadays. In the liquor section of the store, there’s always some really cheap vodka in big plastic bottles. SKOL comes to mind, as does “Dark Eyes.” I’ve never heard of Barton’s or Popov. They certainly don’t sell those at the liquor stores here. Do cheap vodka brands vary from place to place?
My personal preferences are Skyy for mixing, and Grey Goose or Ketel for drinking straight, or if it’s going to be a long night. I really do find that a night of drinking Skyy makes for a hangover, whereas GG or Ketel don’t.
Found it listed on another site as a “best value” with the likes of Smirnoff and Skyy. I’ve never heard of it (though I’ve seen their gin, I believe, but not the vodka).
How can there be a Vodka thread without anyone recommending Russian Vodka? The Russians know their vodka and by custom they drink it neat. Anyone selling vodka will have a tough time marketing the crappy stuff in the motherland.
Russian Standard is the best I’ve tried. It’s around $20 a bottle.
As for telling the difference between the cheap and expensive stuff, I can tell when I’m drinking anything under $10 for a 750ml bottle.
After that, I can usually tell the difference between medium and premium the next morning.
Here is a mini taste test by ABC News. Grey Goose was hands down the least favorite, despite 4 of the 6 saying beforehand it was their favorite.
If you buy the cheap vodka and put it through a charcoal filter, like in a Brita pitcher, about five or six times what you end up with is high end vodka. The impurities make it harder to drink and give you a worse hangover.
Russian Standard is a mighty fine vodka. Best I’ve probably tried too. Occassionally, I’ll buy the cheapest plastic bottled vodka a liquor store has but it always tastes and smells like rubbing alcohol 
I was just about to chime in with this.
I hold an advanced wine and spirits certification, and I was taught that the filtration is key. Cheaper brands are less filtered and hold more impurities and that’s what gives you a bad hangover.
My friend swears by the Brita filter trick. I don’t much care for vodka so I don’t have a lot to add.
I came in to mention this but of course I am late as usual. I have pointed this article out to friends who insist on drinking the high end trendy vodka of the month and they don’t want to believe it’s possible.
Blind taste tests are really amazing most of the time.
Never bothered to do the math, but I’ve heard the cost of filters is a wash compared to just buying the stuff that doesn’t come in plastic jugs.
It all tastes and smells that way to me. Price and alleged quality make no difference–every drink anyone has ever made me with a substantial amount of vodka has smelled and tasted like some flavoring mixed with isopropyl. And yet, for some reason, vodka proponents simply refuse to accept that I find the stuff vile. They’re worse than the damn fruitcake people.
After seeing the wide variance in opinions about the qualities of vodka, I am really tempted to go back to the liquor store and buy a bottle of the cheap stuff (not! the cheapest, plastic bottle stuff) and also a bottle of high end vodka, like Ketel One or Absolut and do a little taste off on my own…
I havent even tried the Finlandia which I initially bought, so if I do go ahead and get a couple of other bottles for comparison purposes, I will have a good 6 month’s supply of the stuff… I do have friends who enjoy mixed drinks, so if I am not partial to any of my selections, it wont go to waste!!!
From my experience with making cocktails, my tastes are best served by using a quality mixer (say freshly squeezed OJ) than by getting premium brands of booze. I guess I dont really care for the taste of most hard liquor, so my mixed drinks are usually dilluted down heavily with whatever mixer I am drinking that night.
Again, beer is typically my drink of choice, but its nice to try something different once in a while!!!