What’s the best vodka under $15? My friend bought something called Score Vodka and claimed he paid only 10 bucks for it. At first I thought it was pretty expensive cuz the taste. 
IMO, pay the extra $20 for 750mL of Belvedere.
Under $15, I cannot think of any that aren’t “fun-sized,” and worth the bargain.
Well, Popov is relatively cheap and only slightly tastes like nail polish remover. I’m gonna have to try this Score vodka now.
Question: how much vodka in the Score bottle mentioned?
Moved to Café Society from GQ.
samclem, moderator
it is unlikely with vodka that cost will have anything to do with how nice it is. If you are drinking it mixed with anything else then you can pretty much guarantee that no-one will know or care what brand it is.
So if that one works for you, go for it. Definitely don’t blow an extra $20, there is no benefit to it.
I dunno, Ketel One is a nice mixer because it has very little taste. It’s a better mixer than Belvedere, but if I can’t get Ketel One I get Belvedere just to make sure I don’t get complete crap (lol I almost typed “absolut crap”.) Whatever I’m mixing the Ketel with is almost as expensive as the vodka itself per drink, plus the alternative to vodka for me is medium-price wine that is only slightly less expensive per bottle than Ketel for a smaller amount of alcohol, so I don’t see it as expensive.
Do you think you could reliably pick out your favourite in a blind test? The general opinion seems to be that people can’t.
That’s immaterial as I have not had vodka in awhile. If it were Ketel One versus other brands I’d say it’s 50/50, but I don’t drink vodka really.
Svedka is pretty good. I’m not much of a vodka drinker but was offered a free sample at Spec’s Downtown Warehouse, legendary purveyor of fine liquor, beer, wine (& food & cigars).
One half-shot of room temperature vodka tasted Not Bad At All.
Nothing wrong at all with Smirnoff or Svedka.
Occasionally I pay the premium for Stolichnaya, not because I believe it to be superior, but rather purely sentimental reasons.
Avoid anything in a plastic jug and you will do fine for 98% of vodka-related situations.
The plastic jug would do fine for 75% of vodka-related situations, since most people seem to want to mix it with juice or other flavored mixers.
Vodka is, what? Ethanol diluted in water? There’s very little difference between the most and the least expensive brand IMO-
This, especially with US produced brands. By law, it’s required to be ethanol and water. Of course, there are those that are distilled with more or less skill and care, and which have more or less of that nail polish remover / rubbing alcohol type flavor and aroma. The cheaper vodkas are almost certainly just what comes off their column still, diluted and bottled. The more expensive ones probably redistill at least once, and maybe more, and some even run their distillate through activated charcoal to remove further congeners.
But ultimately above a certain level of distillation, there’s precious little difference and what you’re paying for is essentially the “cool” factor and a pretty bottle. ISTR that brands like Tito’s and Smirnoff frequently are mistaken for Grey Goose, Belvedere, Ketel One and the like in blind taste tests, despite being quite a bit cheaper.
There’s only so much accidental flavor that an ethanol/water mixture will have; if it has any real flavor, it’s really an unaged whiskey of some kind (probably corn, rye or wheat), or an unaged rum. Or in the case of a very few varieties, some kind of potato eau-de-vie.
We generally buy Tito’s, which is really just diluted industrial alcohol.
Supposedly Tito’s does the entire process, soup to nuts, including the fermentation.
But in general, craft vodka distillers are doing one of two things- making vodka to sell and keep the lights on while the whiskey/brandy/rum that they really want to sell ages, or they’re either diluting or redistilling bulk ethanol from ADM or MGP, and calling it their own product.
Nope. In fact, they are getting sued over that very “supposedly.” False advertising, misrepresentation and a few other things are all part of the lawsuit. What they really do is buy industrial GNS, redistill them, then dilute and bottle.
*“Buy the cheap vodka and the expensive beer. That is the way of wisdom.” *- Lao Tzu, or possibly me.
We buy McCormick. It’s about $13 a handle. For something that I never drink straight, and resides in the freezer, why pay more? I’m sure there are people out there who can tell Grey Goose from Popov, but when mixed with three parts Diet Coke, that group of people shrinks considerably - maybe to zero.
It also works perfectly well for the wide variety of infused vodkas we make and keep around the house. Right now I have spiced plum, black pepper, and tomato. (Those last two will make you the best Bloody Mary you’ve ever had.) I can’t see the point of buying $40 vodka just to put grapefruit zest or cinnamon sticks in it and stash it for a month.
I don’t drink much vodka anymore, but Monopolowa was cheap and tasty the last time I bought it. You didn’t specify a volume, but it’s still around $10/750ml around here.
ETA: I really do think that vodka tonics tasted better when made with it. It’s probably just because that’s what I first made them with, but it’s how my brain reacted.
I usually go with Sobieski. It’s more expensive than McCormick but still a good buy.
Vodka is **literally **defined as, “neutral spirits distilled or treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials so as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color.”
Don’t overspend on vodka.
Exactly. For a potato vodka, I like Monopolowa, too. For cocktails or punch with a lot of flavors, the cheapest stuff you can find.