619721 Wed May 13 23:44:32 -0700 2009 51 36 Spirits 0 4682422 My uncle has a birthday coming up and he has been a vodka drinker for over 40 years. He is very particular about his vodka. He drinks vodka straight on the rocks with a splash of water. He always says he wants the vodka with the least amount of taste in it, the most pure and clean. He has said that most vodka's he has tried give him hangovers because they have too much flavor in them. Brands such as Stoli, Finlandia, Grey Goose etc etc all do not work for him. Smirnoff has been one he says he could always handle that would not give him bad hangovers but most of the popular brands he says he cannot deal with. So my question to you is, I would like to buy him a bottle for his birthday. Which one can you recommend that has the least amount of flavor and is the cleanest and purist without costing an arm and a leg? Some reco's I have gotten already are: Iceberg Vodka from Canada Tito's Vodka Any more please? Wed May 13 23:44:32 -0700 2009 232490 Illuminatus 1 4683793 If he likes smooth and mild try Ciroc. It is made from French grapes and is reasonably priced. Thu May 14 11:35:46 -0700 2009 4682422 216123 folprivate 2 4689169 Funny that you say that. My wife and I did a blind taste test for vodka. Grey Goose Absolut, Skyy, Svedka, Smirnoff, Ciroc, couple of others and both tasting notes for Ciroc mentioned a strong grape flavor... different strokes :) Sat May 16 08:13:05 -0700 2009 4683793 113217 ac106 3 4690160 I've had Ciroc and it does have a flavor unlike other vodkas. Not a bad thing as Vodka is either flavorless or taste like rubbing alcohol. Give me a good single malt scotch, high end bourbon or rum. I like to taste something. Sat May 16 16:38:50 -0700 2009 4689169 89493 scubadoo97 1 4684258 Considering that he likes Smirnoff and that it won a blind taste test ( http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/26/dining/26wine.html ), why not just get smirnoff? Thu May 14 13:38:29 -0700 2009 4682422 111910 jgg13 1 4684648 I recently gave a bottle of Tito's to a Ukrainian. He gave it rave reviews. Thu May 14 15:17:07 -0700 2009 4682422 18017 Captain 2 4684698 Blue Ice (for potato), Saaga, Zyr and Polar Ice (inexpensive) or my current preferences. I detest Ketel One and Grey goose, if that helps. I think Saaga might be a very good choice. Thu May 14 15:28:05 -0700 2009 4684648 124704 Icantread 3 4690461 Why do you "detest Ketel One"? Sat May 16 19:15:53 -0700 2009 4684698 11175 The Ranger 4 4694064 What he said. It tastes like burning Mon May 18 10:12:09 -0700 2009 4690461 124704 Icantread 5 4694171 She. ;) Mon May 18 10:36:24 -0700 2009 4694064 92744 invinotheresverde 6 4696615 Apologies m'lady. A Gibson for you, on the house. Tue May 19 06:31:15 -0700 2009 4694171 124704 Icantread 7 4697021 I do dig me a Gibson. Although "he" might technically work, since I stole the quote from Ralph Wiggum, a la Simpsons. Tue May 19 08:36:06 -0700 2009 4696615 92744 invinotheresverde 3 4693626 I detest Ketel One also. It tastes like burning. Mon May 18 08:16:30 -0700 2009 4684698 92744 invinotheresverde 2 4690710 A Ukranian friend just gave me a bottle of Tito's to rave reviews. =) She mentioned that it was one of the more widely available and well priced brands, at least where she lives in Brooklyn. Sat May 16 22:24:17 -0700 2009 4684648 64215 cimui 3 4691060 p.s. the stuff is made in Texas, not the Ukraine! Sun May 17 07:00:09 -0700 2009 4690710 64215 cimui 1 4689255 My present favorite is Turi Vodka from Estonia Sat May 16 08:54:32 -0700 2009 4682422 123497 fourunder 2 4690272 I had a Turi tonic a few weeks ago. It was the worst tasting vodka tonic I have ever tried. I passed the drink around to others and they had the same reaction. Perhaps a bad bottle? Who knows, but I won't be trying it again. Big fan of Tito's here as well. Sat May 16 17:30:53 -0700 2009 4689255 118473 Flint 3 4690834 I guess it couldn't possibly be the tonic water......;-) Sun May 17 03:00:08 -0700 2009 4690272 123497 fourunder 4 4693632 Yeah, it's pretty hard to detect flawed vodka under the super intense flavor of tonic water. Mon May 18 08:17:36 -0700 2009 4690834 92744 invinotheresverde 5 4754395 Vino, I had someone tell me the same thing once, they said Sobeski was the best Vodka ever, and when I put it in my codka tonic, I almost choked... she told me it was the "cheap tonic" not her $10 a gallon vodka... LOL! Mon Jun 08 16:40:44 -0700 2009 4693632 54116 gryphonskeeper 6 4755246 I'm betting it was the cod. Mon Jun 08 21:18:01 -0700 2009 4754395 40486 Cinnamon 7 4755627 damn typos. Yeah, it was the fishy vodka! Tue Jun 09 05:23:18 -0700 2009 4755246 54116 gryphonskeeper 1 4690155 I'm a fan of Tito's and I'm not a Vodka drinker but Tito's has a very clean taste and is not expensive. Sat May 16 16:36:11 -0700 2009 4682422 89493 scubadoo97 2 4714096 I was served Tito's tonight for the first time and agree. I never thought that Texas vodka would be as clean and smooth as it is. Good-bye preconceived notions. CP Mon May 25 18:59:47 -0700 2009 4690155 138009 Chefpaulo 3 4736586 Dripping Springs is also a pretty good Texas vodka. Tue Jun 02 13:32:31 -0700 2009 4714096 14445 swamp 1 4692605 I did a blind vodka tasting awhile ago, and my favorite was Shaker's. Very smooth with an almost caramel taste, if any. Sun May 17 18:46:23 -0700 2009 4682422 14093 Melanie 1 4693960 you might try this. I think it was wsj spirit of the year. http://www.coldrivervodka.com/ Mon May 18 09:46:43 -0700 2009 4682422 217582 cannedmilkandfruitypebbles 1 4698647 The cleanest, purest and still allowing possession of all financial limbs is Luksusowa Polish Potato vodka. When well chilled, it is the mildest tasting and least pernicous on the next morning headache scale. Filtration is the key here - not flavors. The better the filtration, the less impurities and offensive taste. Thus you have a cleaner product to be metabolized. It has been the best value out there for a while and I'm surprised that it hasn't been discovered. I agree that many costlier products are harsher going down, and the next day. CP Tue May 19 16:56:47 -0700 2009 4682422 138009 Chefpaulo 1 4706595 I like Rain Vodka. It is an organic made here in the US. Not too pricey; $20 750ml. It is quad filtered, so next day not an issue. Made with corn someplace in Indiana. Fri May 22 09:32:25 -0700 2009 4682422 282119 MartiniGenie 1 4709148 I just recently tried Quay vodka, newly arrived to the US from France. Very good, smooth, nice finish. It just arrived in our local State store too. I'm not a big vodka drinker, prefer gin, but I did enjoy it. quayvodka.com Sat May 23 11:41:56 -0700 2009 4682422 243273 pacheeseguy 1 4711222 Tru Organic Vodka is the only one I've tried that hasn't given me headaches or hangovers. Beautiful, clean thing it is - I detected no off fumes or odd bitterness. The others I've tried are generally Ketel One, Stoli, Absolut, Skyy. Smirnoff, Blue Ice, Grey Goose. Those are the ones that come to mind, anyway. Tru is made from American grain... and is a FAR cry from the U.S. potato guys' entry, Blue Ice. A review is here: http://cocktails.about.com/od/vodkareviews/gr/tru_vodka_rvw.htm And this is more in detail as to their practices... http://spiritmeaway.com/?p=61&cpage=1 Both report it with a clean taste. Sun May 24 14:26:18 -0700 2009 4682422 40486 Cinnamon 1 4715874 Hammer & Sickle is excellent...probably the cleanest-tasting vodka I've ever had. I also like Chopin and Level. Tue May 26 11:59:20 -0700 2009 4682422 204860 theferlyone 1 4730717 Tito's is indeed very good, it is my daily drinker as it is only $31.99 in Michigan for a half gallon. But for something really tasty try Hangar One - http://www.hangarone.com/ It is the best vodka I have had and I have had many of them. All of there vodkas are wonderful. They go for $39.99 a fifth here in Michigan. Sun May 31 15:58:15 -0700 2009 4682422 92263 aea6574 2 4732068 Hangar One is definitely a great product, as are their infused (with real fruit) vodkas Mon Jun 01 07:37:52 -0700 2009 4730717 124704 Icantread 3 4738351 I'd be interested in the methods and controls used to taste the vodkas, given that even if they sip-and-spit, the alcohol from that spirit would numb their tastes after the first few... Wed Jun 03 06:41:31 -0700 2009 4732068 11175 The Ranger 4 4741972 took 15 minutes between each and judged most heavily smoothness on the way down. Ketel One stood out the most for this real factory machinery sort of taste and intense burn. Smirnoff actually went down quite well. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes having a bit of fire in your vodka's a good thing if you're using it to make drinks, but I don't want to pay premium for it. And hey, if you want to pay the premium to be hangover free, I guess that's worth it so long as you know that extra number of distillations will keep you hangover free. Thu Jun 04 08:48:56 -0700 2009 4738351 124704 Icantread 1 4732105 I found this article very useful and enlightening, confirming some things I had long suspected about super-premium vodkas: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/26/dining/26wine.html http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/ Mon Jun 01 07:50:53 -0700 2009 4682422 10143 MC Slim JB 2 4732605 Every time I bring this up to my vodka obsessed friends, they always swear that it can't be true, that the testers were cretins, etc. I have noticed more and more people in my social circle coming around on smirnoff though, I think in general there's a larger realization that a lot of this stuff is clever marketing. Mon Jun 01 10:28:39 -0700 2009 4732105 111910 jgg13 3 4734354 Vodka is a marketer’s and packaging designer’s dream — a canvas so blank you can project whatever elaborately concocted and filigreed dream or image you want onto it. Bartenders and retailers are only to happy to play along. There’s an economic imperative to ignore the reality of blind taste tests (like the barman at Radius, a high-end Boston restaurant, who sneered at my request for Smirnoff, and reacted like I’d called his baby ugly when I recounted the Asimov test to him). There too much more money to be made off of folks whose self-esteem needs propping up with brand identification, or drinkers who just aren’t ready to graduate from candy flavors in their "martinis". I think that as the level of bartending craft continues to improve in Boston and around the country, drinkers will find more reasons to abandon Rookie Juice forever. But serious cocktail lovers will always have to swim against a tide of billions of marketing dollars promoting diluted Everclear in pretty packages. The simplicity and profitability of that scam will ensure that vodka lameness will dog us for a long time. http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/ Mon Jun 01 19:44:37 -0700 2009 4732605 10143 MC Slim JB 4 4734997 I drink spirits for the flavor and that's why vodka is not something I drink often. Maybe at parties where they have lower end scotch or bourbon and as usual bad rum I will drink vodka as the drink of choice to catch a quick buzz. I am quite aware that most but not all vodka comes from a few producers of neutral spirits and you are paying for filtration and a pretty bottle. Just way too much hype in this spirit for me. Tue Jun 02 05:58:13 -0700 2009 4734354 89493 scubadoo97 4 4741906 The "put it in a fancy bottle and charge 2x what it's worth" is moving beyond vodka, it seems. Just take a look at that rye ... RI I think it's called? R1, something like that. Thu Jun 04 08:30:47 -0700 2009 4734354 111910 jgg13 5 4751869 No question that the people behind the odiously-named (rī)1, which is meant to be pronounced "rye one", have copied the super-premium vodka-makers' playbook, hoping slick packaging will spellbind the impressionable. Ridiculous, and worse, the whiskey is inferior to many cheaper, far better established American straight ryes. http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/ Sun Jun 07 23:01:53 -0700 2009 4741906 10143 MC Slim JB 2 4735539 Btw, I totally agree with that article. I have friends who disagree, but I did my own tasting and smirnoff did beat some of the big names. Ketel One is one of the nastier vodkas I've had Tue Jun 02 08:51:31 -0700 2009 4732105 124704 Icantread 3 4735623 Agreed. Ketel One tastes filthy. Tue Jun 02 09:11:18 -0700 2009 4735539 92744 invinotheresverde 1 4741929 I am a fan of Tito's, I got turned onto it a few years back when the liquor distributor who came to the store I worked at gave us a few shots, at 9am :). I am also a fan of Luskova (polish/potato). Thu Jun 04 08:38:33 -0700 2009 4682422 202497 MattInNJ 2 4829948 Hanger One, absolutely. Also, Charbay (from NCal wine country). Tito's, too. Made in Austin, Texas. By the way, Austin, inexplicably, boasts three artisanal vodkas. in addition to Tito's: Dripping Springs and Savvy. http://www.drippingspringsvodka.com/home.html http://www.savvyvodka.com/home.html Sat Jul 04 16:09:27 -0700 2009 4741929 1090798 ricodanles 1 4830586 I've never really understood vodka... and I've tasted a few, travelled to the distilleries in Iceland (Reyka), interviewed master distillers and Maitre de Chai (in the case of Grey Goose). Then came along the infused Vodkas, once again all the distillers sent us samples to try. I still don't like it, for me it seems like the flavour is just there to hide. I shouldn't say that I don't like; it's just not my first choice. A Canadian distiller who makes 40 Creek Whisky released 8ºBelow a few weeks ago, and this is vodka infused with Icewine. Very interesting and tasty, and soon to be joined by 4 other brands that also infusing Icewine into the mix. As for straight vodka Tito's seems to be burning up the charts and getting some great reviews. G. legourmet.tv Sun Jul 05 06:31:26 -0700 2009 4682422 120112 legourmettv 1 4921100 Just tried a Polish vodka last night that, if I can find a reasonably priced 1.75 liter will replace the Ketel One. Gvori Vodka. Was very good neat but also made a mean screwdriver. Wed Aug 05 16:57:32 -0700 2009 4682422 11175 The Ranger 1 4921126 Luksosowa and Tito's Luk's is $16.99 for a 1.75 liter bottle at the NH liquor store, and it gets a 90+ rating from somebody who rates vodka. Tito's--gotta love the owner's name--Tito Beverage! Wed Aug 05 17:10:57 -0700 2009 4682422 13003 whs 1 4928121 Cast my vote for Tito's Vodka. Handmade in Texas. Sat Aug 08 05:21:12 -0700 2009 4682422 62593 ejnei 1 4936923 Nemroff (UK) Birch Buds, Zytnia (PL), Tue Aug 11 11:21:44 -0700 2009 4682422 10491 MOREKASHA 1 4990682 Another vote for Tito's. I'll never buy anything different again. <3 Sun Aug 30 13:50:41 -0700 2009 4682422 40464 OysterHo