Re: Vodka
 

Here in Austin most people swear by Tito's Handmade Vodka . How does this compare? I'm a Tanqueray man myself, but we're doing vodka at the party tomorrow night and I'm curious.

Re: Vodka
 

Tito's is good for the "wow this is from Texas" vibe.

Otherwise, its nothin special. Just drink Smirnoff, apparently...

Re: Vodka
 

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Vodka martini? What a waste of perfectly good vermouth and olives.

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Sorry but can't stomach gin after almost ODing on it in college.

Re: Vodka
 

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Sorry but can't stomach gin after almost ODing on it in college.

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Wasn't that like 40 years ago though? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Also I'm wondering, is vodka the only hard alcohol that you shouldn't be able to taste the differences when drinking straight? Or taste the difference in mixed drinks?

Or are they all too different in flavor?

Re: Vodka
 

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So, ultimately, I'm supposed to be buying Smirnoff?

That idea makes me cry.

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I don't give a [censored] what some non-scientific survey says. I think Smirnoff has a distinctive [read: awful] taste.

Re: Vodka
 

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Wasn't that like 40 years ago though? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]



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Jesus, the years fly by. Thanks for reminding me. But despite all that time, the thought of gin still makes me skeeve.

Re: Vodka
 

Felicia and El D, big thumbs up here.

Most people can't taste the differences between cheap and expensive vodkas. At all. However, you can definitely tell the difference the next day -- you will have a much worse hangover drinking Fleischman's than you will Grey Goose or whatever, assuming you drank a fair amount of it.

There's also the infamous Brita filtering process, which I hear makes this moot. Buy a Brita, filter Fleischman's (or other cheap no-name) through 3-4 times, and it'll remove a fair amount of the impurities that cause the hangover. Supposedly. I've never tried it myself.

That's why Skyy/Stoli/whatever mid-range vodka is a good route to go. Never experienced hangover with them, you won't be able to taste the difference, and most people won't bitch about drinking it.

Read this if you\'re interested in vodka
 

I am a lawyer. Do you remember Stolichnaya Cristall? Ever wonder what happened to it?

About 10 years ago, I was hired by a Russian distillery named Moscow Distillery Cristall. PepsiCo was then importing Stoli Cristall and we sued them, claiming rights to the Cristall mark. It was 2+ years of litigation, and at the end of the day, the jury gave our distillery the right to the Cristall mark and a few hundred grand to boot. So, Pepsi had to change the name to Stoli Gold and our distillery got another importer, and I lost track of what happened after all the litigation was over.

This was in the days before you saw dozens of different vodka brands.

Anyway, had an opportunity to go to the distillery in Moscow, meet the inventor of the vodka and the head of the distillery a number of times and learn all about vodka and how it's made. And El D. is right. Good vodka is an absence of taste. If you are tasting vodka (other than the alcohol taste, of course) you are tasting impurities.

So, as between high quality vodkas, one should basically not be able to tell the difference.

Re: Read this if you\'re interested in vodka
 

Smirnoff, mmm.

Re: Vodka
 

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Monopolowa.

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For so many months, this is my answer to the vodka threads. Finally, someone else. Bravo, sir.

I was given a normal-size bottle of Grey Goose and an enormous Belevedere for Christmas, so I'll be drinking those for a while. But when it's on my own tab, it'll be Monopolowa.

Re: Read this if you\'re interested in vodka
 

i would like to see a bet concerning these "im so less hungover when my vodka costs 30 bucks more" claims.

something like:
-5 trials of drunken benders. some on premium vodka, some on trash vodka.
-person will then have to hit 5/5 on which was which.

Re: Read this if you\'re interested in vodka
 

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i would like to see a bet concerning these "im so less hungover when my vodka costs 30 bucks more" claims.

something like:
-5 trials of drunken benders. some on premium vodka, some on trash vodka.
-person will then have to hit 5/5 on which was which.

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I could do 5/5 on this, assuming the nights were a choice between Vox/Popov. I wouldn't even have to make it to the morning after to make my decision.