Is there no Vodka thread or did I miss ir?

[Brent_C_l_a_y_t_o_n]

It is good for sanitizing a wound. Or an injection site.

I knew a bartender who used to clean his marble bar top with Belvedere.

[Anton_D]

But it is, in fact, the only major spirit we don’t keep in the house.

I’m in the same boat. I don’t drink it. I used to keep a bottle for when friends came over, but since it’s also the liquor of choice for teens I’ve stopped keeping it in the house.

My sister was telling me… She and her husband went to dinner with some friends. Went back to their place, and were offered a vodka cocktail. Other couple went to make drinks, but huddled at the fridge talking. Sister finally asked what was up? They told her the vodka bottle was frozen solid.

Uh, oh, their kids are in big trouble now!

[K_John_Joseph]

Late in college I’d go to the Intercontinental in Austin with buddies. I tasted through every decent to high end vodka they had over a year or so, always on the rocks with a lime slice. There were a few expensive obscure ones that I really can’t recall anymore, but my takeaways for most of the common market were:

Grain based Vodka is most often preferable to potato for pure flavor/cleanliness of taste
Tito’s is garbage (sorry folks, and I’m a Texan, but this is bathtub vodka that was $10 a bottle when it came out for a reason)
I can’t recall every having someone choose Gray Goose over Ketel One in blind 1 v 1 tastings, and I set that up many, many times
Stoli Gold and Russian Standard Gold are nice, but I buy Ketel One for home consumption (mostly for my wife).
I am no big fan of Belvedere or Chopin, but Ciroc is alright.
Why own Smirnoff? It’s $12 for a reason. You’re better than that.

[Rick_Smith]

Russian Standard Gold
Beluga
Tito’s if ordering something out.

[Bdklein]

My wife tried Drake’s Vodka in a liquor store and loved it. It’s organic and gluten free (she avoids gluten). And it was $12.99 a bottle-right up my alley!!

[David_K_o_l_i_n]

My wife tried Drake’s Vodka in a liquor store and loved it. It’s organic and gluten free (she avoids gluten). And it was $12.99 a bottle-right up my alley!!

All vodka is gluten free, like all potato chips

[K_John_Joseph]

My wife tried Drake’s Vodka in a liquor store and loved it. It’s organic and gluten free (she avoids gluten). And it was $12.99 a bottle-right up my alley!!

All vodka is gluten free, like all potato chips

The vast majority of vodka is not made with potatoes. Some, like Ciroc, are made from distilled grapes. Most vodka, though, is distilled grain spirit. Ketel One and some other solid vodkas are distilled from wheat, which could cause concerns about gluten for someone with celiac disease.

Vodka is a heavily distilled spirit, though, and even wheat vodkas are gluten free. The gluten free tag is just a marketing ploy, and consumers buying a normal proof unflavored vodka that costs more than $7 a bottle should not be worried about gluten in their spirit.

[David_K_o_l_i_n]

My wife tried Drake’s Vodka in a liquor store and loved it. It’s organic and gluten free (she avoids gluten). And it was $12.99 a bottle-right up my alley!!

All vodka is gluten free, like all potato chips

The vast majority of vodka is not made with potatoes. Some, like Ciroc, are made from distilled grapes. Most vodka, though, is distilled grain spirit. Ketel One and some other solid vodkas are distilled from wheat, which could cause concerns about gluten for someone with celiac disease.

Vodka is a heavily distilled spirit, though, and even wheat vodkas are gluten free. The gluten free tag is just a marketing ploy, and consumers buying a normal proof unflavored vodka that costs more than $7 a bottle should not be worried about gluten in their spirit.

It doesn’t matter what grain vodka is made from. Gluten doesn’t make it through distillation. Same with whiskey. Check with the Celiac Disease Foundation. Great marketing, though

[Bdklein]

IDK and IDC about the gluten (she’s not allergic to gluten). I like the fact that the bottles cost $12.99!!

[LMD_Ermitano]

My youngest usually keeps a bottle of Grey Goose in the bar for entertaining friends. I don’t always have vodka in the house; but, when I do, it’s Beluga Gold Line.

[Russell_Faulkner]

Chips are certainly not all gluten free.

[Siun_O_Connell]

I normally don’t drink vodka but years ago I used to go to Germany each year for CeBIT and we would eat every night at Pizza Vinci in Hannover and as we waited for our taxis after settling up, the owner, Senior Policino, would bring us super cold shots of the most delicious peach vodka. I’ve never found a commercial version that is even close.

[TGigante]

I normally don’t drink vodka but years ago I used to go to Germany each year for CeBIT and we would eat every night at Pizza Vinci in Hannover and as we waited for our taxis after settling up, the owner, Senior Policino, would bring us super cold shots of the most delicious peach vodka. I’ve never found a commercial version that is even close.

Commercial flavored vodka always has an artificial taste to me. I always think using fruit juice, a hit of a well made liqueur or infusing your own vodka is the superior way to go

[Guillermo_M]

I rarely drink vodka anymore but I used to. I have tried more vodka brands than I can remember, including (but not limited to) Stolichnaya, Stoli Elit, Smirnoff, Cirroc, Sky, Grey Goose, Tito’s, both types of Kirkland (Costco) vodkas, Svedka, Belvedere, Chopin, Absolut, Finlandia, Ketel One, two DC-made brands: Civic and Founding Spirits, and even Black Draft (a small batch vodka from a West Virginia whiskey distillery which I think punches way above its class).

The best vodka for my taste buds, noticeably, by far and away, is Reyka. It is the only one I keep at home.

[David_K_o_l_i_n]

Chips are certainly not all gluten free.

Plain potato chips (unflavored) certainly are. Potatoes, salt and oil.

[Kris_Patten]

Wheatley is picking up some steam…same distiller and mashbill as WL Weller and Pappy Van Winkle.

[Anton_D]

I will admit to liking Jewel of Russia.

[Glen_Gold]

I’m a vodka amateur, and it’s possible everyone else already know about this, but: last week, my girlfriend and I were walking through the Union Square Farmers Market and we almost randomly crossed paths with a woman staffing a table for this brand: http://www.1857spirits.com/ I am terrible with descriptors but I would say that the various cuvées or whathaveyou were incredibly precise and flavorful, very satisfying. But the craziest bottle she presented was, as per the attachment below, their barrel aged vodka. It’s like the missing link between vodka and whiskey. It’s an eduction in what oak brings to the table (which, now that I think about it, might also be made of oak). The flavor was so intense I can still taste it a week later. She said it would be impossible to find outside of the market, and she turns out to be right - unless you live in New York. Looks like a couple of retailers have it there, but they can’t ship out of state. I brought a bottle back in my suitcase that I aim to taunt friends with.

[Guillermo_M]

…
It’s an eduction in what oak brings to the table (which, now that I think about it, might also be made of oak). The flavor was so intense I can still taste it a week later. …

Well? Don’t leave us waiting for the answer. What does it taste like?

[Glen_Gold]

…
It’s an eduction in what oak brings to the table (which, now that I think about it, might also be made of oak). The flavor was so intense I can still taste it a week later. …

Well? Don’t leave us waiting for the answer. What does it taste like?

I’m, as I say, garbage at descriptors, but imagine the purity of vodka with this background of allspice and warmth, some caramel (not overpowering) and that nice char you get from whiskey. Whiskey, but really smooth? Vodka, but with the kinds of secondary flavors you usually need mixers to get?