Yet Another Vodka Thread
 

I've made no bones about the fact that I think vodka tastes like a hospital smells and they're all the same.
A good friend came by the winery tasting room yesterday and we got to talking about distilling and the subject of vodka came up. He said "I know what you mean, but you really ought to give the newer ones a chance, if only to stay abreast of the business."

So in the interest of staying abreast of the booze biz, I was just in WalMart and found Tito's; one I keep hearing about, for 17 bucks. Wine Spectator seems to like it above a number of pricier and more popular vodkas. It's in the freezer. Ima give it a taste later. I don't drink to get drunk, so it'll only be a dram or two.

I haven't drank Vodka regularly since college. I gave away a half bottle of Polish potato vodka the day after I graduated. Since then, I drank some espresso flavored vodka (pretty good), and I tried some pepper vodka (ok-not great), and have pretty much stayed away from it since that time. I like beer and whisky, with a little gin to change it up once in a while.

Me too, normally.

No cake vodka?

Ewwww, hell no.

Grey Goose and Red Bull is where it's at.

I'm not really a fan of vodka either, but I do like Cold River out of Maine (it's a potato vodka). The majority of my consumption is in tonic form. I just discovered that they offer a gin. I'll have to give that a shot -ha!- since that's my preference with tonic on the odd occasion when I'm not drinking beer.

This guy says ciroc is pretty smooth Who You Know Who Can Drink Ciroc In 30 Seconds! - YouTube

My girlfriend is from St. Petersburg RU, as I have often stated. She, like everyone over there, grew up on vodka. :D
We drink Russian Standard. I find it as good if not better than Kettle One, at about half the cost. (GG for my taste is too processed i.e. bland)

My brother in law comes down four weeks ago and brings some TITO. G/F makes her martini with it as a change of pace. He leaves the bottle behind, as he will return several times for visits before end of Oct. Two weeks ago, G/F makes a 2nd 'Tini with TITO. On second thought.....not so good. The past several visits this weekend, we brought our RS back to the front porch for cocktails. ;):cool::D

Locally produced craft brands of Vodka have become the latest "thing".

You're not likely to have heard of Most Wanted unless you are near the Heartland but this one is very good. Repeat...very good. And it's about 1/2 the price of the froufrou brands.

High Plains Inc - Most Wanted Vodka

Was gifted yesterday with a bottle of Ciroc (distilled from grapes) yesterday . . . Will report later.

Tried it - the taste isn't horrible, but after a "hard" night enjoying it, I have to report it gave me one hell-uv-a hang over. :(

And because of that - I still prefer GG. It hasn't let me down, both while enjoying it, and after enjoying it.

FWIW - Ketel One is my go-to if GG is unavailable. I seem to get along with wheat vodkas quite well!

I still haven't tried the Tito's. They like to brag that Wine Spectator gave it 95 points, above Grey Goose and a bunch of others. I don't put much stock in the point system for rating beverages. If I don't like it I don't like it.
Maybe this evening when the spousal unit gets back to town we'll have one. I also have a new bottle of High West Double Rye waiting to be tapped so......
Compared to whiskies, even the high end vodkas are dirt cheap. I can see the attraction purely from a bang-for-your-buck deal.
When I do try it, it'll be neat. The only way a liquor can be adequately assessed. I used to like gin and tonics but the horrifying amount of sugar in good tonic water has it crossed off my list forever.

How do you feel about WS's wine scores? Just curious. I find they're pretty good, especially James Laube. Interested in seeing what you think of the Tito's too...I haven't had it as I don't drink much of that sort of thing.

Over the weekend I ordered Ketel from a bar and it was definitely NOT Ketel. Stupid bars putting crap into different bottles to make money and most people are too drunk to realize it. They recently had a crackdown in Jersey with this and they found that a ton of bars were doing it, including a bunch of TGI Fridays. But I digress.

That's interesting!

A few weeks ago, I went to a pretty popular club, and ordered my ol' stand-by GG and Red Bull. Had a few (like I would normally), but wound up slightly hung over the next morning! Didn't think about it at the time, but now that you mention it - I recollect those drinks had some extra "burn" that I don't normally get when having GG! :(