Good vodka to drink straight

[Akagi]

Smirnoff is popular because people don't know any better. Its awful.

 

[PapaLazaru]

Smirnoff is popular for a reason, it's a decent drink at a good price.

But it is the same price as Finlandia and Russian Standard and Absolut, which are far superior.

Anyway, the Crystal Head has gone back into the cupboard for a special occasion and I thought I would try 'Tamova Premium' from Aldi. £10 for 500ml. Not bad at all.

 

[Akagi]

And Eristoff

 

[Simon]

Pyat Azure ПЯТЬ ОЗЕР(five lakes) or Beluga are good for drinking straight. I've tried a fair few in Moscow. (Although not quite at the amounts you think - the younger generation drink whiskey rather than vodka as a neat spirit)

I usually bring back a few 500ml bottles for friends. So cheap out there and whole supermarket shelves full of so many different types . 500ml of beluga is about £9. Five lakes £3. Bargain

Smirnoff? LOL

 

[daz]

Russky Standart Imperia and Platinum are excellent vodkas and not ridiculously expensive. Finlandia is also very good.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Russian Standard £15 a litre in sainsburgers atm

 

[hughtrimble]

Created by Dan Aykroyd, apparently...

You can buy it on Ama... err, I mean, The Rainforest!

Just had a look. Shame about the complete drivel in the description, such as:

We filter every drop of Crystal Head three times through a cone of precious Herkimer Diamonds. Mined only in the region around Herkimer, New York, these exceptional crystal quartz formations are treasured for their ability to provide a sense of balance and amplify the positive energy that surrounds them.

Despite that crystal-related bovine excrement, I am very close to buying a bottle.

 

[PapaLazaru]

Russian Standard £15 a litre in sainsburgers atm

And Finlandia is £14. Both by far the best in that price range, though personally I think Finlandia is a little purer and I find is less troublesome the next day if you have one too many. Being half Finnish does not make me biased.

 

[Cookeh]

Finlandia is indeed the 'best' of the supermarket 'premium' rolleyes brands.

 

[R B Customs]

already too many responses in here, but for drinking straight only very good vodka will do. I've got a huge list of vodkas and I reckon one of the best is Chase, it's an English vodka! very drinkable. Bison Grass is a little different too; has a distinctive flavor and is widely available.

If you're ever looking for a cheap 'house' vodka avoid Smirnoff like the plague! Finlandia is my number one choice for a house vodka if I'm having a do and don't want all of my nice stuff to be depleted! Russian Standard is okay too - better than smirnoff (what isn't?) but not as good as Finlandia (IMO)

This is what I have at the moment; I've stopped buying so much now.

-stolichnaya
-stolichnaya elit (tallest bottle ever? I have to keep it on the counter)
-Russian Standard
-Russian Standard Gold
-Russian Standard Platinum
-zubrowka (Bison Grass)
-Grey Goose
-Belvedere
-Chase
-Skyy
-Eristoff
-Eristoff Black
-Finlandia
-42 Below (v strong, and v nice!)
-Smirnoff Gold (was a present - has gold floaters in )
-Absolut
-Absolut 'London 2012' SE

there's probably something else lurking that I've forgot!

not a massive fan of Grey Goose - it's irritating how much is put into Marketing; it's like the beats by Dr Dre of the Vodka world IMO; I have a bottle none-the-less but hardly touch it but it's what most people want to try! I don't think it deserves the 'status' it has to be honest.

 

[Cookeh]

Stolichnaya elit is my favourite from the list, gorgeous. Must say that Eristoff is garbage though... Your thoughts on Grey Goose also echo mine very well.

 

[R B Customs]

Stolichnaya elit is my favourite from the list, gorgeous. Must say that Eristoff is garbage though... Your thoughts on Grey Goose also echo mine very well.

yea the Eristoff is kind of a legacy - I keep the black stuff for cocktails though! can't bring myself to finish the other stuff off though - eurgh! Might use it to light the BBQ


The elit is indeed very nice and I think it's the most valuable I have at around £50 - I don't drink it often tough - that particular bottle has great sentimental value so it's only for special occasions! it's a hard place to be having so much choice but constantly buying house vodka so it doesn't get 'wasted' I know I should just drink it all!

Glad I'm not the only one thinking that about Grey Goose - I'm sure most are afraid to say it out loud!

Nice to see Finlandia has lots of support here too - it's really good for the money

 

[Cookeh]

Its about £39 now, thankfully! My wallet would hate me even more if it was £50. Definitely going to be giving Crystal Head a go when I finish off this bottle of Stoli, though...

If you're ever out in the Caribbean Stoli is really cheap there - think £7 for red label Stolichnaya and £11 for Elit - may or may not have brought a couple bottles back last time (and will be doing the same again next time!). Even Skyy can be had for about a tenner.

 

[Simon]

Have you guys not tried beluga ? Makes Smirnoff taste of paint stripper.


This is also well reccomended, it's a wine vodka. The pink label is 55% though so pretty potent.

Russian supermarkets have a lot of choice too :


Belochka (squirrel) as russian joke after government made videos about excessive alcohol using a squirrel. No idea what it's like

 

[Simon]

Oh and never try horseradish vodka. It's called Hrenovuha and behind chilly vodka it's probably the worst drink Ive ever tasted

 

[Evo8]

I agree with Grey Goose being overpriced.

I look forward to trying this:

 

[ttaskmaster]

Despite that crystal-related bovine excrement, I am very close to buying a bottle.

It's certainly worth the comparatively reasonable price, IMO and I was lucky enough to have tried it before having heard about the new-age crystal crap!

I've had some Wolfschmidt vodka from Riga - It was a favourite of James Bond in the novels, so I decided to give it a go - The old version was Latvian and is pretty rare these days, especially the pre-war stuff, whereas what we get today is made by Jim Beam... and I think it shows!

 

[Cosimo]

Chilled Polish Pure Spirit with a chilled water chaser. Guaranteed to make a man of you.

Health warning so you can't blame me.

 

[hughtrimble]

It's certainly worth the comparatively reasonable price, IMO and I was lucky enough to have tried it before having heard about the new-age crystal crap!

I've had some Wolfschmidt vodka from Riga - It was a favourite of James Bond in the novels, so I decided to give it a go - The old version was Latvian and is pretty rare these days, especially the pre-war stuff, whereas what we get today is made by Jim Beam... and I think it shows!

I got over it yesterday! A bottle is on the way.

Edit: Blimey - just arrived! Mighty fast for Amazon's super saver option...

 

[jellybeard999]

not a massive fan of Grey Goose - it's irritating how much is put into Marketing; it's like the beats by Dr Dre of the Vodka world IMO; I have a bottle none-the-less but hardly touch it but it's what most people want to try! I don't think it deserves the 'status' it has to be honest.

I can't find the exact article I read a while ago, but Grey Goose was priced so highly as part of the marketing, so that it was seen as the best.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050901/qa.html

The big-selling high-priced vodka at the time was Absolut, which was $15 a bottle. I figured, let's make it very exclusive and sell it for $30 a bottle. I said, France has the best of everything. I asked a distiller there whether they could make a vodka. They said sure. The product manager and I tasted about 100 vodkas on my front porch here, and we agreed on one vodka as the best-tasting.

http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2015/01/grey-goose-a-brand-history/

Rather than go head-to-head or undercut America’s top premium vodka at US$17 a pop, Frank released his Goose at an eye-watering US$30, and called it super-premium.