Distracted by...Cheap Vodka

The Distracted Housewife is concerned about the economy just like everyone else and is always looking for new ways to save money. I usually buy fairly expensive vodka (Grey Goose or Stoli) because, you know, life is short. But I started to think, what if there's a less expensive vodka that I like just as well? So I bought about a dozen tiny bottles of vodka from good old Discount Liquor and did my own personal taste test.

Now, obviously you can't test all of them at once. That would be crazy, even for me. So I did a series of three tests, and then had a final round with the three top placers. You can do this at home, too! Here's how I did it:

All the vodka was served exactly the same way, and tasted in three versions (which is how I really drink it). The vodka was cold, straight out of the freezer, and I tasted it straight, with a lemon twist, and with lemon seltzer. I numbered the bottles and wrote corresponding numbers on cocktail napkins, turned upside down, under the glasses. I hid the bottles and then closed my eyes and moved all the glasses around until I had no idea which was which. I sipped each one, eating water crackers between tastes, and then wrote down my observations before looking to see which was which. The results were very surprising!

The winner was...Smirnoff! I was shocked. Smirnoff is about half the cost of Grey Goose, which came in a very close second. Third place when to Pearl Vodka out of Canada, which I had never heard of. It was very good. Fourth place went to the venerable Stolichnaya. The losers included Fleischmann's, which was completely disgusting and undrinkable (my mother used to buy that - Christ, it was awful) and Absolut, which really surprised me. I often order Absolut in bars if I'm having a mixed drink, but on its own and side-by-side with other vodkas it failed miserably.

In case you are wondering why I did this taste test alone (I DO have friends!) it's because I did not want to be influenced by anyone else's opinion, which could easily happen. You could have a bunch of people over and have a blast doing this, of course, but a vodka tasting is a lot different than a wine tasting and the Distracted Housewife does not advocate drinking and driving. :-)