Marketers of alcoholic beverages have challenges. Capturing the public’s attention is the first one. Somewhere along the line, the majority of consumers of such products settle on one or two brands to be their “usual.”
Those decisions may not be related to the quality of the spirit or even the pricing. Sometimes those decisions are made on perceived values, such as taste, which the consumer, interestingly enough, cannot affirm in blind tastings. Other times, purchasing decisions are based on packaging. Without question the farthest quantitative value, as a reason to buy, from what’s in the bottle is what’s on the bottle.
I don’t think there is another spirit that is subject to such flimsy purchasing rationale as vodka. Consumers approach vodka with preconceptions and experiences that may –– or may not –– play out in the real world. We are going to ignore the sometimes vain consumer decision to purchase a particular product based on what friends and acquaintances will think. Certainly none of us would ever buy anything with that consideration in mind, and besides, what kinds of friends would those people be who judge us based on whether we paid too much or too little for a possession? (Talk amongst yourselves.)
In truth, vodka is taken off the shelves and paid for by the consumer usually based on the next step: Will the vodka be mixed in a Bloody Mary? Will it be in a martini? Will the accompaniments be citrus or olive? Will my drinking companions see the bottle? Oops, back to that again. Sorry.
In mixing vodka –– or any other spirit –– professional mixologists will tell you to use the best base spirit you can afford or appreciate or some amalgamation of those two viewpoints. Yet vodka is a clear alcohol. There are differences, of course, but these differences are subtle to the point of sometimes being indistinguishable from the next brand on the shelf.
Oh, sure, price is often a very good guide, with the less expensive vodkas having more of a “bite” and the more expensive ones being “smoother and rounder.” The same is true for every spirit and most wines. Yet when you place a small amount of vodka into a spicy tomato juice concoction, do those differences really distinguish themselves to any appreciable extent? Or is the result the sensation of more alcohol, more heat?
(This is the place in our story for all vodka marketers to head to their keyboards and tell me about aromatics, soft velvet and the general tactile feeling of a “good drink.”)
I would concur that the quality of the vodka used in a naked drink such as a martini makes some difference, but when you overwhelm the spirit with heavy tomato or orange juice, do subtleties really present themselves in any meaningful fashion? I will grant you that vodka priced at $7 a fifth and vodka priced at $27 a fifth will most assuredly show some taste and aromatic differences no matter where they are used. Is the significant difference in cost worth it? And how about vodka priced at $17 versus the $27 variety? Is there any appreciable difference at all?
The point is at what point does it make sense to drop down in price (translation: quality) and use something that is value-oriented as opposed to quality-oriented? I think the same rules apply to those of you who insist on mixing higher-priced bourbons with sweet mixers, like Coca-Cola. Don’t even suggest to the rest of the civilized world that the better the bourbon, the better the result when sugary, spritzy mixers are your milieu.
We don’t mind your doing it, but kindly admit that it is a status thing. And that’s OK. Our rule here at the Happy Hour Institute is to drink what you like. Just slowly back away from the ice bucket, and admit it.
To ensure we understand the topic of conversation here, vodka is a clear spirit distilled in either a pot or column still. Pot stills are not as efficient as column stills, so in order to achieve the proper level of alcohol, these vodkas are re-distilled, or “rectified,” to raise alcohol percentages to the 40 percent range, which is 80 proof. This alcohol level was set by law in Moscow in 1902, derived from Tsar Alexander III’s previous edict in 1894 that the correct alcohol standard was 38 percent. It was moved to 40 percent by the Russian state because the round number was easier to use in determining tax.
The European Union, in a clear nod to history, has set the minimum alcohol level at 37.5 percent in order for the clear, and sometimes odorless, product of distillation to qualify as vodka.
Vodka is the dominant spirit of Eastern Europe, and it is the result of distilling the simple sugars that are present in wheat or rye grains, beets, potatoes, molasses or other plants. Today, there are also vodkas made from grapes, but these are niche items within a much larger category.
Vodka styles are also geographically specific, with Muscovites looking down on potato vodka but that style being preferred by Polish consumers. Russians like wheat-based vodkas, and countries of the old Soviet-block consume rye-based clears.
The name “vodka” is derived from the old Slavic term “voda,” which means “water.”
We noted earlier that pot stills are inefficient for achieving on one pass the desired alcohol level, but pot stills are better at developing the aromatics from the base product, usually grain in this process. For those of you who appreciate that what goes around comes around, from the beginning of vodka development in the early 1400s, flavors were added to the spirit, at first to mask the harsh flavor of the spirit itself and later as a trademark of the distiller. The heavy presence of fruit- and spice-infused vodkas we see today are really nothing new.
American vodka has had a difficult history, with many manufacturers preferring to use molasses as the base product because of its low bulk cost. After Prohibition, vodka did not enjoy a spike in sales like every other category of alcoholic beverage because Americans really preferred spirits that were not so neutral after the drought years. A spirit salesman in South Carolina hit on the idea of marketing American vodka as “White Whisky – No Taste, No Smell.”
Somehow that was appealing to our thirsty predecessors, go figure, and vodka sales skyrocketed. Today, vodka is the largest-selling white spirit in America. Advertising campaigns and product packaging are still a major component in the presentation of vodka to consumers.
Moscow Mule
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce fresh lime juice
4 ounces ginger beer or ginger ale
Lime wedge
Place all ingredients except ginger beer in highball (tall) glass filled with ice, top with ginger beer, stir briefly, squeeze lime wedge into glass, and drop it in.
White Russian (up)
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce coffee liqueur
1 ounce heavy cream
Combine ingredients in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.
Velvet Hammer 

1 ½ ounces vodka
1 ounce crème de cacao
1 ounce heavy cream
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice, and shake well. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.