Comments on: Vodka Research

By: Iskandar B

Iskandar B — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:08:46 +0000

Obviously I have come in late, but found this discussion interesting.

Jon reported on blind taste tests comparing the 25 vodkas available.

I think there is probably a chemical equivalent of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Actually, the inverse: the observer is influenced by the observation.

The findings of a group of individual who tested 25 different vodkas are, IMHO, somwhat suspect.

Nazdrovye

Izzy

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:13:34 +0000

Please don’t forget to use new filters for vodka filtration. Ethanol is used to clean carbon filters; if you use an old filter that’s been cleaning your water, the vodka will be unusually gross after filtration. I ran similar experiments at a vodka tasting party with a lot of scientists, and blind taste tests where people directly compared filtered to unfiltered skol revealed that about 3/4 of participants could tell the difference. However, they had been comparing the 25 vodkas available, so may have been sensitized to the various nuances in advance. But while it was improved by removing the strong off-flavors, it still lacked the smoothness and positive flavors that better brands had. You might try the following brands for different aspects:
Svedka: Probably the cheapest good vodka you can get, at around $14/750ml for a reasonably smooth and clean flavor.
3 vodka: the most flavorless and smooth vodka I know of. Preferred by people who don’t like liquor.
Russian standard or Hangar One: The two best vodkas available for overall combination of smoothness and flavor. Significantly better than grey goose.

By: Netopia

Netopia — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:43:03 +0000

Why not use grain alcohol to raise the alcohol level of the cheap stuff to the same as the more expensive and see what the results are?

By: Devin

Devin — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:20:58 +0000

Well this is all fine and dandy, but they do not say anywhere how many times they filtered it through the brita filter. Not very respectful of the scientific process. Personally i am a little dissappointed.

By: Vip3rousmango

Vip3rousmango — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:07:29 +0000

Um, this experiment was done by Myth Busters, and they had a “professional” Russian vodka taste tester who worked for an unnamed vodka distillery back in Russia. I recommend you check out the episode to see the result.

By: pat

pat — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:19:33 +0000

Richie is wrong. That’s not what MythBusters found at all. They declared the myth busted but in fact they proved that filtering worked. Their expert taster in fact was able to perfectly distinguish how many times each vodka had been filtered. That is to say he could tell the 6X from the 5X from the 4X etc… He could also distinguish the “top shelf” vodka which I believe was Gray Goose. He said that was the one he preferred. So thay busted the myth that you could produce a vodka indistinguishable from Gray Goose but proved that filtering works. BTW Gray Goose has a light but distintive flavor as does Stoli. You may prefer those flavors or you may prefer a more flavorless vodka like Skyy or Smirnoff. Obviously you can’t filter a flavor in.

By: MJ99 PHP Scripts

MJ99 PHP Scripts — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:53:57 +0000

Is this filtering process so expensive that it is just not worth the trouble for the distiller?

By: Richie

Richie — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:00:58 +0000

this was done on mythbusters and proven to not be true. They had professional tasters in who always picked the top range vodka over the one that had been filtered (filtered 6 times in some cases). They came to the conclusion that filtering does make the cheap vodka slightly better but still nowhere near the quality of the good stuff

By: Mark Kraft

Mark Kraft — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 08:39:35 +0000

If I might suggest, you should also consider doing a blind test where individuals have a set amount of both vodkas over the course of an evening, drinking nothing else, followed by feedback the next day as to how they are feeling, rated 1-10, whether they have any body aches, headaches, stomach aches etc.

The point being, filtration may alter initial flavor, but might not filter out impurities, etc. that potentially cause a “day after” effect.

If impurities in vodka, etc. aren’t part of the problem with cheap alcohol, then you’d expect Ketal drinkers to have the worst aftereffects, as they would’ve consumed more alcohol, as their vodka was of higher proof.

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:02:15 +0000

My local liquor dealer told be that Skyy and Royal Gate were the same product just sold in different bottles. So I bought two little bottles and did a semi-blind taste test. That means I marked the glasses but drank them in the dark (in my Home Theater while watching a movie). In fact there was no comparison. The cheap Royal Gate smelled like finger nail polish remover. Skyy had no smell at all. I don’t know Pavlova. Try Royal Gate. I taste tested Ketel One and Absolut and a bunch of others years ago. Smirnoff was best.