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I’ve recently rediscovered the pleasures of sipping neat brandy. It has to be the good stuff, though, and not whatever you grab off the shelf and usually mix with Coke.

You’re free to conduct your own experiments but I’ve erred enough times on that front to be scarred.

The same can be said for vodka and my university days studied the effects a bear of the Russian variety has on one’s behaviour and also wellbeing the following day. A deep burn on the way down, a nasty palate similar to rubbing alcohol, and the aftertaste of poor life choices – really takes me back.

Now that I am considered by society to be a fully-fledged adult, I am also revisiting my approach to vodka. Yes, there are cheapies out there, but there is also some quality stuff that bears the mark of skilled craftsmanship.

What the vodka is made from plays a pivotal role, reports Tasting Table:

…a vodka made from high-quality ingredients — like custom-grown wheat designed to have the perfect ratio of starch to protein – will create the best flavour. Lower-quality ingredients (like sugar beets or molasses) are often used to make cheap vodkas.

…it is common for distillers to cut costs by choosing cheaper ingredients, which leads to many of the negative associations people have with vodka.

My current preference is vodka made from grapes, and not just any grapes.

Albatross Cape Grape Vodka is distilled from a selection of the finest Cape Grapes and the purified water of the Table Mountain aquifer.

We know how versatile the region’s grapes are when it comes to wine. With Albatross, the end result is a pure, classy vodka with brilliant character and depth.

Hold it up to the light, give it a little swizzle, and you’ll find subtle fruit aromas with complex, round flavours and a silky-smooth finish.

Seasoned drinkers of higher-quality vodkas usually opt to have it served chilled as that brings out the purest flavours.

Albatross is also a great addition to classic vodka-based cocktails like the Cosmopolitan, the Moscow Mule, and martinis.

Quality vodka can also decrease the chances that you’ll wake up with a hangover. See this, via Pristine:

When you come across cheap vodka, it is made from cheap impurities in cost-effective manners more often than not. The involvement of these impurities changes the clarity, taste, and texture of the drink. In effect, there are higher chances of a headache and hangover.

One thing you shouldn’t fall for is hype around how many times a vodka has been distilled.

Three times, four times, eight times – after a certain point it’s just a marketing gimmick:

There is another aspect to this concept as well. If the materials used in the preparation process are cheap, low quality, and full of impurities, then the number of distillations does not matter.

Image: Liquor.com

So, even multiple distillations will not mask the flavors of the impurities in the spirit. This is a difference between expensive and cheap vodka.

Ultimately, vodka produced from quality raw materials and distilled with care is always going to taste better than one made from cheap grains, yeasts, and distillation processes.

By the way, vodka may be derived from a Russian word but that doesn’t mean they can lay claim to having invented it. We shall leave that conversation for another day.

[sources:tastingtable&pristine]