For some reason, Oct. 4 is National Vodka Day. Let’s take a look at all things vodka, shall we?
Distilled
Too many vodka brands boast how many times they’re distilled. Don’t fall for this. The more times a vodka is distilled, the more of the flavors–as minimal as they are in vodka–are stripped away, leaving you closer and closer to pure alcohol. Three-times distilled is plenty.
Best place to enjoy vodka
I highly recommend visiting the vodka vault inside Red Square Restaurant at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It’s basically bottle service inside a sub-zero-degree room, and you and up to 14 friends wear fur coats while enjoying your vodka (more than 360 from which to choose).
Vodka flavors
It’s amazing how many flavored vodkas exist. Take a look at this sample:
| Brand | # of Flavors |
| Skyy | 13 |
| Three Olives | 24 |
| Absolut | 20 |
| Stoli | 15 |
Some are super weird, like Three Olives’ Loopy, which tastes like Froot Loops cereal.
Gimmicks
Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka comes in a bottle shaped like–you guessed it–a crystal skull. You also can get vodka made with jewels–check out Diamond Standard Vodka, which is filtrated with DeBeers diamonds.
Perhaps the most bizarre is G. Vodka, which is poured over the naked breasts of a former Playboy Playmate and then bottled up. See for yourself in this video (warning, NSFW!).
Martinis
Of course, in a blog post about vodka, I have to talk about martinis. I’m not a fan of vermouth, which I feel overpowers the main ingredient (gin or vodka) of the martini. Apparently, Winston Churchill felt the same way, saying “I would like to observe the vermouth from across the room while I drink my martini.”
One way around this is by ordering your martini “dry” (meaning less vermouth). Another is by swirling your martini glass with vermouth, then dumping it out. However, I prefer Alton Brown’s method of adding vermouth to a shaker full of ice, shaking, then straining out the vermouth before adding the vodka or gin.
I’m also not a fan of olives, so I take my vodka martinis with a lemon twist. Other types include dirty (with olive juice), a gibson (with a pearl onion) or on the rocks (which I don’t consider a real martini).
Tags: vodka
