Okay, so unless you are Russian and or buying very cheap vodka, we all know, as much as we might hate to admit it, that it is very difficult to distinguish one vodka from another. I should probably make it clear at this point that we of course are not discussing flavoured or macerated vodkas, ie vodkas which have been infused with the flavour of a herb of fruit etc, simply Vodka, in its most neutral of forms. 

The vast majority of people, when drinking at home, will drink vodka as a mixed drink. But why? As we all know, vodka is a neutrally tasting spirit; I could mix some with coke or cranberry juice and it would taste more of the mixer than it would of the spirit. This leads me to ask the question, why bother spending lots of time and money choosing a bottle of vodka if you can hardly taste the difference between it and its rivals? As I mentioned before, this theory doesn’t work for the extremely cheap brands, like Glen’s, which tend to taste like battery acid however it is drunk. 

Flavoured vodka has been a staple on the market, and drinks cabinet, for awhile now. The flavours are probably aimed at the younger drinker, who wants to escape the somewhat neutral or somewhat chemical waste taste of cheaper vodkas. The flavours range from the sublime to the ridiculous, is there a sugar laden fruit concoction that hasn't been pillaged yet ?

Don't get me wrong, I like a good flavoured vodka as much as the next bon vivant and I have indeed whittled away many an hour infusing my own concoctions, indeed you could argue the point that gin is in fact flavoured vodka. The keyword in that sentence is of course GOOD (and not bon vivant - how many of you are already typing that in google?) Every once in a while you get a vodka that stands out from the crowd, I like to label these as gourmet vodkas.