When it comes to alcohol, no spirit gets as much hate as vodka. For casual drinkers, it seems like a flavorless, boring spirit that deserves to be mixed into a cocktail with bold, vibrant flavors so it gets lost in the shuffle. In the most basic sense, it’s there to add booze to the drink and nothing else. If you look a little more into vodka, this idea couldn’t be further from the truth.
For those unaware, vodka is a distilled, neutral spirit made by fermenting various ingredients–corn, potatoes, rye, or wheat are most common, but there are also vodkas made with rice, fruit, and even whey. It’s usually crystal clear and distilled and filtered to have a light aroma and flavor. But to say that vodka has no aroma or flavor is completely wrong. (While the legal definition of vodka once defined it as “to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color,” that changed in 2020.)
Depending on the ingredients used to make it, the vodka might be creamy if it’s made with potatoes, soft and mellow if wheat is the main ingredient, sweet and memorable if corn is the base, or gently spicy and peppery if it’s made with rye.
All in all, myriad well-made, flavorful vodkas are well-suited for slow sipping neat, on the rocks, or with a few dashes of water.
