The overall best brand of vodka is Absolut. Absolut contains no added sugar, and the brand only uses the highest quality ingredients available to make its vodka.
These were: Penderyn Distillery, Five Vodka, 43% ABV, 750 ml; 58 Distillery, 58 Distillery Vodka; William Grant & Sons, Reyka Vodka, 40% ABV, 750 ml; and Kamo, Original, Premium Vodka, 40% ABV, 750 ml.
While Absolut brings in higher sales on a global scale, Grey Goose consistently makes VinePair's list of the best vodkas and is viewed as a symbol of luxury. While both are distinguished vodkas brands with massive market shares, they offer drinkers a clear choice in both style and production method.
Smirnoff is known for its many varied flavors, affordable price, and approachable smooth taste, which makes it the #1 best-selling vodka amongst college kids and adults alike.
Premium vodkas are different from the outset. They use a higher quality mix of ingredients as well as bespoke botanical infusions. More emphasis is put on producing a pleasing taste, removing the sharpness that can be found in cheaper brands.
Discover why Top Shelf Distillers' craft vodka is the perfect cocktail base. Using our craft technology and 100% local ingredients, we've created an award-winning vodka. That's right - Top Shelf Vodka is a national vodka, owned and produced entirely in Canada.
A single-estate, copper-crafted top-shelf vodka, Absolut Elyx is made from winter wheat grown on a single estate in southern Sweden, and it is distilled in a manually operated vintage copper still that dates back to 1921.
“Good vodka should have some kind of interesting and pleasurable flavor,” says Tahlin. “It should not be water with a hint of alcohol. It should really have a nice flavor to it. It's easy to create a vodka that doesn't taste like anything.
Grey Goose vs Belvedere: The Verdict
While both are top-shelf vodkas, gluten-free, lower-calorie vodkas, Grey Goose follows a stricter processing method. It uses locally-sourced French wheat and water that came 500 feet below its main facility, while Belvedere follows the strict rules of Polish vodka.
Stoli is probably the most famous and favorable vodka brand in Russia. Consumers and bar staff prefer Stoli products since they use traditional methods with modern distillation technologies.
Expensive vodka gives less of a hangover. The more times distilled, the better the taste. The high-quality products are distilled more times. Expensive or 'Premium' vodka doesn't burn your throat.
Since vodka can be made from just about any organic base material (potatoes, fruits, or grains), Yugin says that the best ones will use a quality base ingredient and the purest water available. Most sophisticated vodkas will be distilled more than once and filtered, often through charcoal, to remove any impurities.
There are fewer congeners found in top-shelf vodkas than in the bottom-shelf vodkas, which is often due to the fact that top vodka brands tend to have a more sophisticated distillation process.
Top Shelf: Bottles on the highest shelves behind a bar. Though there's no hard rule as to cost, these tend to be bottles that would retail for $50 or more in a store. Mid Shelf: Bottles on the lower half of the shelf behind a bartender. With liquor, this would usually be bottles that fall in the $25–50 range.
Absolut Wins For Best Vodka
When it comes to vodka quality, there is no doubt that Absolut is the best, because it has no added sugar and a premium taste. Polmos Spirytus Rektyfikowany is the strongest vodka on the planet and the world's most popular alcohol, with a 50% alcohol by volume, 100 proof label.
It is one of the best-known luxury vodkas on the market, and a 750mL bottle will likely cost you between $30 and $40. Granted, while there are far more expensive spirits on the shelf, a bottle of Grey Goose does seem a bit pricier than other household vodka brands.
Its fancy alliterated name and iconic frosted glass bottle are just two of the things that make it so recognizable. But the real reason Grey Goose is so popular is because of its opulent reputation — one of luxury, celebrity endorsements, and countless pop culture references.
Grey Goose is a brand of vodka produced in France. It was created in the 1990s by Sidney Frank, who sold it to Bacardi in 2004. The Maître de Chai for Grey Goose is François Thibault, who developed the original recipe for the vodka in Cognac, France.
Belvedere is the first Polish vodka on our list, and it's also one of the best vodkas that money can buy. Belvedere distills their vodka from a mash made of Polish rye and spring water, and its flavor is sharpened even further by Belvedere's charcoal filtration process.
For a high-end vodka, Belvedere is a great choice, especially for a martini or a dessert-style cocktail. I would definitely choose Belvedere over Grey Goose for this price range.
However, some people argue that Grey Goose vodka is slightly better than Belvedere because it has a smoother feel on the palate because of its detailed and thorough distillation process.