How to taste vodka ?

[slkinsey]

Let's use this definition: Vodka is the distillate of anything, typically, though not always, unaged and potentially flavored with any substance. That is the industry definition. For our purposes though, let's use the definition of "If it says vodka on the bottle, it's vodka".

Just reread through the thread and saw that I had skipped over the above. This answers a few of my questions and makes some of your positions understandable.

I would suggest that your definition of vodka, however correct it may be in a purely technical sense, is not a very useful one, and not particularly one that is shared by most people in the non-Slavic world. Your definition, in effect, says that all unaged distilled alcoholic beverages that choose to call themselves "vodka" are vodka. Your definition may be a "purist definition" based in the Slavic language meanings of the word, but I think it is very clear that people have something more specific in their minds when they think "vodka." I think it is reasonable to assert that vodka is not every kind of unaged distilled beverage, but a specific kind of unaged distilled beverage.

Clearly, there is something in the general conception of this category of distilled beverage other than the name that makes vodka different from other unaged distillates such as grappa, eau de vie, marc, silver rums, silver tequillas, gin, aquavit, etc. There is something that makes people taste an unaged silver tequilla and say, "this doesn't seem like vodka to me... this seems like tequilla." Similarly, there is something about things like gin and aquavit that makes them fudamentally distinct from vodka, even though they might technically be termed "flavored vodkas" (this makes me question the utility of "flavored vodka" as a distinct category more than it does gin or aquavit as distinct categories). Under your definition, a bottle of Patron Silver or Beefeater that said "vodka" on the bottle would, in fact, be vodka. I don't think this is a particularly useful way to think about vodka, I don't think it is the way most of the world thinks about vodka, and I surely don't think anyone in this thread besides you was thinking that way about vodka.

If one looks around at the distilled beverages called "vodka" one can reasonably conclude that there are certain characteristics which make these beverages coherent as a group and distinctly different from other unaged distilled beverages. It also seems reasonable to observe that the characteristics that make these unaged distilled beverages called "vodka" hang together as a group distinctly different from other unaged distilled beverages, regardless of country of origin, is that they are refined and otherwise treated in such a way so as to markedly reduce the presence and strength of flavor, color and odor in comparison with other unaged distilled beverages that might otherwise be similar.

[Capn Jimbo]

Having waded through the to-and-fro of this exchange, perhaps a "final word" is in order, lol...

Bottom line:

Tasting and reviewing - at least by the very best and most respected reviewers (think the likes of F. Paul Pacult, Dave Broom, et al) - is conducted at room temperature to facilitate the complete understanding of any spirit, vodka included.

Such respected experts use the same technique, at room temperature, for all spirits. Professional tasting/reviewing typically takes up to 20 or 30 minutes. Nosing alone can take 15 minutes, if not more. How a spirit is typically consumed has very little to do with how a proper and reliable review is conducted.

Cooling or heaven forbid, freezing the spirit, however traditional in drinking (not reviewing) only inhibits analysis and review. This is especially true in something like vodka where the differences are subtle (but no less significant). Subtle does not mean absent.

[Mjx]

As far as I've noticed (among the cohort of academics and geeks that I run with), in the EU countries in which I've been, vodka is only drunk cold if it's cheap, or if people want to get drunk fast... I sort of associate frozen vodka with the likelihood that those consuming much of it will be doing 'body sild' by 1.00 am.

Before anyone starts screaming, I'm not passing judgement, it's just observation; I prefer frozen vodka myself, because freezing mitigates the appalling burning vodka causes. Then again, I think 'sugary' is an attractive description of drink, so I'm aware of the, erm... limitations of my views on alcohol.

But the idea that vodka should be tested at whatever temperature it will be drunk makes excellent sense.

Edited March 10, 2011 by Mjx (log)