Absolut Vodka

I'm not one to drink vodka on it's own. In college, sure, but nowadays only in mixed drinks. However, I only had a little left of this bottle so I figured why not. I will say, this is my favorite vodka for cocktails and the one I always turn to when a drink doesnt call for a specific vodka. I typically stick to wheat vodkas for cocktails since they seem to be softer and more neutral than other types I've tried but that may be because I dont drink vodka on it's own too often. Either way, It's hard to beat the price and it's about as neutral of a spirit as you can get. The nose doesnt have a ton going on, a little spice and pepper and a touch of heat. On the first taste you get a little citrus, sweetness, clove and a touch of pepper. None very strong and it has a nice silky feel to it. On the way down there is very little burn and the finish is actually pretty long. Again at the $15 or so price point, it's hard to beat. I was tempted to score it even higher on the price alone, but it is still vodka and not something I would make a habit of drinking on it's own anytime soon.

Absolut’s classic vodks is probabpy ones of the most underrated one in the world. People think that it’s chep, and that means that it’s bad. Are they totally wrong? No. Absolut vodka has a really neutral taste that some people don’t like, but it uses high quality ingredients and the right distilling methods. To make their vodka, Absolut uses only Swedish whead and high quality water. Absolut doesnt use any additives to make the vodka cleaner, and thay don’t add any sugar to make it sweet. Vodka is a really simple drink, so every ingredient must be pristine, to make a good one. Then they distill it until ≈95% ABV, and dilute it until 40% ABV. This is really important: many vodkas distill their vodka to lower ABV and/or dilute it more. VODKA MUST BE 40% ABV, OTHERWISE IT’S NOT VODKA!!! So is Absolut a good otion? Well, there are certanly better options for higher prices, but since Absolut is pretty cheap, it offers a really high quality product for the price they ask for.

What a pleasant nose! There's just the faintest hints of wheat carelessly mingling in the background and a nice sweetness. Almost like a few drops of vanilla were added. If you search really hard you get a bit of a peppery spice. It's a very gentle aroma. It's thus completely surprising that it has quite a few flavors going on! Along with the wheat of the nose there are these gentle whispers of vanilla and custard. It's so, so good! My only gripe is that the finish comes abruptly and punctures the experience unceremoniously. It's a sudden bitterness. Maybe even pepperiness that doesn't fit the rest of the experience. It's more on the watery side as far as wheat vodkas go and as far as cheap vodkas go, this is both extremely enjoyable with minimal burn. The bitterness at the end is a tad potent and unpleasant but not enough to take away from what is a great vodka.

Nose - sweet grain, vanilla, black pepper, dry herbal notes, lemon zest, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - sweet and spicy grain, earthy vanilla, paper, black pepper, dry herbal notes, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium short with black pepper, sweet grain, and dry herbal flavors. Given the extremely high expert review, I’m pretty disappointed. This isn’t bad vodka. It’s just perfectly mediocre. The nose is sweet and earthy with some prominent black pepper. The palate is similar, but some of the Tito’s paper taste sneaks in just a bit. Overall, Absolut isn’t good enough to notch it above the rest of the pack. It’s also the same price as Stoli, which is more robust and complex, so I won’t be buying a bottle of this. I’d rather pick up a bottle of Jim Beam Original and save a few bucks.

This brand is ubiquitous due to exceptional marketing a few decades ago. A rather muted intro, with a weird slightly bitter finish. A softness what seems like “silky” at first slowly devolved into “oily”. Didn’t make much of an impression on me either way. Which may or may not be the objective. I don’t know what vodka is trying to accomplish by existing in the first place so I wouldn’t bother wasting time contemplating anything I may or may not have said or typed regarding this subject.

The pros: Not too sweet, not too ethanol-forward, and has a little earthiness to it. Could sip straight if needed. Not badly priced. The cons: Does not have much complexity and it’s defining characteristic is clean/smooth. For a few dollars more, I could get a Ketel One, which I love. Or Tito’s, which has more personality. This one I could see having handy for mixing or serving to friends, but that’s about it.