Any vodka drinkers?
- Thread starter JayFramer
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chaparrito
Member
I keep a bottle in the freezer, usually Tito's or Deep Eddy. Not out of any snobbishness but because they're small independent startups. Vodka's good with piquant, savory snacks like smoked salmon. Once in a while we'll have a bloody mary on Sunday, otherwise I don't drink much of it. To me, vodka neat smells like some kind of lab or hospital or something.
Arik
Member
Not exactly. Liquor has always been a form of payment/thank you. It's a cultural thing. Still done today even with expats the USA.
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steveno
Member
I really like vodka gimlets
johnnyflake
Member
I also enjoy a Vodka now and again and as a result I have tasted many different Vodkas. I have enjoyed most of them, but my favorite, go to Vodka, is "Russian Standard", a very reasonably priced Vodka. It offers the unique, original taste, of true Vodka.
hoosierone
Member
Over the years I have tried many vodka brands and always return to Smirnoff. It is the best balance of price and taste IMO.
I like it on the rocks with a splash of vermouth.
Never tried flavored vodka and I avoid flavored beer.
I like it on the rocks with a splash of vermouth.
Never tried flavored vodka and I avoid flavored beer.
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MY FAVORITE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABSOLUTE. CHOPIN IS GOOD ALSO. I WAS UNIMPRESSED WITH TITO'S.
NOW ON THE CHEAP SIDE . THE SAMSCLUB HOME BRAND IS QUITE GOOD. AS IS THE COSTCO IMPORTED, ON THE NET IT IS CLAIMED FOR BE MADE BY GRAY GOOSE COMPANY. JP
ABSOLUTE MIXED WITH PAMA (POMEGRANATE LIQUOR) ON THE ROCKS IS GREAT.
NOW ON THE CHEAP SIDE . THE SAMSCLUB HOME BRAND IS QUITE GOOD. AS IS THE COSTCO IMPORTED, ON THE NET IT IS CLAIMED FOR BE MADE BY GRAY GOOSE COMPANY. JP
ABSOLUTE MIXED WITH PAMA (POMEGRANATE LIQUOR) ON THE ROCKS IS GREAT.
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On my first trip to Russia, I was impressed by the passion that Russians displayed for their водка ... Vodka. I visited some stores which were devoted to nothing but vodka. Shelf after shelf of nothing but different brands of vodka. Everything from low priced stuff to designer vodka in cut crystal decanters. Just amazing. Back then I still drank quite a bit, and thought I knew a little about drinking. I was a rank amature at what I found is one of the Russian national pastimes. There is a ritual associated with the consumption of vodka also. Any social occasion calls for toasts.
For example, my Russian friend took me places every day I was there. If we visited a museum, for example, he would take me to meet the director, and we would drink toasts in his office. This would be early in the day.
Somewhere I have a couple of pictures that I can post that illustrate these customs. As JayFramer points out, vodka is always drunk accompanied by "zakuski", or snacks like those he shows.
Gotta run now, but I'll come back with a little more shortly....
Best Regards, Les
For example, my Russian friend took me places every day I was there. If we visited a museum, for example, he would take me to meet the director, and we would drink toasts in his office. This would be early in the day.
Somewhere I have a couple of pictures that I can post that illustrate these customs. As JayFramer points out, vodka is always drunk accompanied by "zakuski", or snacks like those he shows.
Gotta run now, but I'll come back with a little more shortly....
Best Regards, Les
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Arik
Member
Zakuski is the only way to go. Some dry, salted fish, cheese, pickle, apple, ...etc..
Traditional glasses had rounded or pointed bottoms so that the entire glass had to be consumed at once or you spill whats left when you put the glass down
Traditionally it's 100gr or 50 if you're not really in the mood but don't mind keeping company. That's still said and used today although no one actually measures it out anymore. Either full glass or half
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Traditional glasses had rounded or pointed bottoms so that the entire glass had to be consumed at once or you spill whats left when you put the glass down
Traditionally it's 100gr or 50 if you're not really in the mood but don't mind keeping company. That's still said and used today although no one actually measures it out anymore. Either full glass or half
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Dad left several bottles of spirits in a cabinet in the garage when he died. I have a couple bottles of 40+ year old Oso Negro vodka from that stash. It sure is smooooooooth. Also have some Mexican brandy and anejo Bacardi rum that are about the same age. All pretty smooth as well.
I still have a half bottle of Grey Goose sitting on the shelf. They may all be chemically the same but I can taste differences between vodka brands. I prefer mine neat and at room temp.
I still have a half bottle of Grey Goose sitting on the shelf. They may all be chemically the same but I can taste differences between vodka brands. I prefer mine neat and at room temp.
I drink a little vodka, always neat, preferably frozen in an iced glass. I like it with some ikkrah or smoked fish, and some pickles. My favorite is Russkiy Standart, but I will drink Stoli if I have to. I drink Martinis, too, but there is no such thing as a vodka martini. A martini is a gin drink. That other thing is a vodka-based martini-style cocktail.
It is true that alcohol is odorless and tasteless. I have cross-examined a number of arresting officers on this point who claimed they could smell alcohol on a driver's breath. However, that point has never earned me a dismissal or acquittal.
It is true that alcohol is odorless and tasteless. I have cross-examined a number of arresting officers on this point who claimed they could smell alcohol on a driver's breath. However, that point has never earned me a dismissal or acquittal.
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
I used to go on trips to Poland with my dad and his friend, who had a lot of local friends there. You'd start going 'round to people's houses in the late morning for visits. There the "snacks" tended toward quite fatty meat morsels like cold sausage (heavier versions of what we call Polish sausage here), washed down with vodka. That took a sensitive stomach some getting used to.
The vodka drinking could turn into a horrible trap if you had an attentive host: As Arik said, you were supposed to empty the entire shotglass at once, whereupon it was immediately refilled. If you just sipped to avoid that, they looked at you funny. But if you kept drinking out of politeness .....
Arik
Member
Oh I know all about the meats. One of my favorite is Salo, which is basically cured pork back fat! Slavic bacon! A little black pepper, a little onion, a little spice, Goes great with beer too
I have some Hungarian spiced salo in the fridge. Sooooo gooood!
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I'm a bourbon guy but once while I was traveling a spirits salesperson in a bar had me try 45th Parallel Vodka. Distilled up in the northern US. Verrrrry smooth...I could almost drink that.
Arik
Member
I used to be a hard core Vodka guy. My go to everyday drink were always Smirnoff/Svedka/Finlandia/Russian Standard. I'd buy Cristal, Grey Goose, Russian Standard Gold as the one for occasional drinks. This was until I discovered real, good Scotch/whiskey. Unfortunately I also discovered that I'd get intense headaches from them regardless of how much I drank (,one shot or one bottle). Then I discovered Tequila, real tequila! And it was love at first sight!!! The smell, the taste of aged anejo, and NO HANGOVERS OR HEADACHES!! NONE, NEVER! ZERO!!!!! It's all I drink now if I'm buying! Still zakuski though, that never changed
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Bajadoc
US Veteran
One of my favorite activities: Laying by the pool in Palm Springs California. Summer, one hundred ten degrees. A bottle of Russian vodka on ice by my side. Sipping. Thanking God I was borne in the USA and had a wonderful mother and father. A Smith and Wesson Model 19 in the hotel room and a beautiful wife. This happens about two times a year. I can't wait until summer!
bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
I'd drink, but my dog cut me off. 
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzb3Id9ZWnA[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzb3Id9ZWnA[/ame]
I was trying to find a few pictures to illustrate some of the overwhelming hospitality that I experienced everywhere I went in Russia. Here I am (guy with the gray hair and beard)...my friend Slava is the one pouring drinks, visiting with some friends of his at their dacha (дача, or summer home)...
I was there for several weeks, and every day they managed to treat me to something new...and most involved some sort of drinking, mostly vodka, but also wines, particularly from Georgia and the Caucasus regions, and brandies, and sometimes even пива, or beer!!!
Different day, another gathering, and more toasting...sadly my friend Slava has since passed away....this was again from my first visit to Moscow:
Interestingly, my Russian friends seemed to enjoy American whiskey, which they could not easily get back then. When I visited, I would take over a suitcase mostly filled with Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, and they also could not easily get items like Johnny Walker scotch. On my return trips I would fill a suitcase mostly with Russian vodka. I still have some unopened bottles of little known brands, along with Stolichnaya and the (claims to be) original Smirnoff, each brand, made for sale in Russia, have labels printed in Cyrillic script.
Stolichnaya supposedly refers to the "capital city", (although "stol" or стол in Russian means "table", so some insist that it means simply "table vodka") and is aupposed to have originally been produced in Moscow. Today it is produced in Latvia, in Riga, I believe...but the ownership of the company has changed hands, and there was a pre breakup of the Soviet Union deal with Pepsi that have clouded the history of the company. Still....it's pretty good stuff....
Here is one more...a midday meal prepared by Slava's wife, Luba... The pancake looking items in the back are "blini" (блины), which is a crepe made with I believe, buckwheat. But instead of being served with syrup, you put on sour cream, or jam, or caviar. Red caviar is the most common, but every once in a while, they will splurge get on some of the dark grey sturgeon caviar. Beluga is the most costly, if I remember. Caviar is a whole subject in itself, with many different types and styles and price ranges...as well as names. Ikra (икра) is sort of a general term, but there are many more. This meal was being served with sherry or port wine, if I remember correctly. Also some freshly made pierogis.
Best Regards, Les
I was there for several weeks, and every day they managed to treat me to something new...and most involved some sort of drinking, mostly vodka, but also wines, particularly from Georgia and the Caucasus regions, and brandies, and sometimes even пива, or beer!!!
Different day, another gathering, and more toasting...sadly my friend Slava has since passed away....this was again from my first visit to Moscow:
Interestingly, my Russian friends seemed to enjoy American whiskey, which they could not easily get back then. When I visited, I would take over a suitcase mostly filled with Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, and they also could not easily get items like Johnny Walker scotch. On my return trips I would fill a suitcase mostly with Russian vodka. I still have some unopened bottles of little known brands, along with Stolichnaya and the (claims to be) original Smirnoff, each brand, made for sale in Russia, have labels printed in Cyrillic script.
Stolichnaya supposedly refers to the "capital city", (although "stol" or стол in Russian means "table", so some insist that it means simply "table vodka") and is aupposed to have originally been produced in Moscow. Today it is produced in Latvia, in Riga, I believe...but the ownership of the company has changed hands, and there was a pre breakup of the Soviet Union deal with Pepsi that have clouded the history of the company. Still....it's pretty good stuff....
Here is one more...a midday meal prepared by Slava's wife, Luba... The pancake looking items in the back are "blini" (блины), which is a crepe made with I believe, buckwheat. But instead of being served with syrup, you put on sour cream, or jam, or caviar. Red caviar is the most common, but every once in a while, they will splurge get on some of the dark grey sturgeon caviar. Beluga is the most costly, if I remember. Caviar is a whole subject in itself, with many different types and styles and price ranges...as well as names. Ikra (икра) is sort of a general term, but there are many more. This meal was being served with sherry or port wine, if I remember correctly. Also some freshly made pierogis.
Best Regards, Les
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Oh I know all about the meats. One of my favorite is Salo, which is basically cured pork back fat! Slavic bacon! A little black pepper, a little onion, a little spice, Goes great with beer too
I have some Hungarian spiced salo in the fridge. Sooooo gooood!
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Very nice! Were do you find your salo? I have only been able to find it online and would love to try some.
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