Cocktails with Vodka
Vodka is a neutral spirit, distilled until almost nothing of its own flavor is left. It can be made from grain, potato, grape or nearly anything else fermentable, and after rectification the base barely shows.
ABV40%On most bottles — 37.5% is the EU minimum and 40% the US one. Vodka is the one spirit kept in the freezer: cold thickens it and takes the edge off the alcohol, which matters in a Vodka Martini.
Substitutes for Vodka
Vodka brings strength and volume and nothing else, so anything with a character of its own rewrites the drink instead of standing in for it. If it is there only to make the drink stronger, almost any clean spirit does that job unnoticed.
On the label
- "Distilled 5× / 7×"
- Mostly marketing. Once a spirit is neutral, more distillations add little, and a high number sells purity more than it delivers it.
- "Premium / ultra-premium"
- Buys a smoother sip, not a better mixer. A clean mid-shelf vodka disappears into a cocktail just as well.
Often confused with
Neutral / grain spirit
The same thing before bottling, at 95% and up. In a cocktail it will overrun everything else, so cut it with water first: roughly two parts spirit to three of water brings 96% down to vodka strength. Halving it leaves you near 48%, which is still hot.
