Rumors CONFIRMED: Vodka Sucks
by Andrew Dalton on April 12, 2010
We somehow missed this post the other day (SORRY) on GrubStreetSF about San Francisco mixologists hating on vodka. (By the way, wake me when we can stop calling them mixologists.) Ignoring for a moment all the nutty words like and “herbaceousness” and “cocktailians” that they managed to pack in to this post (P.S. during prohibition, they were called “Illegal Cocktailians”, and it was kind of a big deal) – it turns out that: Surprise! Apparently a lot of bartenders and bar managers don’t like their booze to taste like literally nothing at all.
We here at AggressivePanhandler have long been Anti-Vodka/Pro-Gin folk because ordering a Carrie Bradshaw Special might make you feel like you live in the biggest house on Pac Heights, but really it’s just the first step down a slippery slope that leaves you ordering New Jersey-grade booze at the corner of Fillmore and Union. (That is a geographically correct sentence, btw.)
Anyway, don’t take our word for it, listen to your neighbor Neyah White, NOPA’s Master Mixologist, as he pours the filler out of the Vodka industry (from the article):
“But my my biggest complaint with the category is that the pricing is just plain disrespectful. The bottle costs more than the juice inside. Compared to every other category, vodka is the cheapest spirit to make. Yet, the premium brands blind the consumer with fancy bottles and meaningless production trivia then charge them $35 a liter. It is quite obvious that the people who put together crap like this do no respect to me or the drinking public. I don’t like doing business with people who don’t respect me.”
So there you have it, the vodka industry doesn’t like us either.
Read the full post over on GrubStreet
Bourbon. Sweet nectar of the gods…
Since I had to write and say the word “mixologists” more in the last few months than any one person ever should in their life, I feel qualified to comment.
Out of the 12 mixologists’ craft cocktails for ARTINI, only two used vodka at all, and one of them infused it with cinnamon. (They had the choice to work with vodka, gin, cognac, rum, as well as absinthe, cointreau or sparkling wine.) Gin was the overwhelming favorite, and after a month of drinking all those concoctions, I will admit to falling for it.