The Great Vodka Blind Taste

THE GREAT VODKA BLIND TASTE

Before we really start this off, we all know how in a rather...tipsy-ish state each and every vodka might (or might not) taste alike. We can't really tell a difference between a vodka that has been branded as a premium product (such as Grey Goose or Belvedere) or a vodka that is considered to be a rail-vodka. Well okay, the difference between the best and worst can probably be noted but real differences usually not. This is why I thought of pulling off this blind tasting.

I present you with a special kind of blog post. You might remember my herbal-liqueur blind tasting from some five months ago, where I tested three different liqueurs with five friends of mine. Inspired about the results back then I wrote (and quote myself)

"All in all, this blind tasting experiment was a great success and I would like to do it again, with different products of course."

And I did. With Vodkas. да! Having learnt from my earlier test regarding the process that was involved in this kind of experiment I do admit that right after my first tester the blind taste "evolved". Meaning, I tweaked/tuned it making it more compatible/reliable for the next testers and so forth. But the basics stayed the same (again quote from my earlier test with modifications written in italics):

I figured out how to maximize the most "realistic" results:

1. The subjects tasted these vodkas by themselves (to minimize the influence of others' opinions) whereas I wrote down whatever they said
2. The subjects never saw any of the bottles used (to minimize the influence and associations of the bottle/label)
3. Only 1-2 cl (roughly ½ fl. oz.) / vodka
4. The order for each product was not random (randomness makes no difference and helped me with the paperwork)
5. The subjects were to review smell (nose) taste and mouthfeel
6. The subjects gave points to each vodka from 0-100 where taste was worth 50% and mouthfeel 50%. Smell has no points value but comments are still written down.

Moreover, instead of five test subjects I had eight and instead of three different products I had six. I also included one joker, which in the end was not count towards the "official" ranking table and one "booze", which itself isn't a vodka per se. More of that later.

Again, this was no competition and the test subjects were told about this. Just like with the earlier blind tasting, there are no winners, no wrongs or rights. Just a fun blind taste to see how (or if at all) different vodkas differ from another.

We do have to keep in mind that albeit this is a qualitative test, there are still many many many factors that all affect it; what a person has/n't eaten before, if a person smokes (does affect sensors) and of course; personal taste. Disregard all that science stuff  and we'll have a proper experiment at hand! :)

THE VODKAS

(from left to right)

1. Stolichnaya vodka (Russia, bottled in Latvia)

2. Finlandia 50% (100 proof) (Finland)

3. Russian Standard (Russia)

4. Koskenkorva Viina (Finland)

5. Smirnoff Vodka (Russia, bottled in the UK)

6. Marskin Ryyppy (Finland)

Two, no, three points here. 

1. Finlandia 50% (100 proof) has a higher alcohol content by volume (compared to e.g. Stolichnaya, which has 38% (76 proof)

2. Koskenkorva Viina is not a vodka per se. It's booze. I still told people we're dealing with vodkas here.

3. Marskin Ryyppy is actually a flavored product. My intentions were to see what people thought of it (when the assumption was "flavorless" vodkas only)

It took me roughly 2½ months to complete this test. Below you can see the points that were given to each vodka! I highlighted the scores that were the highest/lowest from each participant separately for both entries. You can see how I highlighted Marskin Ryyppy yellow; I wrote down the points but they were not included in the final scoring due to it not being a flavorless vodka.

...*drum fill* And the winner is, (was indeed a close battle!) SMIRNOFF VODKA! With only a 8 point (!) difference it beat Stolichnaya!

1. Smirnoff vodka 485

2. Stolichnaya vodka 477

3. Koskenkorva viina 464

4. Russian Standard 445

5. Finlandia 50% 403

(Marskin Ryyppy 590)

What's really surprising that the point-range is only a mere 82 points between the lowest/highest ranking vodka. So overall this was a tough competition! What we can see from the statistics already is that Stolichnaya had the best taste but Smirnoff had clearly the best mouthfeel. Also an interesting point how Finlandia 50% received rather horrible scores from mouthfeel; given it is a way stronger vodka than the rest; people noticed it...and didn't like it.

Many did notice the flavored vodka (a wolf among sheep if you may) and the strong alcohol content from Finlandia. Finally I compiled all of the notes/comments of different vodkas into easily read papers. The comments are not in any specific order; if you read them carefully you might notice similarities in some vodkas from different test subjects.

This has been an amazing experience overall. Just...wow! The amount of raw data (and vodka) I had to deal with was massive but this time I had my shit coordinated (like always :D). Who knows...maybe I'll make another blind taste with...chuckle, different products next time?

A big thanks to everyone participating. If you have any comments/questions regarding this I am more than happy to answer them to the best of my ability.