The best vodka in the world

What Makes a Good Vodka?

When experts set out to name the world’s best vodka, they naturally manage to make things complicated. For us ordinary mortals, it seems fairly simple. Vodka should ideally not taste of much at all. It should be clean, smooth and barely noticeable.

But if you dig a little deeper and read what experts and vodka nerds who actually take tasting seriously have to say, you quickly realise they see things differently. A really good vodka is not flavourless at all. They talk about the raw material, mouthfeel, sweetness, spiciness, how the alcohol feels in the finish, and so on. So apparently there is quite a bit more to vodka than one might think.

Purity is still important, but that does not mean every trace of flavour should be filtered away. Rather paradoxically, a good vodka should not have too many flavours sticking out. Instead, it should lack unpleasant characteristics. You do not want harsh alcoholic sharpness, solvent-like notes or a raw taste of ethanol.

The alcohol should of course be noticeable – otherwise you might as well drink distilled water. We are, after all, talking about spirits that are normally around 40% ABV. But the alcohol should not come across as raw or aggressive.

The people who claim to know these things seem to put a lot of emphasis on something called mouthfeel, and apparently it matters far more than one might expect. Good vodka is often described with words such as silky, smooth, full-bodied or creamy. Two vodkas can therefore contain roughly the same amount of alcohol and still feel completely different when you taste them. One can feel thin and sharp while another feels oily or velvety.

But what about the flavour itself? Really good vodka is apparently not supposed to be merely neutral and anonymous. The raw material can still leave quite a noticeable fingerprint despite the distillation. Rye is said to give a little spice and pepper, wheat tends to produce a softer and slightly sweeter style, while potato vodka can be fuller, creamier and sometimes almost earthy.

(Those of you who have drunk homemade spirits made from fermented potatoes may think this sounds familiar, but you are probably remembering the excessive quantities of fusel oils normally included.)

Vodka made from rice can instead develop a lighter and more elegant sweetness.

Finally, there is the so-called finish. A good vodka should not suddenly start burning your mouth and throat after you swallow it. It should give you a pleasant warmth and then fade away smoothly, preferably leaving behind some faint trace of its flavours.

So what vodka connoisseurs seem to want is a vodka that is clean and smooth, but which still has some character.

How Do You Make a Top-Class Vodka?

Making vodka is almost ridiculously simple – even the Russians manage it. You ferment something containing starch or sugar, distil the alcohol, dilute it with water and put it in a bottle. But rather like coffee or wine, there seem to be almost endless ways of doing the same basic thing better or worse.

Fermentation

It naturally starts with the raw material. Wheat, rye, potatoes and rice, as mentioned earlier, produce slightly different basic characteristics, although the step after fermentation is arguably even more important.

Distillation

The purpose is obviously to achieve a high concentration of alcohol while separating out substances you do not want. Different compounds emerge at different stages of distillation.

The first part is normally called the heads, the middle the hearts, and the final part the tails. It is primarily the heart that you want to keep. Temperature is also important, since the desirable alcohol fraction is separated within a relatively narrow range.

How narrowly you, so to speak, “cut out the heart” affects both the purity of the spirit and how much character from the original raw material remains.

People distilling spirits at home tend to want to maximise the quantity. That is why homemade spirits taste the way they do when half the heads and tails have gone into the bottle as well.

Vodka producers also like to advertise how many times their vodka has been distilled. Four, five or even more distillations obviously sounds impressive, but it does not appear to be a foolproof measure of quality. Each distillation can make the spirit cleaner, but if you take the process too far you risk ending up with alcohol that is technically extremely pure but also rather boring.

The same applies to the next stage.

Filtration

Activated charcoal is the most common method and can capture compounds that would otherwise negatively affect the smell or flavour. Other producers use quartz, sand or various kinds of mineral filters.

There is naturally quite a lot of marketing involving exotic filtering materials, but the basic principle remains the same: remove unwanted impurities while trying to leave enough behind to give the vodka some character.

Water

One ingredient you might not immediately think about is the water.

Unlike homemade moonshine, professionally distilled vodka normally leaves the still at such a high alcohol concentration that it has to be diluted before reaching, for example, 40% ABV.

Home distillers are lucky if they manage to reach 40%, and if they dilute their spirits it is normally because they are hoping to earn a few extra kronor when they sell it.

A considerable proportion of the vodka in the finished bottle is therefore added water. This means the water itself can have quite a substantial influence on the end result. Its mineral content, hardness, lime content and how the water itself has been treated – filtered, purified and so on – can affect both the flavour and, perhaps more importantly, what the experts call mouthfeel.

Ageing?

After dilution, better vodkas are often allowed to rest for a period before bottling so that the alcohol and water have time to settle and integrate.

There is obviously no ageing process intended to improve flavour in the same sense as with wine, whisky or cognac, where barrels can make a major contribution to the final result.

Once you have experimented your way towards what you believe to be the perfect vodka, however, the biggest challenge remains: producing exactly the same result again and again.

So Which Vodkas Do the Experts Prefer?

Two names appear very frequently if you search for high-quality vodka: Belvedere and Chopin, both from Poland.

Belvedere is made from rye and seems to be something of a safe choice for anyone who wants to sound knowledgeable. In blind tastings and among bartenders it repeatedly receives praise for being smooth and almost velvety while still having some character.

People like to throw around descriptions such as vanilla, almond and a slight pepperiness from the rye.

Personally, I cannot say I have ever noticed anything remotely resembling those flavours while drinking vodka, except perhaps when I tried Absolut Peppar – although there was nothing particularly subtle about the pepper in that one – and vanilla vodka.

But then again, I am not an expert and I have no intention of pretending to be one either!

Chopin Potato Vodka, on the other hand, seems to have some of the most devoted followers among vodka nerds when you look around. It is made from potatoes and is described as fuller, creamier and slightly earthy.

The producer mentions green apple and, once again, vanilla makes an appearance. Most of all, however, people emphasise its rich mouthfeel and long finish.

This is therefore a vodka with quite a lot of flavour rather than one that tastes of almost nothing. Chopin was awarded the Vodka Producer Trophy by the IWSC in 2025.

Icelandic Reyka is a slightly unusual one, but often appears as a good-value choice and receives praise for a style generally described as clean and fresh.

Japanese Haku, made from white rice, is apparently extremely smooth and slightly sweet, with hints of rice, vanilla, citrus and floral notes. Here you can perhaps begin to see that the raw material really does matter, despite the fact that you might imagine very little of it would survive the distillation process.

Japanese Nikka Coffey Vodka is another flavourful vodka. It is usually described as rich and grainy, almost food-like, with citrus notes.

Some other names that tend to appear are Grey Goose, Ketel One and Absolut Elyx. They seem to be particularly popular among bartenders – although perhaps they are getting commission?

As you can see, even the experts do not agree.

The Best Vodka in the World

When it comes to subjective experiences such as taste, smell and appearance, there are plenty of fields where so-called experts spend so much time studying the subject that eventually they simply begin imagining details and nuances that may not even be there.

I play guitar myself, so I can give a few examples from musical instruments.

Fender manufactures some of its guitars in the United States and others in Mexico, while its Squier brand is manufactured in places such as China and Indonesia. The American-made instruments are naturally considered the premium models, which means more time is spent on quality control and other aspects of production.

The funny thing is that everyone also seems convinced they sound better – or, well, it is mainly Americans who seem convinced of that – but in blind tests people have great difficulty telling them apart.

The same goes for the different species of wood used in electric guitars. Plenty of people insist that the choice of wood has a major effect on the sound, but when instruments are actually analysed with measuring equipment the differences appear to be very small. You may be able to demonstrate that some differences exist, but demonstrating any meaningful difference in quality is another matter entirely.

Blind tests have even been carried out with violins where listeners have struggled to distinguish between a Stradivarius and a much cheaper instrument.

The fact that experts can eventually end up doing something resembling self-suggestion means that we ordinary mortals can often safely ignore them when it comes to highly subjective experiences – such as drinking vodka.

In many other areas, of course, expertise matters enormously. Do not try to build your own moonshine still, and let an electrician who actually knows what they are doing install it!

I seem to have wandered slightly off topic. This was supposed to be about the best vodka in the world.

Since we have just established that the whole thing is subjective, we can therefore ignore the experts.

The best vodka in the world is quite simply Ukrainian vodka.

Drink it and it will warm not only your mouth but also your heart, knowing that you are contributing to Ukraine’s economy and, ultimately, to its victory over Russia.

So the world’s best vodka is not just one particular brand.

Nemiroff, Khortytsa, Khlibnyi Dar, Kozak, Zirkova, Staritsky & Levitsky and Hetman all offer something other vodkas simply cannot:
They are Ukrainian.