[Malsua]

I determined that the cheapsest vodka worked just as well as the most expensive in every way, including taste-wise..

I agree to a point...Everything from Smirnoff on up is just about the same but the cheap vodkas taste awful.

[dblshot]

I must be weird because i can definitely taste the difference in Skyy, Grey Goose, Ketel One, Smirnoff and some other vodkas, well at least for the first couple of martinis. I prefer Tito's, Dripping Springs, and Absolute because they have the least taste, which makes no sense I guess, especially since I also drink Scotch which is all about variations in taste. BTW Bond asked for his Martinis to be shaken not stirred because stirred was the accepted way of making Martinis until he changed that. The vodka is supposed to be clear as water, and taste like water IMHO but be very cold. That's why a martini glass has a long stem like a Chablis glass to keep the heat from your hand away from the vodka.

[wbill]

but the cheap vodkas taste awful

When I was in college, we'd occasionally, erm, "liberate" new charcoal water filters from the lab.

Then, we'd run the super cheap vodka (Orloff? Fleishmann's? I remember that it was $2.99/liter) through the filters a few times to remove the impurities. End product actually wound up tasting pretty good. Of course, I also would get bombed on 40-below Apple Bounce, and Milwaukee's Best, so it's not like I had much of a refined palette.

I'd imagine that you could do the same with cheap vodka and a Brita filter, nowadays.