Pub Snippets..

The Pepsi Challenge

Ketel One Vodka v. Crater Lake Vodka

Martini Republic - November 28, 2004

I’m also known as a bit of a liquor snob, thinking that the only way to make a proper martini is with gin, good gin, if not weapons-grade gin.

Everything else is martini-like.

Now I have no problem with vodka per se . It is a fine and storied liquor that has its well-earned place in the cabinet. The fact that it can be made from a variety of ingredients (Grain, Potatoes, Rutabagas, Beets, etc.) gives it a near universal popularity dating back to the 15th century. Vodka makes a great base from which you can make a wide assortment of fancy drinks. (Even those served in a martini glass).

The problem I have with vodka is what they have done to market it.

I buy a bit of my liquor, beer and accoutrements at a major chain beverage store. One thing that never fails to amuse me as I walk through the front door is the Crayola-Box assortment of vodkas that make a solid wall’s worth of choices. Lemon-yellow, Green-apple, Mandarin-orange, Pineapple? Chocolate?, Coffee?

The marketers have taken perhaps the most important part of a cocktail out of the equation - the construction of the cocktail.

Making a drink, properly, is a pleasure unto itself even if you are by yourself. The pleasure is multiplied if you are mixing drinks for those who can appreciate a finely crafted cocktail. To have an off-the-rack cocktail, one that takes no more thought than filling a glass with ice and pouring, is the drinker’s equivalent of a happy meal.

For today’s article I decided to take the Pepsi Challenge regarding two top-shelf 80 proof vodkas. For those who don’t remember, the Pepsi Challenge was a side-by-side blind test of Pepsi v. Coca-Cola. In the Pepsi Challenge they were going by taste. Since vodka is by definition tasteles, colorless, and odorless I had to judge on nose, body and neutrality (lack of taste). For my test I used Ketel One and Crater Lake. The test was administered by my wife, Lelia, who handed me two identical unmarked glasses containing an equal amount of vodka (2-oz.).

Here’s what I thought....

Vodka #1 - A bit medicin-y, otherwise clean & crisp. Nice, light body. Slight sweet scent.

Vodka #2 - Not so medicin-y as the first. A bit more crisp than #1 though roughly the same in body. Less sweet. Definitely the more pleasing of the two.

I would not normally drink vodka without something mixed with it, but for the purpose of this test had to drink them unadorned. There is a difference in vodkas, no matter how fancy the packaging, no matter what the hype. There is a difference in how the flavor compliments or detracts from the mix components, and there is a difference in how it affects your head the following day. Ketel One has been a long time favorite because of it’s mellow, clean nature. It seemed a natural to compare against another vodka.

After I wrote down the impressions noted above, Lelia told me which was which. It turns out that the Crater Lake Vodka (Vodka #2) was the favored of the two. Lelia tasted each as well and noted the small difference between the two, with Crater Lake being the more drinkable. Maybe its the volcanic rock the liquor is filtered through or the fact that it is filtered a whopping ten times. Either way it was the clear winner. Ketel One was, is, and will forever be a top-shelf vodka and continue to occupy my liquor cabinet. However, it will have to make room for a new favorite, Bendistilllery’s Crater Lake Vodka .