has anyone here done a blind tasting between kirkland vodka and grey goose?

[vash]

supposed to be the same stuff. all but the bottling. i did an internet search and didnt find a definitive answer.

i keep vodka in the freezer. i use it for cooking (vodka tomato sauce. gonna try it in my pie crust) as well as sipping. for cooking and drinking, it pays to use the best.

COSTCO - kirklands would save me 50%.

coworkers agreed to join me in a tasting. time will tell.

[JavaBrewer]

Heard the same thing. I have gone through a couple bottles of the Kirkland stuff and it's darn good - but not side by side tasting.

Last night we were celebrating my 48th trip around the sun and did a side by side taste of Kirkland Anejo Tequila and Cabo Wabo Reposado. As expected the Reposado was not as heavy and sported a spicier finish but we found both to be excellent sippers.

I think Kirkland liquors and wine are an excellent value in their price category.

[stomachmonkey]

We drink Titos.

Titos Handmade Vodka

Cool story

Hi. I'm Tito Beveridge and I'm the founder and owner of Titos Handmade Vodka. I'm from San Antonio, Texas. I went to Vanderbilt for a year then to UT, University of Texas at Austin. I graduated with degrees in geology and geophysics. I got into the oil and gas business and did that in Texas and then down in Venezuela and Colombia and ran heli-portable dynamite seismic crews down there and came back and started a drilling company in Houston, got tired of chasing the buck and decided to move back to Austin, Tx.

I did ground water geology here and got in the mortgage business and it was when i was in the mortgage business that i started making flavored vodka for my friends for christmas presents. That was in about i guess '92, '93. I was at a party one time and a stranger came up to me and said 'Hey you're the vodka guy' and i was like no, contraire, i am the mortgage guy. And that's when i kinda started thinking that this guy's telling me i need to go sell my flavored vodkas and this was the first time i really started thinking seriously about it.

So when rates went up a couple points in the mortgage business i started going to liquor stores and ask guys if they'd buy my flavored vodkas, they said "no, go look at all the dust on the shoulders of those bottles there". Then they said but if i could make it where it was smooth where you could drink straight then i might have something. So i asked them how you do that and they said "Well i don't know, you're the guy who wants to get in the vodka business."

At that point i went and started trying to learn about how to distill and you know it was pre-internet and so there really wasn't any information about how to make it. It was almost like there had been a book burning at the library. I got a bunch of pictures of old moonshiners and looked at a bunch of those photos and then kinda from looking at all those photos kinda just built a still that kinda looked like those stills. And then just kinda started cooking in that and just trial and error'd. I just kept messing with it until i got to where everybody liked my vodka better than the other stuff you could buy at the time. I basically just kinda kept working at it and working at it.

We bought every vodka that was on the shelf, we put them in little kerr jars and tasted all and came up with the two best ones. When mine beat the other two best ones then i figured that i had my formula right. My friends were all kinda my guinea pigs.

I tried to get some financing a couple of times and it didn't work out because they said i'd never get my permits, there'd never been a legal distillery in Texas and they said i'd never get a distributor. So i ended up just taking the money i'd saved up while working overseas and i racked up 19 credit cards to the tune of about $88,000. I built a one man distillery and built a production still and just kinda got myself into business. I'd go out and make it and sell it and come back and make some more and you know i was sleeping next to the still and you know just kind of boot-strapped it up.

And then at one point we'd gotten a phone call to come to the World Spirits Competition and i was fixing a boiler so i just sent a couple bottles there and we ended up getting the double gold medal, the unanimous judges choice. And that was up against 72 vodkas around the world including flavored vodkas. That kind of you know, helped spur things along.

I guess we went from 1000 cases in '97 to 2000 in '98 to 3000, then 4000, 6000, 17000, 32,000, 56,000, 106,000 and last year we did 165,000 and i hope to break 200-220,000 this year(2007), we'll wait and see.

I appreciate ya'll supporting Tito's Handmade Vodka. It's really been a dream come true for me and it's really due to all the word of mouth that we've gotten. It's all pretty much just been from people going into liquor stores and bars and asking for it. So if you are in a bar and they don't have it, ask to speak to the bar manager. Our distributors are on our website at Titosvodka.com. If you tell 20 of your closest friends we'll just keep this thing rolling. Thanks a whole bunch, I try to make it good. You know my theory is you make the best vodka in the world and charge a reasonable price, so I'll keep doing my part of it and i sure appreciate you doing yours. Thank you very much.

[vash]

you're texan..you are supposed to drink TITOS. i like Titos..alot. it was my last bottle. i'm on LEVEL now..it is meh!

[cashflyer]

I've never tried the Costco store brand so cannot answer that question.
I can say that for my money, Boru is as good as any premium brand.
It also sold very well when we introduced it at our pub.

Boru Vodka

[Tobra]

I like Tito's.

I generally buy the cheapest vodka I can find and run it through my Brita filter half dozen times. You have to toss the filter afterward, but they are cheap, and after filtering, you can't tell the differnce between cheapo vodka and top shelf.

[MBAtarga]

You ever see thy Mythbusters episode where they ran the "cheap" vodka through the water filters? They had an expert vodka taster judge the samples. Filtering the vodka definitely improved the quality, although he was able to detect the difference.

[craigster59]

I read an interview awhile back with Jay-Z(?). Anyway, he was talking about hip-hop and the crossover merchandising in fashion, cars, sunglasses, lifestyle, etc.

One thing he mentioned was that they had purchased or heavily invested in the Grey Goose vodka distillery because of the affordability and if they were going to be filmed, photographed or seen using a product they wanted to make sure they made THEIR profit from it. Gave me the impression it was just run of the mill vodka, their endorsement justified the luxury pricetag.

[gtc]

It was expensive before they got their hands on it.

[Gogar]

I know I've said it before, but I put some Tito's in the freezer and it came out like a slushy. I guess that doesn't mean it's not good.

[glewis80SC]

Originally Posted by Tobra

I like Tito's.

I generally buy the cheapest vodka I can find and run it through my Brita filter half dozen times. You have to toss the filter afterward, but they are cheap, and after filtering, you can't tell the differnce between cheapo vodka and top shelf.

+1 works like a charm.

[holtjv]

That Tito's story is inspiring. Guy has a passion, works his butt off, and becomes successful.

Oddly, I find tito's almost too smooth. Like tequila, I like to taste the liquor--so those expensive white tequias are out for me.

I'll have to try Costco's liquors--didn't even know about them--thanks for the tip.

[murphyjp]

My brother-in-law did a blind taste test with Kirkland and several other top shelf brands and Kirkland came out on top.

[KaptKaos]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

....did a side by side taste of Kirkland Anejo Tequila....

I tried that same tequila, and it was really awful. We wound up using it to make bloody marias. Maybe we got a bad batch, but boy was I disappointed.

[HardDrive]

Gotta be honest, I've never considered drinking vodka for flavor. Lack of flavor while mixed with something else, yes. In that roll, Kettle One works just fine.

I guess I'm a rube.

[porsche4life]

My last memory of the taste of Grey Goose is what it tasted like coming up....

[pitargue]

Read somewhere that pure vodka has no taste. Web search seems to reinforce this. Seems what people taste are the impurities in the vodka.

Can anyone verify?

[TheMentat]

Read somewhere that pure vodka has no taste. Web search seems to reinforce this. Seems what people taste are the impurities in the vodka.



Can anyone verify?

Technically correct... Vodka is usually distilled to a very high proof, and watered down prior to bottling. So any flavors other than alcohol & water would be "impurities". However, most vodka makers don't want it to simply taste like alcohol & water.

[89911]

Is there really a great tasting vodka? I have had enough to say that some are much worse then others, but none would be anything I would ever drink straight unless I get exiled to Russia. I've seen numerous blind taste tests with Vodka and the higher priced products never seem to make any difference. I'd get the Kirkland.

[cashflyer]

In vodka production, you are supposed to discard the heads (the lighter aromatics which boil off before the alcohol) and the tails (the heavier distillates that follow the alcohol). Then run the process it at least one more time for added purity and proof, and finally cut it with water to ~40%. The whole point of vodka is to have a neutral spirit with no impurities (ie: flavor notes). Properly produced vodka should taste like nothing other than alcohol and water.