Introducing a new segment; Buyer’s Advice! Here I show some affordable alternatives to the big names in a particular spirit category that taste significantly nicer. Good taste doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg! Not only that, but big name brands are oftentimes the worst tasting option in my experience, so allow me to show off some good finds if you want to up your spirit game without breaking your wallet!
Our first topic in this series is Vodka, meaning we have to talk about Smirnoff. I don’t hate many things, but Smirnoff is simply something that I abhor. I could go on for hours on why I hate this vodka with an undying passion, but thankfully today I don’t have to, as we are intentionally avoiding it! The most popular alternative to vodka is easily Absolut, but that can often be more expensive than Smirnoff and, although it tastes a little nicer, we can easily do better.
Allow me to introduce you to my white knight when it comes to vodka: Żubrówka! I’ve been asked to talk about this spirit before, and I’ll tell you what I’m very familiar with this spirit. Żubrówka is a Polish vodka that comes in a few different forms, but it’s based “original” variant is what most of us in the west when we think of a neutral vodka, and that version is easily the same price as Smirnoff, and sometimes cheaper! But the best part of this is that despite it being so cheap it’s incredibly good! This to me is the equivalent to “baseline” vodka. Any worse than this and it’s not worth drinking.
But I know some people just want to drink a lot of vodka on the cheap, and although the larger bottles of Żubrówka are comparable in price to Smirnoff, maybe you still have brand loyalty and absolutely won’t change unless it is cheaper, no ifs, ands or buts. Well, I can still show you something great!
But what if you want flavoured vodka? While Żubrówka does flavoured variants, I would actually rather recommend the darling that is Soplica! Soplica is another Polish vodka that goes for dirt cheap (sometimes even into single digit prices!) but is another great vodka for flavour! Not only do they have flavoured vodka, but their range is downright enormous! Most major stores don’t carry Soplica, but many, many corner shops do! I actually happen to currently own a bottle of the cherry Soplica!
I hope you’ve all learned something! Have fun keeping it cheap and cheerful!
This post’s recommended song is: “Title Theme (From “Wii Shop Channel”)” – Tim Burnelis
