UV Vodka is distilled by the Phillips Distilling Company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. UV vodka is distilled 4 times from Midwestern corn and filtered through activated carbon.

UV was one of seven vodkas to win a prestigious double gold medal at the San Francisco Spirits Competition in 2009. UV is one of the fastest growing vodka brands in the United States, boasting 6 years of double digit growth.

Editor’s Review

Let’s start with the positives about UV… Priced about about $12/liter it’s a relatively inexpensive vodka. I also really like the UV bottle, which looks good behind the bar, especially when lined up next to one of the many UV flavored vodkas. UV also has a cool web site (www.uvvodka.com).

Unfortunately, this company is better marketing than they are at making vodka. As much as I wanted it to be, UV vodka just isn’t very good. We found that UV has a hard alcohol taste to it, even more so than many bottom shelf brands. This was one of the few vodkas that made me wince going down. Our other testers agreed that there was a significant amount of burn. UV also left an unpleasant aftertaste resulting in a very low finish score.

The bottom line is that based on the quality of the vodka, UV isn’t worth the extra few dollars it costs to upgrade from a bottom shelf brand like Taaka or McCormicks.

Absolut Vodka Review

Absolut really lights up the taste buds in your mouth. It doesn’t have an unpleasant initial taste but it does have sort of a disinfecting feeling on the tongue. It’s very noticeable going down and leaves a pretty harsh hard alcohol taste long after the drink is finished. Judged on taste alone Absolut isn’t bad, but if you like a smooth vodka then there are much better choices.

Grey Goose Vodka Review

It seems like one way or the other, everyone has a strong opinion about Grey Goose Vodka. People either love it or they hate it. Ironically, we found that Grey Goose is somewhere in the middle. There just aren’t any qualities that stand out as exceptional with Grey Goose. If you like a stronger, harder alcohol taste then Absolut or Stoli would be a better choice. If you like a smoother lighter tasting vodka then there are numerous better choices.

Grey Goose earned a very mediocre score of 7.5 for taste and burn. It scored slightly lower in the finish category because of a noticeable aftertaste.

Because Grey Goose doesn’t have distinct qualities that set it apart from other vodkas it doesn’t earn its “best-tasting vodka” classification or its place at the top of the vodka world.

Kettle One was praised by testers for its mild burn, however, it received some criticism for its harsh taste on the tongue and slightly unpleasant aftertaste. Ketel One is far from the worst vodka that we tested but there aren’t enough positives to justify the higher price tag.

The reviews for Belvedere were consistently good among all of the testers.  Belvedere earned some very high scores for burn and finish as the testers noted its soft feel and smooth finish. 

Belvedere isn’t the best vodka that we’ve tried, but it is one of the better super-premium vodkas that we tested and unlike a few of the higher rated options, it’s available in nearly every bar or liquor store.

Ciroc is the highest rated vodka that we’ve tested so far.  It has a very faint hint of sweetness on the tongue and goes down very smooth.  If I were going to order a vodka martini, Ciroc would be my first choice of vodkas.

There is some debate on how to classify Ciroc.  Some argue that it should be classified as an eau de vie (A light fruit brandy made from grapes) as opposed to vodka.  It technically meets the definition of both a vodka and an eau de vie, but let me assure you that Ciroc tastes like vodka.

Skyy vodka was a silver medal winner at the 2009 San Francisco Spirits competition.

Skyy has been a vodka that I’ve purchased regularly in the past because I believed it to be a better tasting vodka and a better value than many other premiums.  That assumption turned out to be true as Skyy scored considerably higher than popular brands like Gray Goose and Absolut.

Although I’m sure Spirits LLC would consider Skyy a super-premium we classified it as a premium, mostly because of its price (about $21 a liter).  Two reviewers gave Skyy slightly lower marks for taste, resulting in a lower overall taste score but Skyy was very smooth going down (scoring a 9.3 in the burn category) and a the finish was also nice and smooth.

As of the time of this review, Monopolowa is the only vodka that we’ve tested that is distilled from potatoes. 

 The ratings were consistently high in all categories for Monopolowa.  It has a good, clean taste and it’s very smooth going down.  It’s one of the best tasting mid-tier vodkas that we tested and at about $15 per liter, it’s one of the best values as well.