S.M. King investigates vodka.

Vodka is a little like an heiress. It’s potent, marketable and, often, totally without taste. Heck: put it in a ra-ra skirt and give it a pregnant best friend and it would basically be Paris Hilton.

After nearly two decades on the Hot list, this tipple shows no signs of fading. Vodka remains the most popular spirit in the world and the kind of gal you want to have in every cocktail.

This, in fact, is how most of us get to know vodka. We prefer it infused or blended. Just like Paris, it’s often improved by the company it keeps.

The vodka martini has eclipsed the classic gin. If you need strong, stylish medicine, there’s no better therapy. There are variations on the vodkatini but classic, as ever, is best. A lemon twist, says my favourite barkeep, offsets good vodka. She also let me in on the proper use of vermouth. My buxom friend douses ice in vermouth, strains it and then re-uses this ice when shaking the vodka.
Works for me.

We all have a personal vodka concoction. I like to match chilled apricot nectar with nutty and mellow Żubrówka. This Polish staple has a single blade of bison grass in the bottle giving it a unique taste and colour.
There’s 1001 exquisite vodka based cocktails but the other never-fail is, of course, the Bloody Mary. Personally, I’m happy to leave the preparation of this luxury up to a great mixologist. And one who understands the instruction, “I like it spicy, damnit!” For me, there’s none better in Melbourne than that served at Cicciolina in St Kilda’s Acland Street.
Vodka has long been marketed with infusions. Starting with the canny people at Absolut, this practise has even extended to amateurs. I actually visited a share household who tried an M and M infusion once. Ugh. Let’s just say: leave infusion to the professionals and, generally speaking, acidic fruits work best.

In Eastern Europe, it is customary to drink vodka straight. And it’s probably fine to drink those intense, somewhat rough, charcoal-tasting vodkas in sub-zero temperatures. However, as anyone who has drunk the Russian classic Stolichnaya straight can attest: ouch! Don’t get me wrong: those Ab Fab memories stir nothing but affection. However Stoli, like Absolut and Skyy, works best as a good quality mixer.
I would argue that the NZ top shelf 42 Below is also a good mixer. It’s very posh, of course. But it lacks the complexity of a newish breed of sipping vodkas.
If you want to make like a comrade and sip straight: choose Belvedere for the vanilla; Absolut Level 1 for bubblegum and musk and Grey Goose for seductive pear. In this premium range also is Babicka Original Wormwood Vodka. It replicates a 500-year-old Czech witches’ recipe and certainly cast a spell on me.
Vodka is such a blank canvas; it lends itself easily to questionable infusions, highly constructed histories, and marketing at its most fervent pitch. Just like Miss Hilton.