Monday, October 09, 2006

What's your poison?

Mine is Vodka.

My love affair with vodka started four years ago in a beautiful stretch of land called Southern Africa ~

With warm safari sunrise
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Beautiful savannah land
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Amazing BIG FIVE
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And Vodka! What a combination!
Stolichnaya

Not being a hard liquor drinker, I prefer vodka served diluted with lemon squash or lately with 100 Plus. It should be served with 4 parts of diluting substance to 1 part vodka. That's probably blasphemous to serious vodka drinkers but I loved my vodka served that way. :0)

Here's a little bit of info on my poison:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vodka is typically a colorless liquor, usually distilled from fermented potatoes, but can also include alcohol made from other raw materials such as grain. The word is a diminutive of the Slavic word "voda" (voda, вода) for "water."

Except for various types of flavorings, vodka consists of water and alcohol (ethanol). Vodka usually has an alcohol content ranging from 35% to 50% by volume. The classic Russian vodka is 40% (80 proof).

At strengths less than this (40%) vodka drunk neat (not mixed with other liquids) can taste 'watery' and above this strength the taste of vodka can have more 'burn'. Under US Federal law, the minimum alcohol strength of vodka is also 40% by volume, whilst in Europe the minimum is 37.5% by volume.

Although vodka is generally drunk neat (not mixed with other liquids) in its Eastern European and Scandinavian homeland, its growth in popularity elsewhere owes much to its usefulness in cocktails and other mixed drinks, such as the Bloody Mary, the Screwdriver, the Vodka Tonic, and the Vodka Martini.


In the subsequent years since, I have had the opportunity to try out various brands of vodka. Here are a few that I enjoy:

Stolichnaya - Russian vodka - and the cause of my love affair with Vodka! :o)
Stolichnaya

Absolut - Swedish vodka - a recent acquired taste. I love the packaging!
Absolut 2

Smirnoff - Russian vodka - also a recent acquired taste. Among the cheaper brands around but offers an interesting array of flavours. My all time favourite is the citrus flavoured vodka. My most recent purchase is an apple flavoured one though and it has such a sweet apple cider smell.
Smirnoff

Finlandia - Finnish vodka - a friend introduced me to my first taste of vodka kept in the freezer for a freezing cold consumption. It was interesting. Hmm ... perhaps I should try that again.
Finlandia

Skyy - US vodka - was introduced to this by another friend who is a strong vodka drinker. He had once challenged another friend to a 1.5 bottles of vodka drinking contest. He claimed that he could drink a lot more than that. :o)
SKYY

And that's the end of the vodka lesson. For more details, check out Wikipedia!

3 comments:

ginseng4desoul said...

Mine would have to be good quality chocolates or coffee...mmmmm heaven!!!!

Pink Panther said...

I like vodka too. Have a bottle of Russian Vodka called St Petersburg. Tastes like water but the after effect is really....terror. Hahaha...they say it's because of the water which is used to make the vodka. Pure water. Guaranteed no hangover because of that. Don't see it being sold anywhere else so far. Got it from Moscow.

By the way, any reliable mechanic in Sentul or Cheras area?

CHeers

Pink Panther said...

Opps..made a mistake. The vodka is actually called Russian Standard. From St Petersburg.

http://www.russianstandard.com/brands/

Still have 1 bottle of it.