Booze Reviews: Shaker’s Vodka – Wheat & Rye

According to their website, Shakers vodka is hot-stuff. Apparently their Wheat variety received a grade of 100 from Wine Enthusiast Magazine - the only vodka ever to achieve such an honor from the enthusiasts of wine. The Rye variety won a Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits competition (This means ALL the judges gave it a Gold Medal rating). So I guess we can just pack it in and go home cause Shakers Vodka is obviously pretty damn cool, right? NOT SO FAST SHAKERS! You and your swanky little bottles still have to pass...

So, Shakers Vodkas are distilled from either Wheat or Rye and one would expect quite a bit of difference between the two varieties. But is there REALLY that much difference between ANY vodka? Well, that's what I set out to discover. Here's what I did. I wrote a small "R" and a small "W" on the bottom of each of my snifters and then filled each with an equal amount of either the Rye or Wheat variety from Shakers. As for objectivity, you would be AMAZED how easy it is to forget which vodka is in which container when they both look EXACTLY the same.

I can TOTALLY tell the difference...can't YOU?

So, I've got to be honest here. Even with the "semi-scientific-almost-double-blind-taste-test" I couldn't tell a difference between these two vodkas. Now maybe that's my in-experience as a vodka-taster. But If the differences between these vodkas is anything but VERY subtle - I can't taste it. They ARE distilled from different grains but I think the idea with these was smoothness and purity first, flavor second. Shakers even has a proprietary method for removing impurities in their vodka because these days not just ANY smoothness will do. Distillers are going for smoothness right up to the edge of tasting like purified water. It's as if, these days, vodka companies are playing chicken-- with flavor. "WHO CAN GET CLOSER TO PURE ETHANOL WITHOUT MAKING EVER-CLEAR!!!"