We have a question for ABC News’ 20/20 program. How do you do a taste test for a product that, as defined by U.S. government regulations, is tasteless, odorless and colorless? Recently, the program did a story on super premium vodka and they included a taste test with various products of different price points.

While the concept of the story is an interesting one, ABC’s process of evaluating vodka is flawed. The products are tasteless, odorless and colorless. This is more than a definition from the government. They have laboratory standards to approve the compliance of spirits classified as 80-proof vodka. Furthermore, 80-proof vodka quickly impacts the taste buds. Testers trying the second, third, fourth, etc., vodka will not have the same sensitivity as on the first, which will affect the results.

Is there a difference between vodkas? We think our classic 80-proof vodka is a high quality spirit that would compare favorable to any other vodka on the market. But comparing traditional vodka is an imperfect science. However, comparing flavored vodka is an area that we can analyze with more precise results and conclusions. And, we don’t mean comparing one flavored vodka brand against another.

Van Gogh Vodka believes a benchmarking system in the spirits industry needs to be established to calibrate taste against recognized standards. Vodka distillers spend too much time comparing themselves to each other and make no effort to calibrate or accurately rate vodka flavors in a way that is meaningful to consumers.

It’s not enough to say we are the best-flavored vodka if we are simply competing against other brands, some of which may be sub-par. Last year, we challenged ourselves with a rating system that allows us to say we are a superior product because we judged our flavored vodkas against authentic tastes.

For example, we asked testers to compare our Chocolate Vodka with a piece of chocolate candy. It received a score of 7.89 on a scale of 1 to 10. Testers gave our Banana Vodka, which was compared to a banana, a score of 9.69.

If flavored vodka is to retain a lead as the most popular and fastest growing spirit, we owe it to consumers to have quality control standards in place to ensure we are all delivering superior products.

Tests such as the one ABC conducted may be great for TV ratings, but they are not designed to accurately measure the quality of the product.

See our full Benchmark test.

Posted by:
Doug Luciani
Van Gogh Vodka