Vodka rating 2020 and interview with the author

Dear readers, a few months ago I published a post: Rating of the best brands of vodka, and the other day I happened to meet one of the compilers of this rating and the co-author of the project: "Independent laboratory of vodka."

Dr. Schnapps happily responded to my offer to interview him (if you can call it that), and this is what came of it:

Hello, Dr. Schnapps, I think visitors to the vodka rating are interested in the question: How and who came up with the idea to make this rating?

I will not compose a story about how we, sitting behind a bottle, overnight took and came up with the "Independent Vodka Laboratory" - the project in the form that it is now is the result of rather long thoughts and discussions.It all started with the fact that from time to time we got together with friends and, as usual, drank "little white". This tradition, I must say, originated in his student years. Then - not now, then they drank everything that was cheaper, and everything that burns. They drank both good vodka and bad vodka, often not disdaining various substitutes.

Nowadays it has become much more difficult to run into outright rubbish, unless, of course, you do not ferment in the company of out-of-pocket margins and buy vodka somewhere in the alley. No, today everything is not so - I earned some money, dressed decently, came to the store, and ... my eyes fled from the choice. This vodka is not bad, I haven't drunk this one, I don't remember this one ... So we thought: why not record your impressions of each bottle you drink? Therefore, initially, it was not the idea of ​​a rating as such that arose, but the idea of ​​simply evaluating vodka according to some parameters (although, of course, the presence of ratings already implies ranking, you just need to take and arrange samples).

Later, when a certain number of tested vodkas had accumulated, it was decided to make their rating (by the way, we still have an empty bottle from the very first sample - Dymka Lux vodka). The site was being developed in parallel. In general, I must say that our idea is not new: there are sites on the Internet where test results and beer ratings, for example, are posted. We have almost the same thing, only more severely - we value vodka. And even if today “every man considers himself an expert” in this matter (as the modern vodka researcher Boris Rodionov said), this does not bother us at all. We are the same guys, if you like.

And how did the expert assessment actually take place? Are you sure that after examining dozens of vodka brands, you were able to give an objective assessment of each?

Vodka is assessed very simply: by smell, taste and softness (the idea of ​​assessing by color and presence of foreign inclusions, sediment, etc. was rejected) with grading on a ten-point scale.

As for objectivity, the situation is as follows: we are not professional tasters and we evaluate vodka as best we can, expressing our private opinion. As we feel and evaluate, there are no rigid criteria. It is clear that today some people use the slogan "My personal opinion!" as a cover for their incompetence or irresponsibility, but you can rest assured that this is not about our shop. We value vodka primarily “for ourselves” and do it quite responsibly, as far as our many years of accumulated experience allows (this is also about competence).

Have the producers of these alcoholic beverages contacted you, or do you cooperate with them?

Unfortunately, communication with vodka producers is very poor today. Nevertheless, we, for example, already have some experience in testing custom-made vodka (I will not name specific brands): the vodka was sent to us by mail, we tested it properly and successfully posted it on the site. There were also other requests with a request to place information about a certain vodka in the rating. But when it turned out that for this we must definitely try and evaluate it, for some reason the interest of people disappeared. But in vain.

Yes, all the tests posted on the site are real. We invariably held each sample in our hands, poured, smelled and drank. This is the idea. Otherwise, on our website for more than a year and a half of its existence, it would have been possible to post a much larger amount of vodkas, which we have never seen before. In general, all the vodka on the site went through our stomach, blood, brain and liver.

Purely hypothetically, we assume that manufacturers are simply afraid of deception and fear that we will either not evaluate the samples received from them at all, but drink vodka, or they will receive an assessment from us, which, let's say, does not quite suit them. But, colleagues, let's be honest: if your vodka is good, then we, like other consumers, will appreciate it, and you have nothing to fear (and we will definitely appreciate it, there should not be a shadow of a doubt).And if it is bad, then no one will drink it without our assessments. It's that simple!

And we are always ready and open for cooperation. And in terms of testing vodkas, and in terms of posting articles, news and advertising with us.

Can visitors somehow influence the rating of vodka?

Visitors to our site do not just influence the rating - they create it. After all, for each sample of vodka posted on the site, the visitor can vote by making the simplest choice on the principle "like it or not like it" (you can give only one vote). But already on the basis of these votes, vodka ratingdifferent from our own, and this is already serious. After all, if we, the creators and participants of the project, can be accused of incompetence, bias or bias, then this can hardly be done with respect to the majority of those who voted. Do not believe us - believe the same as you. It seems to me that everything is logical here.

And the last question: How do you see the future of the vodka rating? What are the plans? Isn't it time to fight alcohol addiction in the country?

If we talk about alcoholism, then this problem is well-known and very old. And not only for Russia. People all over the world have drunk, drink and will drink. The main question is how to drink? Is it immensely and daily to drink surrogates from the throat, sniffing with a salted sleeve, or from time to time to eat the same vodka, albeit not expensive, but in the company of decent people and with a good snack? It may sound trite, but we are in favor of a culture of drinking. We have never called and will not call for drinking vodka, because ethyl alcohol is, in fact, a poison. But we are not against vodka as such: we drink it and highly respect it, and therefore, probably, it is still favorable to us ...

Well, in our future plans, of course, to expand the list of tested vodka - health would be enough. In addition, we plan to open an alcohol forum, as well as make a special section on the website, in which we will collect recipes for vodka snacks, prepared by us and tasted by us - this issue has been discussed with our readers for a long time and we, as they say, keep it in mind ... And finally, I would like our vodka rating to become a kind of brand that consumers would treat with a certain degree of loyalty and trust.

Friends, the team of the "Independent Vodka Laboratory" wishes you all the best, as well as a pleasant and cultural drink without harm to your health!

From me, in turn, a huge gratitude to Dr. Schnapps for such interesting information, as well as to the entire team of the "Independent Vodka Laboratory" for their invaluable contribution to such an important and exciting business!