What a bargain! (Tesco Value Vodka)

Member Name: ice_pink

Product:	Tesco Value Vodka
Date:	15/08/09 (215 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The price, doesn't taste bad!

Disadvantages: Not as smooth as Smirnoff, bad packaging

~*~ Tesco Value Vodka ~*~

Vodka is probably my favourite alcohol ever. It's a bit of an acquired taste, and I think the low calorie content probably has a lot to do with it becoming my favourite drink. However! A bottle of Smirnoff is much more expensive than a bottle of Blossom Hill, so I decided to, being the bargain hunter that I am, experiment with some other cheaper vodka brands to see if I noticed the difference, and the absolute cheapest I could find was of course Tesco's own brand 'Value' vodka.


Vodka is a bit of a funny drink, and it seems to have a bit of Marmite effect going on. You either love it, or will never go near the stuff, and offering around a bottle of value vodka is not really going to tempt any first-time vodka drinkers taste buds, lets face it (but hey, more for you!). For those of you that have never tried vodka, which I expect is very few, but anyway, don't believe the people that tell you it is tasteless! Those people have obviously never done a straight shot of the stuff! I actually find the taste of the drink alone very unpleasant, so it's a bit of a mystery which I enjoy it when mixed. Usually, the mixer takes over the taste of the drink leaving you with just a kick of the vodka to spice things up a bit.


This bottle of vodka will set you back £7.48 for a 70cl bottle from Tesco. Compared to Smirnoff, at £12.39 for the same sized bottle (although currently on offer for £11), that's near to a massive £5 saving! Tesco's own Imperial vodka is just a few pennies more at £7.98. There are a number of other Vodka brands on the market priced around £10-12 for this sized bottle, but this is the absolute cheapest offered by this supermarket.


The packaging of this product is, in one word, terrible. It's a clear glass bottle with one white label with red and blue writing and the lettering 'Tesco Value Vodka'. If you are trying to impress someone, don't turn up with a bottle of this. This is the main downfall of the product. It definitely doesn't make you feel classy pouring yourself a nice vodka cocktail from one of these bottles!


Anyway, for the purpose of this review, it's 11am and I'm pouring myself a vodka...


Seriously, though, I did drink a good amount of this vodka last night, hence my pounding headache this morning, so I feel adequately equipped to comment on the taste. Although I've previously drank Tesco own-brand vodka before, last night was the first time I'd drank the value version. On first sip, I was pleasantly surprised. I half-expected to lose my eye sight (read that story?) within a few minutes, but it just tasted like normal vodka to me. The vodka is the same percentage alcohol as you find in most vodka's, 37.5%, and to be honest, how much difference can there really be between brands?


As I mentioned earlier, the low calorie content of vodka is the main reason I switched to this drink. Drank with diet coke, there are around 55 calories per glass (with one 25ml shot of vodka). This is pretty much as low as you can get for an alcoholic drink, but it's easy to get carried away, just because it doesn't sound fattening doesn't mean it wont quickly add up! - And of course, it's not just getting a bit chubby you should be worrying about!


Need some inspiration for vodka mixers?

I usually just go for the boring diet coke or lemonade as a mixer, but you can mix pretty much anything with vodka to spice things up a bit. Some of my favourites are:

Sex on the Beach
50ml of vodka and 25ml of peach schnapps topped up with equal measures of orange and cranberry juices for a really refreshing summery cocktails. This one always gets me in the summertime mood!

Cosmopolitan
Sex and the City style! 50ml of vodka, 25ml of Cointreau topped with cranberry juice and a little lime juice. This one has a nice little kick to it and is good for when you want something different.

Black Cat
25ml vodka, 25ml cherry brandy or cherry schnapps, 50ml coke or diet coke and 50ml of cranberry juice. I sometimes substitute the cranberry for grape juice if made at home as I prefer it.

Remember with cocktails that it's easy to tot up 3 or 4 units in one serving, so don't get carried away!


Overall, I have been quite impressed with this vodka. I must admit that there is something about Smirnoff vodka and you can slightly notice the difference in quality - just the smoothness of the drink, and I'm not sure if I'm imagining it but I'm sure my hangovers are worse the cheaper the vodka I drink! However for under £7.50 this really is a bargain, if you can handle the torment from your friends. If you are prepared to spend 50p extra, go for the Tesco own brand to save face - there is no difference in taste at all but the packaging is much better and you won't look like such a cheapskate!

Summary: A good cheap drink