To some, asking readers “What is the best Ukrainian vodka?” is like asking residents in China what is the best brand of rice.
Like rice lovers, though, vodka aficionados know their spirit, and aren’t reluctant to give advice on the topic: The Post’s readers offered a range of heartfelt, if subjective, opinions.
It wasn’t a stunning upset victory, but Hetman gathered a majority of the votes.
Readers laud Hetman’s clean, crisp taste and say it trickles smoothly down the throat, Hetman also boasts an exquisite collection of frosty bottles and matching shot glasses with portraits of Ukrainian Hetmans.
Another Hetman brand, Pervak, also received a handful of votes. Pervak is made from the potent distilled alcohol that rises to the top of a batch of samagon, or moonshine.
Triple-distilled Nemiroff had enough fans to secure a solid third place finish, while less well-known Ukrainian vodkas also managed to garner a respectable amount of votes.
Premium favorites like Belaya Rus Luxe and Soyuz Viktan fared poorly by comparison.
Voting for Luhansk’s own Luga Nova Luxe, one humble reader wrote, “It’s produced and filtered to the same quality standards as Absolut but is a third of the price of Lviv’s Hetman. But as an Englishman, I can’t possibly understand such things.”
Some vodka connoisseurs disdain vodkas flavored with pepper, honey or blackcurrant as mere marketing gimmicks, but flavored varieties did win favor among our readers. Ukrainian vodka, or ‘horilka,’ is produced in a wide variety of flavors.
While it isn’t surprising that not everyone enjoys the taste of Ukraine’s national drink, we were mildly surprised to hear from a couple of Americans who have not fully buried the myth of virtuous dry living that fueled the Prohibition.
One such reader quipped, “There is no best vodka or even good vodka in Ukraine. In Ukraine vodka goes hand in hand with dissipation and apathy. Why promote degradation? There is no best vodka in Ukraine.”
Overall, the results clearly show that people have set aside preconceived notions about the better-known premium vodkas and have made an effort to sample many of the less well-known but worthy entries in the national marketplace.
Molodtsi!
RESULTS:
1. Hetman
2. Hetman Pervak
3. Nemiroff
4. Samagon
5. Shustov with pepper
(Tie) Kholodni Yar
Others receiving votes: Artema (blaccurrent flavor); Barskaya; Sumskaya; Ternopilka Zhytnia; Persha Guilda; Poltavske; Koztaska Rada; the variety prepared in a bath by old women.
