15 best vodkas perfect for martinis, mixing and straight sipping

Best: Overall

Rating: 9.5/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

We first tasted this vodka on a 27C day, when it wasn’t chilled even a smidge. And somehow it was still luxuriously, decadently, silk-sheet-like smooth. This multi-award-winning vodka is clearly well-made – and deliciously balanced with its organic blend of barley, wheat and rye. Nutty, biscuity and herbal, it has real depth of flavour too, though not so much as to detract from the clean drinking experience. Think of it as the best of both worlds: character and elegance.

Need another reason to buy? Dima’s is Ukrainian, distilled just outside of Kyiv, and since the start of the conflict the brand has been raising cash for humanitarian support, with £5 from every bottle purchased through its website going to charity. Stock up on a couple, then serve as Dima’s suggests, with a gherkin. The briny, salty, crunchy pickle is the perfect counterpoint to the creamy-sweet vodka, especially when it’s sipped simply over ice.

Best: Light profile

Rating: 9.5/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

When it comes to style, oh-so-smooth character and great value for money, Vusa nails it. We can’t quite believe it costs under £23. Even when enjoyed neat at room temperature – conditions which usually make even the most refined spirits taste a little rough – this African-made bottling came across slick and clean.

Released just last year, it’s distilled in small batches from sugar cane grown in Kwazulu-natal, giving it a light, fresh profile; perfect if you find potato vodkas too rich and creamy. The sugar cane lends a gentle sweet character too, which will go well in any number of mixed drinks, from limey caipiroskas to vodka sodas. Until now, Africa hasn’t been a major player in the vodka scene, but this is a bottle that’s making us wake up and pay attention.

Best: For a good cause

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

Launched as a charity endeavour just a few short months ago, this vodka donates 100 per cent of its profits to the aid and reconstruction of the Ukraine, and will do so until at least 2026. The current crisis is an issue close to the founders’ hearts – one of them is a refugee herself, Kyiv fashion designer Anastasiia Rosinina.

With such a strong story, you might think it doesn’t matter how the vodka tastes, but it really does taste good. A wheat-based bottling distilled in Germany and Switzerland, it’s creamy, smooth and versatile enough to mix with pretty much anything. It is genuinely one of our favourite vodkas in this line up – a feel-good number all around.

Best: For Asian flavours

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

If you want vodka with character, Haku has it. Made by Suntory – the people behind some of the world’s finest Japanese whiskies – it’s distilled from hakumai white rice and filtered with super-porous bamboo charcoal. The result is a spirit that has more in common with Japanese spirit shochu than traditional European vodkas. Light and soft in body and with a distinct sweet florality from the rice, it will go brilliantly in a citrussy yuzu martini or a highball made with oolong tea (a staple of Japanese izakaya pubs). We’d also happily sip it poured over a giant ice cube.

Best: For fruit fiends

Rating: 8/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

Love your vodka in fruity cocktails? This British spirit is for you. Produced from apples in North Yorkshire at Ellers Farm Distillery, it comes with a distinct rounded, orchard fruity hit. Made with sustainability in mind, the vodka is climate neutral, offsetting emissions and supporting reforestation products around the world. Is it a vodka for every occasion? Perhaps not, as its distinct character means it might not be the ultimate pick for certain mixes – say, in an espresso martini. But if you want to sip it over ice or pair with a quality fruit juice, you can’t go wrong.

Best: Zero-waste vodka

Rating: 8.5/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

There are a few tasty vodkas out there made from grapes, but the point of difference with this one is that it’s produced using leftover winemaking grape skins, pips and stalks – all stuff that would otherwise be destined for the bin. That’s the ethos behind Discarded, a zero-waste range of spirits that also comes in 100 per cent recyclable packaging. The idea is that by making spirits with unloved ingredients, we can both be kinder to the planet and discover exciting new drinking profiles. In this case, that means a vodka which is clean but fruity, with crunchy green apple notes and wafts of tropical fruit – lychee and guava. Top it with ice and soda water, then drain every drop. After all, waste not, want not.

Best: American vodka

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 75cl

Made in the heart of bourbon country, this bottling is the perfect example of the vodka revolution underway. It’s a quality and characterful tipple with a real sense of place, made with proper craft by distiller Joyce Nethery and her family. The Netherys grows its own grains for distillation on the family’s 64-acre Kentucky farm – in the case of this vodka, heirloom Bloody Butcher’s corn – and in the glass that makes for singular flavour. Expect a gorgeous vanilla creaminess with distinct fruit and floral notes. It’s certainly interesting enough to drink on its own, and we’d happily see it down in a dry martini, but it would also make one heck of a White Russian.

Best: Outrageous indulgence

Rating: 7/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

This is not a vodka for everyone. But if you’re a seafood-obsessed drinker that loves vodka for its ability to pair impeccably with decadent caviar – plus crab, smoked salmon and oysters – then you might be able to get your head around investing in this release from French caviar house Petrossian.

The team partnered with Gallic spirits brand, Guillotine, to infuse Champagne grape-based vodka with Ossetra Tsar Impérial caviar in a one-of-a-kind luxury bottling. A full 20g of the precious fish eggs are used to make every litre of vodka, which genuinely tastes like savoury, briney caviar. Chill it right down in the freezer and sip it neat with a platter of seafood. Savour it, because every 25ml shot costs £6.80. Which, to be fair – as far as caviar goes – is actually something of a bargain.

Best: For whisky drinkers

Rating: 7.5/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

X Muse describes itself as a vodka that’s made with Scotland’s distillation traditions in mind. And that, of course, means whisky. It also means barley; an ancient grain that, until now, hasn’t really been used to produce vodka. The blended spirit – which is made from two heritage barley varieties, Plumage Archer and Marris Otter – may look clear, but it’s a got a hugely characterful grain aroma and sweet rounded palate that tastes kind of like new-make whisky spirit before it’s been aged in the barrel. It’s certainly a vodka designed to be sipped, savoured and contemplated. One of the most characterful on our list.

Best: For mixing

Rating: 8/10

• ABV: 42%
• Size: 70cl

London-based Portobello Road knows how to turn out classic renditions of the spirits you love – its gins, for example, are pretty textbook. And this recently launched vodka is another winner for the brand’s growing line up. There’s a full 3kg of British potatoes distilled for every bottle, which explains this vodka’s fuller-bodied creamy character. And yet, it’s not OTT rich – this is a spirit which can go with anything. At the reasonable £24 price point, you won’t feel too guilty using it for mixed drinks where the vodka is the support act rather than the star.

Best: Grain-to-glass

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 50cl

If someone tells you that vodka doesn’t have flavour, pour ’em a measure of this. Made in Kent by the River Medway from wheat, barley and rye grown on the Isle of Sheppey, it’s a rare beast in that it’s distilled from grain to glass – meaning the producers, Copper Rivet, keep control over the entire process. And what a flavour that comes as a result. Following fruit and cereal notes on the nose, a bright palate moves from rounded fruitiness to smooth richness, finishing with a wee tickle of pepper.

Don’t waste all this deliciousness by mixing with heavy tonics or sweet fruit juices; pour it over a giant ice cube, then savour each sip slowly. Welcome to flavour country… population: you.

Best: Potato vodka

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

With a typically rich, rounded and creamy mouthfeel, potato vodkas can almost drink like a meal. And yet this Polish iteration – launched in the 1990s and named after the country’s most celebrated composer – manages to balance the characteristic heft with elegance. No wonder it has such a heaving awards cabinet.

Because of its big flavour – earthy, buttery and with a hint spice, then a long and clean finish – you could do worse that just keeping this perennially in the freezer, pulling it out for frosted shots (ideally downed with an Eastern European-style feast, because this vodka can definitely handle a food pairing). But Chopin is capable of far more than that. Try it in bolder cocktails that need a bit more weight; think a dirty martini.

Best: For dirty martinis

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

Here’s a mighty delicious vodka that blows bland, characterless pours out of the water. Thanks to careful distillation in handmade copper stills, plus a rye base sourced with real care – grown within 50 miles of the Oxford distillery to strict organic Soil Association standards – its nose is brimming with character. Chocolate, brioche, prune and coconut all waft from the glass before you even getting sipping; drink it at room temperature and you’ll get enticing malty aromas too. Oxford Rye is a modern, crafted dry vodka made for a drinker that appreciates gin and whisky.

Best: For richer cocktails

Rating: 8.5/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

A vodka made from milk might not sound enticing, but wait until you try this. Made in West Dorset from whey – the by-product of cheese production – along with a serious dose of innovation, Black Cow is an impressively tasty vodka for its price point. And, as you might expect given its origins, it’s udderly rich and creamy.

And it’s not just a gimmick. Even once you get past the backstory – it was developed by cheesemaker and farmer Jason Barber to cut waste from his long-running family business – Black Cow is a delight to drink. Subtle vanilla notes on the nose, and a wee smidge on the palate too, makes it at home when mixed in with richer, sweeter cocktails. Try it in lemon drop (with Cointreau and lemon juice) or, if you are feeling properly old-school, a Sex on the Beach, with peach schnapps, orange and cranberry.

Best: For Bloody Marys

Rating: 8.5/10

• ABV: 40%
• Size: 70cl

The first thing we like about this Isle of Wight-made spirit? Its scaly, mermaid-style bottle – it feels fun and contemporary, not like a backbar leftover from the Nineties. Second, we love that it’s net zero and plastic-free; even the seal is biodegradable. Eco-points, check.

But the main draw is its totally unique profile. This vodka is gently infused with sea salt harvested on the Isle of Wight south coast, and tempered with local mineral water, giving it a saline sense of place. It sounds weird, but it works; a subtle savouriness on the nose becomes more pronounced on the palate with a tingly, moreish salty-sweetness.

Mermaid is clearly made for martinis. A vesper works brilliantly – a dash of quality gin will really balance out that salty character. Or, to blast hangovers clean away, try it in a Bloody Mary with a dash of pickle or olive brine.