It’s the basis of countless cocktails, a party punch favourite and inexplicably added to creamy tomato penne pasta, yet vodka rarely seems to be given its due. While it may not have enjoyed a “ginaissance” like its juniper-based cousin – or seen the same trend-led uplift of rum and tequila – Wine and Spirit Trade Association data shows vodka is the UK’s biggest-selling spirit by volume.
“Too often people just buy the cheapest vodka as they believe it doesn’t have flavour,” says Dawn Davies, buying director at the Whisky Exchange. “Vodka has plenty of flavours, especially if you don’t choose one that has been distilled 100 times over. If you like a cream texture, then a potato-based one is good; for a bit more spice, try rye; and for fruitier notes, apple or grape.”
While commonly made using neutral grain or potato, producers are using options from fruit to rice and sugarcane, maple sap and honey. Even Jeremy Clarkson has jumped on the bandwagon, using byproduct whey as the basis of his Cow Juice vodka (something the wonderful Black Cow has been doing since 2011).
I have been writing about drinks for about a decade, and drinking vodka for more than double that time (vodka, lime and soda was a millennial mainstay), but I only really started to appreciate it after trying Alessandro Palazzi’s famed martinis at Dukes Bar in Mayfair, London. After quizzing him on how he made them taste so good (freeze the vodka, freeze the glass, do clever things with lemon oil), I promptly sourced his recommended Potocki vodka and have been stirring them up since. I use different vodkas depending on my mood, and have tried lots of different styles over the years.
So, to test the 30-odd vodkas that crossed my desk for this article, I first made a (teeny weeny) martini. A sniff of vermouth and a twist of lemon is all I used to pep them up, and I tried them neat and unchilled. We all know that the super-premium Belvederes of this world taste great – at a price – but here I’ve tried to focus on a range of styles at a sensible price, and sourced from small-scale distilleries where possible. I wanted to include bottles from a variety of countries while still championing UK producers and any planet-friendly options.
Whether you like yours long with tonic or in a bloody mary, or a cosmo a la Carrie Bradshaw, vodka is a versatile and essential ingredient in your cocktail cabinet. Here are my favourites.
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The best vodkas in 2025
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Best sustainable vodka:
Sapling raspberry vodka with hibiscus
£35 at Fenwick
£35.32 at Master of Malt
I don’t have a sweet tooth, but I’ll make an exception for this raspberry and hibiscus vodka from sustainable vodka brand Sapling (which makes a gin now, too). The B Corp-certified brand prides itself on being climate-positive, removing more carbon than it produces. The vodka itself is distilled four times, giving a beautifully sweet cleanness, and the addition of “wonky” raspberries, like the kind rejected by supermarkets, provides a juicy, jammy freshness. Further floral fruitiness comes through from a touch of hibiscus essence. Wonderful with soda, spectacular in an extra-fruity cosmo. Sapling plants a tree for every bottle sold, too.
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Best flavoured vodka:
Ramsbury hot honey vodka
£33 at Ramsbury
Each of the Ramsbury vodkas I tried impressed, but this on-trend hot honey variety blew me away. Many aspects of the vodka originate from the Wiltshire estate: honey from the hives, winter wheat from its fields, water from a pure chalk aquifer, then distilled on-site in copper stills. The natural honey sweetness is incredibly delicious and moreish, while gentle chilli warmth adds an up-to-date edge. I enjoyed sipping this, but it would be foolish not to entertain the brand’s recipe for hot honey picante – shaking a double shot up with 25ml fresh lime, 20ml more honey (if you like) and a few sprigs of fresh coriander with ice; garnish with a slice of chilli and pretend it’s summer again.
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Best potato vodka:
Chopin potato vodka
£32.75 at the Whisky Exchange
£32.75 at Amazon
Potato vodkas are the way to go if you’re looking for creaminess, and this is one of the best examples: we’re talking earthy, smooth, mashed potato here. Family-owned Chopin is made at a countryside distillery where vodka has been made in the Polish tradition for almost 130 years, so it makes sense to enjoy this vodka in the same Polish tradition: neat. Paired with rich, hearty food, a chilled shot or two of Chopin potato vodka opens up with further creamy, full-bodied starch, plus a nice nuttiness for good measure. It’s also dreamy in a dirty martini and has currently overtaken Potocki as my preferred Polish vodka.
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Best vodka for a martini:
Jo Vodka 101 the Purist
£49.99 at Jo Vodka
Jo Malone has taken her gift of synaesthesia and decades of fragrance creation and pivoted to spirits – and why not? Her collection of three signature vodkas is made using British wheat in collaboration with master distiller Joanne Moore (creator of Bloom gin, Opihr and others), and each is designed to capture a “scene”. 101 the Purist has been created for uncomplicated, clean freshness, which Malone associates with crunching through snow. On tasting, this description feels too simplistic; this is an icily pure vodka, with crisp, shattering dryness and refreshing clarity without an overtly identifiable flavour note. This is what you think vodka should taste like, but never actually does. It would be criminal to drink this with any mixer – martinis only, and hold the vermouth.
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Best organic vodka:
Eight Lands organic Speyside vodka
£34.25 at the Whisky Exchange
£37.40 at Amazon
Eight Lands is a family-run organic spirits brand in Scotland, where mountain water is drawn from Ben Rinnes and used across the Glenrinnes distillery. The spring water is extremely soft and low in minerals, which the brand says accounts for the smooth taste across its spirits (currently gin and vodka). It is smooth, with absolutely no unpleasant alcohol bite. What makes this vodka so delicious, however, is the discernible, almost malty grain flavour – a yeasty spice with toasty flavours and pepper emerging from the mash of barley and wheat that has undergone an unusual two-stage fermentation. This vodka won gold at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and is delightful alone, but also shines with tonic.
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Best Ukrainian vodka:
Nemiroff De Luxe vodka
£20.95 at the Whisky Exchange
£20.11 at Amazon
Nemiroff has been produced on the same historic site for 150 years – continuing through Ukraine’s geopolitical challenges – and remains one of the country’s bestselling vodka brands. Nemiroff is a boldly authentic vodka with bags of flavour. Using 100% Ukrainian winter wheat blended with water drawn from underground springs, the spirit is refined through an 11-stage filtration process using charcoal, silver and platinum. The result is this robustly herbal, zesty vodka with natural notes of coriander seed and grassy green apples. It’s just asking to go into a mule – ginger beer, lime, fresh mint – otherwise drink neat over ice with a side of pickles like the locals.
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Best wheat-based vodka:
Altamura vodka
£36.25 at the Whisky Exchange
£38.68 at Master of Malt
There are several wheat-based vodkas on this list, but Altamura from Puglia, Italy, is significant. It’s an ancient variety of durum wheat that’s also used to make the region’s PDO-certified sourdough – and now this “terroir-driven” vodka. Using 100% Altamura grain distilled in small batches, this is a layered, silky vodka that has made its way on to the menus of many luxury bars (the Dorchester, Nightjar, the Corinthia) since its UK launch two years ago. Taste-wise, it’s soft and smooth with creamy lemon flavours and restrained sweetness. I found it lovely with a lemon twist or replacing gin in a French 75.
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Best zero-waste vodka:
Discarded Spirits grape skin chardonnay vodka
£36.99 at Selfridges
£27.95 at Amazon
Repurposing ingredients discarded by the coffee, wine and whisky industries, Discarded Spirits’ mission is to “reverse waste”. Its zero-waste vodka uses recovered leftover grape skins combined with the alcohol produced from chardonnay wine de-alcoholisation. It makes for an innovative take on the spirit, with fruit-forward wine-adjacent flavours in spades. Before you say you don’t like chardonnay: chablis is made from chardonnay, and it’s one of the main three grapes used in champagne-making. Apples, almonds and brioche are all very much present in this triumph of a vodka, with plenty of tropical and slightly mineral flavours, too. If a vodka martini isn’t your thing normally, do try it with this (the wine flavour negates the need for vermouth in my opinion) or drink it with soda or tonic.
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Best sugarcane vodka:
Independent Distillers (Barbados) Spitfire vodka
£42 at English Spirit
And now for something different: a Bajan vodka. Spitfire vodka is crafted from Barbadian sugarcane, of which 28 hectares (70 acres) surrounds the Kendall Hill signal station – home to the first new distillery to open in nearly three decades on an island best known for its rum. Using copper pot and column stills, each batch is handmade and carefully distilled with the aim of an end product to enjoy neat. Indeed, Spitfire vodka is deliciously sweet and rich, with a silky mouthfeel that is pleasantly warming on its own, but its natural lush sweetness makes for a great espresso martini, too.
For more, read the Filter’s guides to:
• The best gins for G&Ts, martinis and negronis
• 10 refreshing alternatives to Aperol spritz
• The best low- and no-alcohol drinks
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Joanne Gould is a food, drink and lifestyle writer with a decade of experience. As well as enthusiastically eating her way through London’s best bars and restaurants, she’s also a keen home cook and can often be found trying a new recipe or kitchen gadget, while taste-testing anything from South African wines to speciality coffee or scotch. Luckily, she also enjoys walking, running and keeping fit and healthy in her spare time – for balance
