Clear Winners
Vodka has long been your friend who can do just about everything, yet refrains from being the center of attention. It can sharpen any beverage—Orange juice! Tomato juice! Red Bull!—but lingers in the background, smirking rather than shouting. That’s partly by design. For years, the federal agency that oversees alcohol has defined vodka as a spirit “without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.” It’s been the wallflower liquor.
