Devotion | USA

The uniqueness of Devotion’s proprietary solution will distinguish the spirit from its competition. The vodka used for making Devotion is triple distilled from corn and is free of congeners (methanol, aldehydes and amyl alcohols). Generally, the spirits with high congener content add to “hangover” symptoms. Devotion Vodka will be 80 proof, or 40% alcohol by volume. The protein used in the Devotion Vodka blend is PeptoPro® and casein, PeptoPro® , which was developed by DSM Food Specialties with the Dutch Olympic Committee is a recovery ingredient for fast muscle refueling.

Grey Goose | France

One of the original premium vokdas on the market and the first from France. Launched in 1997 by self made millionaire Sidney Frank who later sold it to Bacardi in the biggest on brand sale ever at the time of $2.2 billion. Flavors include La Poire, L'Orange and Le Citron

Smirnoff |Russia

In 1864, Peter Smirnoff distilled his first vodka in Russia. He continuously filtered his pure grain alcohol through hardwood charcoal for eight full hours. By 1877 Smirnoff's Vodka had won him his first Double Eagle, Russia highest commercial honor, as the best product in his industry. Some Flavors include Vanilla, Raspberry, and Green Apple.

Pink | Holland

Contains a flavorless, proprietary blend of all natural caffeine and guarana. P.I.N.K is specifically designed to provide an enjoyable drinking experience for the consumer without being overpowering, much like having a drink during dinner, followed by a cup of coffee.

Imperia | Russia

Imperia uses winter wheat from the black soil of the Russian Steppes, distilled eight times and blended with the glacial waters from Lake Lagoda. The liquid is then filtered twice through charcoal and twice again through quartz crystals from the Ural Mountains. The Imperia formula is based on Dmitri Mendeleev's original formula, decreed by Czar Alexander III in 1894 as "The Standard of Vodka."  The Imperia brand was launched in Russia in 2004

Skyy | USA

Maurice Kanbar started SKYY out of this San Francisco apartment in 1992. When SKYY was launched in New York City in 1994, Maurice's nephew Jeff Kanbar came on board as the sole sales, marketing and promotions director. At 23, he worked out of his studio apartment with a closet full of SKYY and a hand truck. He would sell during the day, then promote at clubs in Manhattan and the Hamptons at night.

Stolichnaya | Russia

Stoli, has nine varieties of flavors. the Russian Vodka has a long history. From being rationed out daily to soldiers during wars to having crossed over boundaries between cultures. In 1973, at the height of the cold war, the Soviets struck a deal with Pepsi Cola Inc. that allowed Stoli to be exported to the United States in return for Pepsi being imported in the USSR.

Effen | Netherland

Made from priemium wheat from the Northern Holland, it is the first and only international brand created by bartenders for bartenders. Effen is the Dutch word for smooth, even & balanced. It is filtered through peat rather than charcoal that is often used for this process.

Chopin |Poland

Single ingredient vodka distilled from potatoes grown in the Podlasie Region of Poland. Due to its low level of industrialization, this area is one of the healthiest, most fertile agricultural in Europe. Seven pounds of naturally gown Podlasie potatoes go into every bolttle of Chopin Vodka.

Ketel One |Netherland

Made by one of the oldest family distilleries in Holland, the Nolet family has been distilling superior spirits since 1691. Ketel One gets its name from Distrilleerketle #1, which uses the alembic copper pot still method that Joannes Nolet adopted over 300 years ago.

Sobieski | Poland

Began in Poland's rich Mazowse fields where the golden Dankowski Rye is harvested. Their crystalline water from Oligocene springs contributes to silky finish. It is then continuously distilled, creating one of the purest and smoothest vodkas in the world.

Belvedere | Poland

The Belweder Palace is depicted on the bottle, the residence of some of the reatrest polish leaders such as Marshal Jozef Pitsudski and Lech Walesa. New flavors include Belvedere IX, Belvedere Citrus, Belvedere intense and Belvedere Orange.

Medoyeff | USA

Employing authentic techniques borrowed from the best Russian Distilleries, every ounce of Medoyeff spirit journeys though a maze of charcoal and limestone, giving Medoyeff Vodka its sweet, supple mouth feel and bright mineral finish.

Cirrus | USA

A gold medal award winning premium all natural potato vodka. It is hand crafted entirely by Cirrus in their distillery with copper pot still using absolutely no additives to influence flavor. Cirrus is described as having vanilla notes and is creamy to taste, slightly sweet with a rich thick texture, very smooth

Diamond 100 | USA

Winners of a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. From the makers of Crater Lake Vodka, Diamond 100 vodka is meticulously filtered over 100 times through charcoal and crushed lava rock, aged slightly in new American oak.

Vox | Netherlands

One of the smoothest vodkas on the planet for over 400 years. Meticulously crafted from the finest wheat grain, selected for its subtle undertones, Vox is distilled five times to ultimate smoothness. Flavors include Raspberry and Green Apple.

Nude | USA

The Oregon Cascade consist of wide forested hills and low summits along with several volcanic peaks, which is where the water used for nude vodka is naturally filtered through the volcanic rock. Nude vodka is five times filtered through crushed lava rock.

Dragon Bleu | France

Distilled from a blend of three grains: wheat, barley, and rye giving Dragon Bleu its distinct flavor and finish. The real significance in quality begins with superior ingredients used in the distillation process. Dragon Blue takes pride in the fact their Vodka is distilled just once.

Absolut | Sweden

Lars Olsen Smith, the creator of Absolut started the foundations of the company when he was only 22 years old. In the the early 1980's, Absolut set the trend for flavored vodka by releasing Absolut Citron, one of the first and only flavored vodkas on the market.

360 of Vodka >>

Vodka usually has an alcohol content of 35% to 50% by volume. The classic Russian, Lithuanian and Polish vodka is 40% (80 proof). This can be attributed to the Russian standards for vodka production introduced in 1894 by Alexander III.

Vodka also a derivative of the Slavic word for water - voda or woda, first appeared in print around 1405 in Polish court documents. As most old world spirits and liqueurs did, vodka started as a medicinal product dispensed by pharmacists and doctors. This can be attested to by Russian pharmaceutical documents with terms such as vodka khlebnogo vina and vodka polu khlebnogo vina, which translate to vodka of bread wine, meaning to dilute the prescribed spirit with water. Vodka has shown up in documents throughout history and began showing up in Russian dictionary in the mid 19th century. The actual origin of the spirit far outweighs the controversy surrounding where the word comes from.

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"Vodka has an understated elegance,"It's an easy drink - smooth, light - but retains a definitive and powerful kick."

"Consumers of luxury goods want to purchase not only the product but also the experience, the impression and the image, a U.S. company formed last year "to create, develop and market unique imported luxury products to sophisticated consumers throughout the world," as the company's introductory press release said.

Transborder's first product is Diaka, a rye-based Polish vodka produced using a patented diamond filtration process that the company says uses nearly 100 cut diamonds, of as much as one carat in size. Diaka vodka hit the market, at a planned retail price of $100 per Swarovzki crystal-encrusted bottle.

Diaka, a cocktail of a name with two ingredients, diamond and vodka, is produced by the Polish company Polmos Siedlce, which also makes a potato-based Chopin Vodka.

In a similar spirit, Roberto Cavalli vodka, distilled from Italian grain and Italian alpine spring water, is filtered through layers of crushed Carrara marble before hitting the retail shelves in a graceful Lalique-style bottle designed by the Italian high-fashion designer, at a price of ?0, or $90.

Happily for drinkers of these luxury vodkas, the attention paid to packaging and marketing seems to be matched by that paid to the product.

The Brand Distillery, in London, says that they started researching Polish vodka recipes and traditions in the early '90s, before bringing the company's U'Luvka brand to market in May 2005. The vodka is distilled in Poland from a blended mash containing 50 percent rye, 25 percent wheat and 25 percent barley.

The result is a vodka with silken, subtle flavors that, unlike most, can be served at room temperature rather than chilled and can be drunk as a digestive as well as in a martini or a mixer.

The subtlety of the spirit extends to the marketing, with the name barely discernable on the bottle, which features an alchemical emblem referencing entwined male and female bodies, dancing together in a celebration of life.

It is all about nobility and integrity, that is why they created the brand, to make a great spirit that has a luxury inside and out. The underpinning of the brand is a dance with life, a celebration, an embodiment of friendship, which is part of the ritual of a toast in Poland.

"The elements of the packaging reflect the quality of the liquid - the design of the bottle is male and female friendly, sensual and versatile."

U'Luvka's designer bottle has a long, sinuous curved neck - a useful design as it fits neatly into the hand of a bartender - and comes in three sizes: a miniature (10 centiliters) at ?5; the 70-centiliter signature bottle at ?0; and a magnum (175 centiliters) at ?20.

An U'Luvka "Friendship, Love and Pleasure" gift set, offers a 70-centiliter bottle, two shot glasses and a cocktail book.

For those seeking a richer, warmer glow of decadence, the French spirits company Louis Royer, traditionally producers of cognac, wanted to position themselves in a new market. "Gold is appreciated universally"  of Louis Royer, and through its U.S. importer Shaw-Ross International, in Miami, they introduced another luxury vodka to the U.S. market in September. Gold Flakes Supreme contains shavings of 24-karat gold inside each 75-centiliter bottle.

Priced at $60, the gold-infused vodka "will find its place with connoisseurs and people who appreciate the finer things".

Here is a seemingly good justification. It must be for those who are going through the actually tough-time of life that the very thought of living becomes a secondary issue for them. Got confused! I am just kidding. There are interested people who would love to spend $1million on a single bottle of vodka.

Against the Diaka Vodka made in Poland that was flaunted as the world’s most expensive Vodka (no info about price), today we have Diamond-filtered, the Diva Vodka by Blackwood Distillers, a Scotland based company. Refined thrice, this ice-filtered undergoes a disciplined process. First, the vodka is filtered is via Nordic birch charcoal and then flowed through a chunk of trampled diamonds and gems to offer it a stylish look and feel. The price per bottle of Diva Premium Vodka varies from $3,700 and $1 million, on the basis of usage of the valuable stones in the bottle.

Serious ice. Expensive ice. Diamonds, to be exact. Polish Diaka vodka (diamonds+vodka) claims to be the world’s most expensive vodka.

The vodka comes in a bottle made of crystal. The filtration process of the vodka is why it is so exclusive. The Diaka Vodka is made in Poland where they use nearly one hundred diamonds of up to one carat in size, to filter the spirit resulting in vodka with unsurpassed clarity and smoothness.

New to the premium vodka category is DIAKA (an acronym for "diamond vodka"), which is imported from Poland and filtered with actual diamonds.

"Vodka constitutes the largest segment of the U.S. liquor market, and high-end vodka continues to grow at a blistering pace," said Rudy N. Vogel, chief executive officer and founder of New York-based TransBorder Marketing Inc., the company that created DIAKA.

Vogel says the vodka's special filtration process will entice consumers to try DIAKA and ultimately keep them coming back for more.

This patented "Double Diamond Filtration Process" uses nearly 100 diamonds up to 1 carat in size. The diamonds are housed in a large glass tube into which the vodka flows. Through centrifugal force, the diamonds swirl through the tube and actually "cut" the molecules of the vodka.

The vodka then passes through the bottom of the tube, wherein lies a comb filter encased with tiny diamond chips. This two-step process enhances the smoothness, clarity and palate of the vodka, yielding an end-product that so far is unavailable anywhere else in the world, according to Vogel.

"We are poised to take the ultra premium vodka category to a new level of taste and sophistication," Vogel said.

Vodka accounts for more than 25 percent of all U.S. spirits sales, according to Beverage Dynamics, an industry publication. In 2004, more than 44 million 9-liter cases of vodka were sold in the U.S., a 6 percent gain over 2003.

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