The cheapest vodkas of 2024

It’s pretty cool when a simple, basic element becomes the building block of an infinitely more complex organism – a bit like vodka and the spirits industry.

While many will argue that gin, brandy or whiskey are more deserving of this status than vodka, when you really look at it, vodka is actually the basic unit of all spirits. Every cocktail – and every triple-distilled, diamond-filtered, botanical-infused spirit in it – is, in its simplest form, simply a delivery system for getting ethanol into the human body. And what is vodka but ethanol?

Vodka, the world’s most consumed spirit, doesn’t really pretend to be anything other than what it is: a simple alcohol made by fermenting and distilling starches and sugars, that goes from the distillery to the bottling plant and is ready to be sold within hours of being made. No storage, no flavorings, just pour it into a bottle and put it on the shelf. It’s pretty much the Pinot Grigio of spirits.

And despite the inexplicable rise of mega-super-premium brands offering spectacular packaging at great expense, the simple fact remains: the better a vodka is, the less it tastes like anything. However you package it, it’s not exactly a recipe for guaranteed premium prices.

Good vodka is like a knife: it’s fast, sharp and potentially lethal in the wrong hands, but it’s also a great tool. You can make great cocktails with it, you can cook with it, you can make limoncello with it and you can add flavours to it to make even more money from younger drinkers. If that sounds derogatory, it’s not meant to be. Vodka is, after all, the least sophisticated spirit and most producers (if they’re honest with themselves) know exactly how their product is viewed: it’s popular because it does what it says on the label.

It also offers quite an amazing value for money, and compared to other spirits, it really does offer an amazing value for money. As always, we must point out that value is subjective – what is a bargain to one person may be an unforgivable extravagance to another. So we’ve taken a straightforward approach to determining what we mean by “value” by using a direct point-to-dollar ratio for a simplified “value for money” scale. We divide the score by the price to get a value score. The higher the value score, the more points per dollar.

The cheapest vodkas on Wine-Searcher:

An interesting feature of this year’s list is how different it is from last year’s. While seven of last year’s top 10 were back, that means there are four new names on the list, a tribute to the number of brands emerging with a focus on quality and value. And the more astute among you will notice that this makes a top 10 of 11 vodkas, but it was impossible to separate the bottom two.

Additionally, prices have kept pace with inflation in most cases, although the Nemiroff really outperformed with its price drop – the global average retail price (GARP) fell by a dollar to $14, meaning its value factor has increased even further. Overall, the average GARP for any vodka is $22, with the most expensive (Stoli Gold and Purity) coming in at $28.

The aggregated critics’ ratings now range from 90 (Stoli Red) to 95 (for Stoli Gold and Purity), over 91 for Zubrowka, 92 for Reyka and Tito’s, 93 for Nemiroff and 94 for the rest.

Vodka may be a simple spirit, but with ratings like these – and prices like these – it’s a pretty easy choice for the budget-conscious consumer too.