There are some very expensive vodkas that are in pure crystal bottles, etc etc
I'm looking for a vodka that's so special it warrants an approximate $500 price tag where the money is going to the contents, not the weird/special/extreme bottle.
Bottle size somewhere around the standard 750ml- no 5 liter bottle please.
Anyone have a direction to point me?
There are vintage bottles that will set you back that much, but they get their price tag from rarity, not quality. If you're just looking for fancy vodka, you reach diminishing returns pretty quickly. The New York Times noted Smirnoff as the best in a blind tasting, while Playboy's booze columnist had good things to say about Popov, which comes in a plastic bottle.. Even a vodka that is supposedly easier on your liver (because you know.... science and stuff) only goes for 30 dollars.
On the luxury end of the spectrum vodka tops out around 70 bucks. This includes a numbered, limited edition bottle, that uses potato vintages in the same way that wines use grape vintages, and even lists the name of the potato farmer on the label. There are some notable and pricey exceptions to that. Stolichnaya released three limited edition bottlings a few years back, each going for 3k. The big deal with these was that they used special water sources. When you go for ultra-premium vodka, that's what you get.... really expensive water.
If you are still interested, Subzero in St. Louis was named one of the best vodka bars in America by both USA Today and Liquor.com. They have one of, if not the single largest vodka collection of any bar in the US. As far as I know, three of their bottles are over a hundred dollars. The first is one of the Stoli bottles mentioned above. The second is called CLIX, and is made by Buffalo Trace distillery. The name comes from the roman numeral for the number of times it's distilled....159. Which is 157 times more than necessary, in my humble opinion. The other is Ciroc Ten. Both of those come in around 300 greenbacks.
Personally, whether this is a gift or you just want to try something different, here are a few things that might interest you. Napa Reserve Neutral Brandy is vodka made from wine. It used to be called vodka and not brandy, pretty sure they had to change that for regulatory reasons. Grey Goose VX is vodka mixed with a little bit of brandy. Finally Black Cow Milk Vodka. It was the first vodka made from milk and if I remember right, a couple years back I could swear I heard it was Prince Williams favored vodka. Then again, apparently a bottle of Smirnoff was seen at Kensington Palace... and if the cheap stuff is good enough for royalty, it should be good enough for anyone.
It would help to know what the purpose of the purchase. gift? collection? own use?
In any case Starka, especially the 25 year or 50 year, would probably go for that much.
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starka
"Starka is a traditional dry vodka distilled from rye grain, currently produced only in Poland and Lithuania. Traditionally Starka is made from natural (up to 2 distillations, no rectification) rye spirit and aged in oak barrels with small additions of linden-tree and apple-tree leaves. The methods of production are similar to those used in making whisky. Sold in various grades, the most notable difference between them is the length of the aging period, varying from 5 to over 50 years, and the natural color which is obtained from the reaction between the alcohol and the oak barrel, not from the additives."
And from my personal experience in Russia, it is very drinkable. You may have a hard time finding it, depending on your location.
Another possibility is the Georgian Grappa: Chacha, AKA grape vodka, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacha_(brandy) This one is a bit strong for my taste, though, but a nice addition to a collection, or an unusual gift. Not sure about the price
Cheers!
