Cosmopolitan Cocktail #5 recipe

There is vodka and then there is Absolut. it's kind of like theres beer and then there's Corona, or tequilla and Jose Cuervo. Use Absolut 100 instead of Smirnoff, frost the rim, and garnish with a lime, then you have a killer cocktail.

It's amazing how folks fall for dumb advertising. Absolut makes a good vodka, but you'll never be able to tell the difference in a cocktail and you probably wouldn't tell the difference in a taste test.

Have fun with your friends: go buy four or five vodkas ranging from the cheapest brand you can find at the supermarket, Smirnoff, Stoli, Absolut and, if you want to regret it later, a high-priced super-premium. Pop all the bottles in the freezer (not the best way for super premium but that's what most people do).

Get some of your friends together and pour out equal portions into shot glasses marked on the bottom with numbers, so you know which vodka went into each glass and then mix them up so the taste-test is blind.

Have your friends rank the vodkas in order of their preference. About half the time the cheapest vodka will end up on top or near the top or at least beat the most expensive one.

I've done this with whiskies (amazing how many people choose Johnny Walker Red over the Blue in a blind test) and other booze. It's a fun thing to do and show just how much advertising works on both weak-minded and smart.

I guess it goes without saying that diluting the vodka into a cocktail would give even more random results....