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As most of you know -- some a little too much more than others -- I'm a big fan of the vodka, with lime in most cases, and no ice (FEERRRCHRISSAKE!).

I was just talking with Robert about the fire-water on Friday, trying to encourage him to try it straight, without all those nasty mixers. I recommended Bourbon (a little Knob Creek or "Marky-Mark", as our man Mason once called it) at first, and then we got onto the subject of vodka. Or maybe it was the other way around.

Anyhow, there just happens to be a mid-sized article in this month's Atlantic about vodka, in particular about the "artesian" vodka, Hangar 1. Now, I've never tried, or heard of, Hanger One, but the article makes it sound good. The beginning has an overview of vodka which does away with all of the untrue notions most everyone I talk to has about vodka, e.g.,

• Vodka is "tasteless," so all brands are the same. Man, that's just not true at all. But, I would be willing to admit vodka is kind of like bread: it all has that bread taste, and it's easy for many loafs to taste the same, but you can get plenty of variety if you want to.
• Vodka is only in it's true form if it's made from potatoes. Most vodka is made from grain, and there's even some (it turns out) made from grapes (which the article points out makes it technically brandy, or some shit, but I just say to that, "NO FRICKIN' ICE LIKE LAST TIME!").
• Vodka isn't drunken straight. While Kummer keeps saying he might like this-or-that vodka with some fancy-pants club soda or ice, he comes back to having it straight out of a sense of duty to the vodka, like it'd be an insult to the booze if he made it hang-out with some other fluid.

After reading the article, I've got the urge to find out how much a bottle of that Hangar 1 is (probably way, way too much) and, maybe, make the yearly "bourbon book" a vodka book.

(Hmmm... I see that The Atlantic isn't too friendly about providing the full-text on line. Oh well. Maybe they'll put it there after a few months. Even for them smart-heads, it's C.R.E.A.M., I guess.)