QPR drinks for summer: Consider the humble potato

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The potato. Idaho's raison d'etre. Ireland's main contribution to the world's culinary lexicon. The Yukon's chief claim to fame. You bake it, fry it, mash it, make chips out of it. And...you drink it.

Drink it?

Uh...yeah. In fact, until the early sixties, we were one of the only countries in the spirits-producing world that didn't have some history of producing those wonderful, earthy, slightly-viscous, workingman's vodkas from the lowly potato. The Russians started it, the Poles perfected it, and - finally, predictably - we here in the Northwest, the nation's potato bin, had a brainstorm: "Hey! Our potatoes are better than those guys' potatoes! Let's make Vodka!"

So, we did, starting with Hood River Distillers in Oregon, with their delicious, very Polish-styled, ultra-reasonable "Spudka", with its silken textures and earthy flavors and a nose of rainwater and Everclear. Over the past few years, it's been in my prissy little purist vodka glass as often as anything on the market.

Those looking to counteract the coming price bulge by our state liquor stores could do a lot worse than to make that first tentative foray into the deep, ancient, subtle, and slightly-sinister  world of better vodkas and, in my own humble opinion, the happy coincidence is that the most interesting and substantial vodkas are the potato-derived bottles - which are usually the cheapest. I've included three fave Europeans, below, for comparison and because they're great buys. They won't replace your pet Scotch or Bourbon but they're even more refreshing in the warm weather and they'll set ya back far less during the Slump!

Vikingfjord (Norway): I mention this first because it has become a favorite at our house; a smooth, clean, crisp, slightly citrusy bargain vodka with few of the trademark rustic edges of a good potato vodka but all that silky texture and finish. At just $13 for the 750ml, this is a crisp, anise-tinged, dead-refreshing nectar that represents one of the great values in the entire hard-stuff world. 90 POINTS

Spudka (Oregon): Hood River is the same outfit that brings us the dazzling Pendleton Canadian Whiskey and Spudka is every bit the vodka that the Pendleton is Canadian. It's viscous, oily, earthy, and...well, manly; the sort of Vodka you'd find in the meaty paw of an old Russian farmer after a long day in the fields. This stuff was actually first made in 1962! It's American's first potato vodka by decades and the experience shows in it's delicate aromas of mocha and almonds, along with the mango and pineapple on the palate. 92 POINTS

New Deal (Oregon): New Deal is a little less ironed out than Spudka but is even more assertive and meaty, with a nose as rustic as a mud fence; all spice notes and an alcoholy spritz that climbs right up the nose. On the palate, it's dazzlingly viscous and silky, if not as complex as the Spudka. This is a straight-forward, tough-guy vodka with hints of fennel seed, pear, and toast. 88 POINTS

Blue Ice (Idaho): Slightly sweet on the nose with an intimation of cocoa, followed by a sweet, satiny feel on the tongue and the underlay of rainwater and actual potatoes(!). This is a dead-authentic, Russian-style vodka that delivers a lot of enjoyment for the price. 91 POINTS

44 Degrees North (Idaho): Aw, man, I just HATE infused spirits! But this fine vodka, barrelled with fresh mountain-grown huckleberries, sneaked in under my purist force field and, once it hit my palate, well, that was that. This is just simply delicious vodka and it's not, in any way, heavy-handed or overdone. It may, in fact, be the best infused anything I've ever tasted. Light, fresh, aroamtic but not cloying, this is a mad thing to put into the hands of someone who understands and enjoys drink blending. It even has me dreaming up new concoctions, just like it has at least a hundred of the East Coast's better bartenders. 90 POINTS

Teton Glacier (Idaho): Rivals Spudka for sheer complexity and textures. This is classic Polish-style vodka, leading with bold lemon and lime and offering peppery anise, basil, and macadamia notes. Its sorta retro packaging makes it more missable than some others but it's well worth the search. In several tests at the Beverage Testing Institute of America, it beat out all but a handful of better Euro potato vodkas. 91 POINTS

Luksosowa (Poland): My own personal gold standard, this stuff is a brazenly-masculine drink; rustic, earthy, redolent of mushrooms and loam and showing bold flavors of wood, pepper, limes, and sunflower seeds. It's the most oily and syrupy vodka I've ever tasted, especially when kept in the freezer and dressed out tastefully with a few grains of freshly-cracked black pepper. Just delicious stuff. 94 POINTS

Monopolowa (Austria): I read savage reviews of this vodka all the time. They talk about its rough edges and slight burn as though those were bad things. Fact: Vodka is and always has been a workingman's beverage. These ultra-refined, round-edged grain and flavored vodkas are attempts to take something which has always proudly flaunted its rustic, earthy appeal and make it tamed and dumbed down. If you're not prepared for a bit of burn and a funky element or two, drink Coke. Vodka is blue-collar and this is one of the best in that respect. Country as Minnie Pearl and slick as goose fat, this goes down like literal greased lightnin'. 90 POINTS