Absent any adulterations, like the glycerol some makers reportedly add to increase viscosity, any high-end vodka should taste like any other. One hypothesis for why they don’t says that at concentrations above 40 percent alcohol—that’s 80 proof—H2O forms crystalline molecular cages called clathrates, trapping ethanol inside. The researchers suggest that the length and strength of the hydrogen bonds that loosely tie the water molecules into those cages give vodkas their different flavors. No one knows how; it’s not like there are taste buds for hydrogen bond strength.
