Vodka Soda
Vodka and soda water over ice with a lime wedge. The lowest-calorie drink at the bar and the plainest — clean, cold and bubbly, with lime doing all the flavouring.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Fill a highball glass with ice.
Add the vodka.
Top with chilled soda water.
Squeeze a lime wedge over the drink, drop it in and stir once.
A thoughtful finish
- A strongly carbonated soda (Topo Chico, Fever-Tree) makes it; a flat one makes it nothing.
- Squeeze the lime in; the rim garnish is decoration.
- A dash of bitters or a splash of grapefruit juice gives it something to taste.
Common mistakes
- Too much soda; two to one is the drink.
- Flat soda.
- Cheap, harsh vodka — there is nothing to hide it.
A few good questions.
What does a Vodka Soda taste like?
Cold bubbles and lime, with the vodka's warmth. It is deliberately plain.
How many calories?
About 100 for two ounces of 40% vodka; the soda and lime add almost nothing.
Vodka Soda or Vodka Tonic?
Tonic has sugar and quinine bitterness; soda has neither.
Which vodka?
A clean, smooth one; it is the only flavour besides the lime.
Variations
- Vodka Tonic — Vodka and tonic water.
- Gin Rickey — Gin, lime and soda.
- Scotch and Soda — Scotch and soda water.
- Ranch Water — Tequila, lime and Topo Chico.
Where it comes from
c. 1960s · United States
Vodka and soda has no inventor; it is what happened when vodka became America’s spirit in the 1960s and the Scotch-and-soda drinker switched. It has been the diet drink of the bar ever since — no sugar, about 100 calories, nothing to taste but the lime — and the flavoured-vodka boom of the 1990s and the hard-seltzer boom of the 2010s both grew out of it. It is worth making properly: a good vodka, a hard, cold soda with real fizz, plenty of ice and a lime squeezed in rather than perched on the rim. Two to one is a drink; one to four is a glass of water.
Sources
- Difford's Guide, Vodka Soda, 2010 (reference)
- Gary Regan, The Joy of Mixology, 2003 (book)
- Liquor.com, Vodka Soda, 2019 (reference)
Strength. About 1.33 US standard drinks at an estimated 11.6% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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