I won't class Tito's as superb, but it's certainly drinkable. I do believe Monopolova to be, day in and day out, the best value for the price.

But then, the closest I come to drinking straight vodka is an occasional Vodka Gibson, "up", in a chilled glass and made from vodka kept in the freezer, a la Doppel Korn in North Germany. Honestly, the drink tells me far more about the Vermouth and the onions than it does the vodka. When it comes to vodka in most of the currently popular mixed drinks and cocktails, the other ingredients so overwhelm any possible subtlety to the vodka, "well' brands serve adequately.

There are several Scotch blends imported in the barrel instead of the bottle, far lower tariff/tax. I suspect that Passport may be in that category, just as once "Crawford's" served as the poor man's Johnny Walker Red. Of course, Chivas was once but a medium priced not very popular blend, until the late great Doyle Dane Bernbach (the mad/ad man who made VW a household name) put it is a new bottle with a fancy label and box (with a high price) to make it chic. Years ago, I realized that Crown Royal was no more than a product of imaginative, innovative marketing of an otherwise modest tipple.

.....And then there's the Cognac and Coke crowd, palate-less in the quest to keep up with the neighbors. Why spoil either good or expensive cognac?