Vodka is not flavourless and odorless.

Each brand of vodka has a slightly different taste. There may be different kinds of vodka within the same brand with added flavors (usually some fruit or berry). For example, Absolute has Citrus line which is a regular Absolute vodka but has some orange or lemon flavor added. The reason most people go for a more expensive brand is because more expensive vodkas are better destilled. This usually has a better effect on the body after you have a few drinks: you don't get a bad headache. Most people I know prefer Absolute or Finlandia vodkas. They taste quite well, go down easy and there is no headache the next day. Warning: moderation is very important. As Barry White once said - "Too much of a good thing is not good for you, baby."

The experts with “trained palates” would beg to differ. Vodka is measured by its purity. You can tell the difference between brands. Most spirits can be made only from certain prescribed ingredients, but vodka can be distilled from just about anything that can be fermented into alcohol: grains, vegetables, even fruits. This link will take you to a nice taste test review: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/26/dining/26wine.html?pagewanted=2&%2338;ei=5088&%2338;en=5913ec796f54a33c&ex=1264482000

Vodka is not flavor or odorless the better quality of vodka the smoother taste it has, cheaper vodka burns going down, more expensive vodka is distilled more kind of like the difference between tap water and purified water. The bad effects of vodka decrease when the quality of it increases. When you're making a frozen drink with vodka it is hard to tell the difference between well known brands bu in a martini or as a straighter drink (ex. vodka and club) usually people have a preference. Belvedere and Grey Goose are some well known high quality vodkas, smirnoff and absolut are some of the lower quality brands

I'm sorry, but the top answer here has absolutely no basis in science. Go to a fermentation science class. the alcohol, no matter how it is distilled, will give you a hangover. the quality of the ingredients does make a slight difference, but saying that you will not get a headache is basically naive and stupid. distillation processes between vodkas are identical, and the number of distillations matters only as long as it is not single distilled. triple distilled vodka has almost identical quality as double distilled vodka. it comes down to that the consumer pays purely for the quality of the grain/potatoes used in the vodka and the marketing that the company does. there is very little difference between smirnoff and grey goose (people cannot identify the difference in a blind taste test), but grey goose goes for a lot more because of the expensive bottle. so basically, do not listen to a word that the leading answer said. it is pure bullshit.

I also heard that it was odorless but it definitely has a smell similar to rubbing alcohol. It all tastes the same to me (not too good) so I don't really know why people buy expensive brands. Higher proof maybe?

Some are smoother than others.

Because there is a difference between quality and poor quality brands and taste.

The DEFINITION of vodka is "flavorless and odorless". It must be made by mixing water with ethyl alcohol to 40%. Most of the preference and PERCEPTION of quality has to do completely with marketing. The actual quality has 100% to do with the distillation process - not just the "number of times distilled" but how carefully it's performed and the filtration and the quality of the water. So why order Grey Goose at the bar and pay $10 a shot? Because that's the standard of "hey look at me, I think I'm getting the highest quality product because that's what the commercials have told me". Btu then again, maybe there are actually some people who have done their homework and still think Grey Goose is the best there is... The ingredients really don't matter. All raw materials (potatoes, corn, sugar cane, grapes, whatever) all end up in the same stage before distillation. They get cooked and mashed to turn into starch and simple sugars to feed the yeast. The alcohol is the excrement from the yeast. This is what goes into the still - boil off and separate the alcohols from the mash. There are heads and tails of the pure alcohol coming out of the still. These heads and tails contain other alcohol compounds that give the bad tastes and odors and hangovers. Generally called impurities. The cleanest and purest comes from the 'middle'. The quality (and typically price) come from how much of the heads and tails the vodka is using (to get more yield out of a batch). When it comes to professional tasters the hints of whatever they claim to find is usually from the water that went in or from the varying amounts of heads and tail compounds that make it into the final product. SO - bottom line - I don't trust the big industrial brands as the highest quality because by their nature they are using the largest volume production (1000's of gallons per batch) and using more of the heads and tails than they should just so they can fill more bottles. There is very little, if not no hands-on involvement along the way (testing and checking and tweaking the process) - it's all mechanized. The top shelf versions of Absolut and Stoli (and others) are just their standard product but pulled more from the 'middle' decreasing the yield but upping the quality and price (at least that's how I hope they're doing it for $60/bottle). Check out Tito's vodka from Texas and Twenty 2 vodka in Maine which are both small batch and highly controlled products that aim for the purest product. There are probably a tonne of micro-brands out there but those are the two I'm familiar with.

Who told you that vodka flavourless and odorless?

Try a vodka tasting party!

maybe they think its better cause its more expensive