Here at Neatorama, we love our pizza. In fact, Miss C will sometimes eat a whole pizza hoping to just get a buzz. So just wait until she finds out about the new cocktail at LA restaurant Trattoria Neapolis that is pretty much a pizza in a glass.
It would be easy to think this is just a slightly strange Bloody Mary, it really is more pizza-flavored than anything else. While there's no crust, everything else is there, starting with tomato water, porcini mushroom powder and muddled basil. The cocktail then features basil vodka, vodka infused with ghost peppers and is topped off with a parmesean and mozzerella foam.
Via Food Beast
We dish up more neat food posts at the Neatolicious blog
I take your point about filtration, though, as it does remove the few fusel oils that the raw spirit contains. Doesn't make much difference in the taste, however; fusel oils are thought to be a contributing factor in that wonderful side effect that every boozer is all too familiar with, the hangover!
Different vodkas are made out of different substances and also filtered differently. Good tasting vodka needs to be filtered enough to make it not taste like rubbing alcohol. And, some people's bodies handle wheat or potato based ones better than ones made from rice or mixed grains.
If you really want to rip on one for charging too much, try bagging on Ciroc, which is about the same quality as Smirnoff, but about 10 times more expensive because it's Puff Daddy's vodka.
I've heard the arguments about "fusel oils" and they don't hold water. Buy cheap and put the shysters out of business!