h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Vodka should be drunk ice-cold but ice dilutes so vodka is best kept in the freezer. In northern USSR countries such as Siberia people have buried it in the snow but temperatures are too sub-zero and have died of thermal shock after knocking it back quickly.

In London, England, a Polish restaurant called Wodka is to be recommended, carrying a wide range of vodkas, some home-made. Not that they distil. They take a quality vodka such as Absolut and pour it over stoned cherries, for example, and leave to steep for a couple of weeks. Not all vodkas are equal and there is low-grade stuff out there carrying the promising 'bison grass' on its label but tending to disappoint. In London try Delmonico's (if that is still its name) on Old Compton Street, in Soho.