Click warning, this episode contains one curse word.

This is Planet Money from NPR.

So the other day I go to a bar, O'Keefe's, it's a standard Irish bar in Brooklyn with someone who I thought was a friend, Dan Pashman.

You thought wrong, Alex. And we got into an argument.

Yeah, that's true.

I am telling you, it is a real thing that happens just about every time.

So, wait, you're telling me, when you drink cheap vodka, you have an allergic reaction, but when you drink expensive vodka, you're fine.

I am allergic to cheap vodka that is my claim.

When I drink cheap vodka, my face turns red, it gets a little hard to breathe. Like just a little, it's not like it's going to kill me.

I don't buy it.

You doubted my own personal claim about my own personal health.

Look, no offense, Alex, but I am just really skeptical. I cover food for a living, and I can tell you that vodka's are pretty much all the same.

In fact, they have to be.

And anyone who thinks otherwise is following for one of the great sales jobs in modern history.

Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Dan Pashman, host of the Sportful Food Podcast.

And I'm Alex Goldmark.

Today on the show, we're going to find out who is right.

We will put fancy vodka to the test.

We're going to go and find out how vodka is actually made.

We'll hear the story of the marketing genius who created the whole concept of super premium vodka.

We will make our own vodka, and we'll send it to a lab to see how it measures up.

We're talking Bunsenburners, lab coats, liquor scientists, and Alex's face.

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