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Does Vodka Really Go Bad? It Depends…

Vodca, being a mixture of water and ethanol with a composition of about 40%, it’s a preferred drink by many people due to its often described `smooth taste’. There are different types of brands but all the solutions have the following compositions. – Pure water, two hydrates and pure ethanol.

However, the concentration of these hydrates varies between vodkas making them also have a difference in their shelf life and thus there’s the question of whether or not vodka goes bad after opening.


There are categories of distilled spirits.

Base liquors- when unopened these spirits have an indefinite shelf life but when you open the flavor starts getting lost. They include; whiskey, Gin, Rum, Vodka and Tequila. They are the most stable distilled spirits.

vodka after openingLiqueurs and Cordials – are more temperamental than the base spirits as they contain sugar and other ingredients which can spoil. This makes them to have a shorter lifespan. Something to also consider is their alcohol content and preservatives.

The shelf-life of vodka

Most distilled drinks have a remarkable lifespan. Some do argue that they don’t have a shelf life but they have a half life because once you open vodka its lifespan shortens drastically from years to detection of changes after a year. It’s estimated a bottle of vodka will start to lose its `smooth taste’ as they say after six to eight months. The aroma and flavor will be lost almost immediately but it’s still good to be consumed even after a year.

Since it has no sugar content it makes it to have an additional advantage by having a longer lifespan as sugar spoils faster.

Preventing vodka from going bad

For Vodka not to go bad it should not be exposed to bright light to avoid decomposition process. It’s advised that you store them in a dark corner but this is not a guarantee that they will never decompose.

Storing them in a cabinet to avoid extreme temperatures makes them not to be associated with temperature changes and just letting they have the `right’ temperatures that is the room temperature.

vodka brands

Keeping vodka bottles capped tightly increases there shelf life and this can be achieved by not keeping the bottles in a horizontal position that enhances the corrosion of the cork by the liquid making them to start leaking.

This will preserve vodka not to go bad. It’s not necessary to keep the vodka in the fridge for long in the name of preservation. One can just put the spirits in the freezer a couple of days before the party to make them icy and also helping them maintain the room temperature for a longer time.

Since most of the spirits are often made from fruits or flavored with herbs they have a longer shelf life especially with the herbs content in them.

does vodka goes bad

Spirits do not age with time they actually evaporate, even with the top on, after it has been opened.

Corks will disintegrate if they are not kept moist. Increase in chemical reactions that makes them to go off can be avoided by not exposing them to light and also making sure that the lids are tightly kept in place. You can protect vodka from going bad by using these techniques.