Russian Standard is, well, a great standard when it comes to reasonably priced vodkas. While it doesn't have anything exciting to offer there's genuinely nothing to hate here either. You can almost view this bottle as being an excellent example of what vodka should be. A vodka standard if you will. The nose is very mild and tame. It has the standard smell of a wheat vodka lazily floating down a sweet, alcohol river. The alcohol presence is there but just barely. This doesn't sting the nostrils. Just gentle ethanol scent exists, a medium to support the sweetness of the wheat. Let it sit for a bit and a spicy citrus zest begins to emerge as well, tucked even further away in the background. Sweetness continues once imbibed. It's not the upfront sweetness of corn vodka nor is it the distinct bready sweet of other wheat based vodkas. It's a happy, pleasant in-between; a compromise between those two extremes that's happy to be pleasant in how unassuming it is. Only when you swirl it around in your mouth do you get more defined vanilla and bread flavors. Otherwise it's an undefined, almost neutral sweetness. On the finish you get a some of that citrusy zest from the aroma and a bit of a spicy pepper "kick." For a vodka it's pretty muted but it's noticeable from the previous sweetness. That's not to say it's out of place. It rounds out the experience quite nicely. Texture wise it also strikes a balance between oiliness and being watery, which fits nicely with the rest of the experience. I only have two complaints about this vodka. The first is that it's perhaps a bit too standard and nondescript. It just isn't exciting to drink by itself. But for the price point that's a mild concern especially in a category that means to be neutral. Second complaint is that it does have a bit of a burn going down which makes the product feel just a bit rough around the edges. It is *not* a burn that makes it undrinkable. Rather, just a burn that reminds you there are better products out there--for a higher price. This is a great vodka to use for smooth mixing and as a baseline against which to judge all other vodkas.