According to Food & Wine, Vodka is passé. At least that’s how Wall Street Journal writer Eric Felten sees it after reading Food & Wine’s Cocktails ’09. The magazine lists the signature cocktails of prominent bartenders (or would they prefer mixologists now days?) and there is a sharp decline in vodka cocktails for 2009. Eric Felten heralds it a welcome sign of vodka’s decline. He may be mistaken.

Felten goes on to lament the sugary, bizarre martinis that have been on the rise in bars across the nation, then praises bartenders for branching out to new alcoholic beverages, like brandy wines of Italy and South America, or a renewed interest in rum-based cocktails. He refers to vodka as merely “a way to inject unobtrusive alcoholic content into sugary drinks.” If this is what vodka is, I agree with Felten. Good riddance.

As you may have guessed, I have a different opinion of the spirit. I’m sure most of you agree that there is more to vodka than the stuff you put it in. Vodka is a spirit with subtleties most drinkers never take the time to explore. Furthermore, it’s not the dining cognoscenti that are out hitting the bars ordering vodka and Red Bull by the bucket.

I’ll let the fine diner types drink vodka-free designer cocktails. I’ll keep my vodka straight, or maybe with a nice juice blend if the situation warrants.