The short answer
Order vodka when the drink should taste like the mixer: vodka soda, vodka cranberry, a lemon drop, anything where you want the spirit to stay in the background. Order tequila when the drink should taste like the spirit: margaritas, palomas, or tequila sipped with lime and soda.
For a mixed group, vodka is the safer single bottle because almost everyone will drink it with something. Tequila is the better bottle when there is one cocktail on the menu and you want it to be memorable.
How they actually taste
Vodka is distilled to be neutral. A good one is clean, slightly sweet and soft on the finish; a rough one gives you heat and a chemical edge. That is the whole scale — there is no oak, no smoke, no fruit added.
Tequila tastes of the agave it is made from: peppery, vegetal, citrusy in a blanco, and rounder, sweeter and slightly oaky in a reposado that has rested in barrels. It is far more assertive than vodka, which is exactly why people either love it or avoid it.
Mixing: what each one needs
- Vodka: soda water and lime, cranberry, orange juice, ginger beer, tonic. Roughly one litre of mixer per 750 mL bottle.
- Tequila: lime, triple sec, grapefruit soda, agave syrup. A margarita needs more than just a mixer — plan for fresh lime.
- Both: buy ice. Half a pound to a pound per guest is a normal plan.
Cost per drink
A 750 mL bottle of either spirit pours about 16 mixed drinks. That makes the maths easy: divide the bottle price by 16 and you have your cost per drink before mixers.
Tequila generally sits higher per bottle than vodka at the same perceived quality level, because of how agave is grown and processed. If the budget is fixed and you need volume, vodka stretches further; if you want one standout bottle, tequila is where the money shows.
Bottles worth comparing
Grey Goose Vodka
750 mL
$130.00
In stock
Absolut Vodka
Choose your pack size
$80.00
In stock
Don Julio Blanco
750 mL
$160.00
In stock
Casamigos Blanco
750 mL
$160.00
In stock
Which to order for a party
For 20 guests over four hours where spirits are the main drink, you are looking at roughly three 750 mL bottles. Splitting that as two vodka and one tequila covers the widest range of drinkers and still gives you a margarita option.
If you want the split worked out against your own guest count, budget and city, the Party Alcohol Calculator does it from the same catalogue and prices you see here.
Common questions
Which gives you a worse hangover, vodka or tequila?
That is not something we can claim either way — it depends far more on how much you drink, how quickly, and whether you are drinking water alongside it than on which spirit is in the glass.
Is tequila stronger than vodka?
Usually not. Both are commonly bottled around the same strength, and the alcohol percentage is shown on every product page so you can check the exact bottle you are ordering.
Can I substitute tequila for vodka in a cocktail?
In citrus-and-soda drinks, yes — a vodka soda becomes a rough paloma with grapefruit. In anything creamy or delicately flavoured, tequila will take over the drink.
