For all those college kids, or really anyone on a tight budget out there—I know we drool when we see Skyy, Absolut and Grey Goose in the liquor aisle, but our bank account balance tells us to pick up that cheap handle of Burnett's instead.

In an attempt to not break the bank and also not vomit in my mouth whenever I take a shot, I did a little experiment with a cheap bottle of Burnett's that actually made the vodka more tolerable.

Just to break it down as simple as possible, vodka is basically distilled through filters that are much, much bigger than a Brita filter. The more expensive the vodka, the more distilled it has been. If the cheap vodka companies won't do the extra filtering for us, then we can do it ourselves in a Brita filter.

All I was looking for was a silkier, smoother, cleaner vodka that could fulfill all my drinking needs. Essentially, this experiment included dumping Burnetts through my Brita filter seven times, and taking a shot after each time it filtered through. So yes, the results did start getting hazy towards the end and the water I filtered in the morning had a tinge of vodka taste.

Lucy Carlisle

Okay, let's go through this experiment shot by shot. Here are the notes I jotted down during the experiment:

Shot 1: Unfiltered Burnett's, regretting my decision to do this experiment.

Shot 2: Honestly, why am I taking shots on a Sunday at 2 in the afternoon?

Shot 3: Wait, I think this is actually working... I'm going to make my friends try and make sure I'm not crazy.

Shot 4: Actually this really, really works.

Shot 5: My aim has gone awry and I've probably poured half of this handle on my rug trying to get it into the filter.

Shot 6: Who needs chasers? I'm gonna take this stuff straight; it's that good.

Shot 7: Should I just kill the bottle?

FYI: It works with flavored or unflavored vodka the same (you're welcome for testing both for you). This vodka shot recipe makes it even more bomb than taking it straight.

So go stock your fridge with cheap handles and filter those babies at least three times to have a vodka that is smooth as hell. Dump that filtered Burnetts into a Skyy bottle and your friends won't even know the difference (except they may be hella impressed that you're rolling in enough dough to afford it).

Disclaimer: Proceed with caution if you ever take seven shots back to back on a Sunday afternoon. This was for science. Drink responsibly!