The first thing to consider when making vodka is what kind of ingredients you want to use. Although vodka is commonly made with potatoes, it’s hardly ever the only ingredient that is use. Vodka is traditionally made by the distillation of fermented grain or potatoes. However, there is a growing trend among distillers toward the use of fruits and sugar to distill vodka. One of the defining characteristic of vodka is that, unlike most other spirits, it’s not aged in oak barrels. As such, vodka's closest relative would arguably be moonshine; since neither vodka nor moonshine are aged.
Vodka is most commonly distilled using a column still instead of using a pot still. Vodka typically carries over much less flavor from its ingredients than other spirits such as whiskey. Much of this has to do with the type of still that is used. Column stills tend to produce a more pure but subjectively less flavorful spirit.