# Alegar Versus Malt Vinegar.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alegar-versus-malt-vinegar/811041>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 22, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alegar-versus-malt-vinegar/811041 "2018-03-22T20:21:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alegar-versus-malt-vinegar/811041/1 "2018-03-22T20:21:50Z")

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I am I guess what you might call a foodie. I love trying out new and unusual foods. (Paradoxically, I also have my mother’s dull sense of taste and smell. But maybe that is also part of the reasons why.)

Anyway, one time I came across the name Alegar. Alegar is to ale what vinegar is to wine. I.e., it is soured ale. Get it?

Anyway, I have never come across it in the US. But I think it may be a chiefly British word.

My question is simply this: Are Alegar and Malt Vinegar just basically the same thing? Because Malt Vinegar I can easily get. And if not, then where do you find Alegar in the US?

Thank you in advance for all your helpful replies:)

🙂 🙂 🙂

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**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alegar-versus-malt-vinegar/811041/2 "2018-03-22T20:34:52Z")

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I - a British foodie - have never heard of alegar…

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**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alegar-versus-malt-vinegar/811041/3 "2018-03-22T20:44:08Z")

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My guess - and no better than that - is that it’s a term used mostly in a tiny niche market in handmade vinegar-type products.

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**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alegar-versus-malt-vinegar/811041/4 "2018-03-22T21:01:02Z")

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It isn’t a word that ever heard (British for all of my life) but malt vinegar is made from ale so I suspect it is just an alternative name for that.