I don’t drink crude oil, but I’m guessing this statement is less than accurate. If, as is suggested, the only way to make it potable is to store it in charred wood casks in order to “let chemicals in the wood mix with the brew” - you can stop right there, I don’t eat wood either.
Have we not heard of moonshine, also known as fresh whiskey? Some even prefer it.
Not accurately it can’t. Vodka is distilled at a much higher proof than whiskey is. The whole idea is to get every bit of the cogeners and flavors of the grain out. Whiskey, OTOH, is distilled at a lower proof, keeping the cogeners and the flavors intact. Then, as the whiskey ages and interacts with the wood, it matures, mellows and becomes what we drink today.
Taste Georgia Moon and vodka side by side and you can tell the difference between vodka and moonshine.
Vodka is per definition liquor made from starch (which you get from grain, potatoes or whatever). How you distill it and treat it after distillation is irrelevant.
Vodka is a grain neutral spirits; GNS. This means it can be made from fermenting any type of grain; wheat, corn, rye, grapes, etc. In the United States, Vodkas are defined by U.S. government regulation as “neutral spirits, so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color.”
Vodka has to be distilled to 190 proof. By distilling to 190 proof, most all flavor characteristics are removed. Water is added to reduce the 190+ proof GNS to between 100 and 80 proof for bottling. Everclear is Vodka that has not been watered down to lower proof. Post filtering and adding water to product is really the only differences in brands of vodka. Flavored vodkas are nothing more than regular vodkas that have flavor additives put in after distillation process.
The hype you read on vodkas about being distilled 5 times and filtered 14 different ways is just that, marketing hype. Vodkas producers are putting their products in tall skinny bottles so they will not fit on lower shelf, forcing bars to place them on “top shelf”. Bourbon – The main grain used in making the bourbon must be at least 51% corn; other grains used may be rye, wheat and barley malt in any combination. Bourbon is distilled at no more than 160 proof, aged at no more than 125 proof in new, white oak barrels that have been charred. Nothing can be added at bottling to enhance flavor, add sweetness or alter color. Bourbon is a distinctive product of the United States as officially proclaimed by Congress in 1964, and no other country has the authority to call their whiskey products Bourbon.
Bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States. Also, most bourbons are aged a minimum of 4 years and some up to 23 years. If it is less than 4 year old, it has to say so on the label. If a label states an age, all bourbon in that bottle must be at least that old; it can be older.
Fresh of the still, it is called white dog. Trust me, it is much more palatable than crude oil. I have tasted the white dog from most of the big distillers. It is sweet, definite still taste the corn grain and oil. Recently, Buffalo Trace started selling their white dog as a finished product.
Pure ethyl alcohol is pure ethyl alcohol, whatever the source fermentation material. But no one really drinks %100 pure, 200-proof ethyl alcohol. It’s the impurities left in the distilled spirit that makes one alcoholic drink different from another. The rest is determined by the post-distillation procedures, as already mentioned.
The Copper Fox distillery here in Virginia has not only started selling their single malt, bourbon and rye raw spirits - they will sell you a charred barrel so that you can age the whiskey yourself at home.
It is an interesting idea, and I am inclined to give it a try - starting with the rye.
I had some Scotch white dog once (Glenmorangie Astar, actually), and it was some truly funky stuff.
You could taste the peat, grains, etc… pretty distinctly, but there was also a certain something to it that stayed in my mouth for about an hour (fusel oils?) and gave it a kind of diesel-fuel aroma and flavor.
Aging is good for whiskeys; they wouldn’t tie up so much of their inventory for so long if it didn’t significantly improve it.
When I was at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre in Edinburgh back in 1998 (the only example I’ve ever seen of a Disney-type ride in a downtown office building), they gave out samples of fresh whisky (among other things) at the end. But I confess all distilled liquors taste to me like the kid next door made a mistake with his chemistry set, so I can’t speak to it. Still, it couldn’t have been all that vile, or I would have noticed the folks gagging.
Barrel and spirits ordered. They don’t sell the spirits directly (at least to my state) but I talked with Rick Wasmund and he directed me to a retailer. Experiment should commence in about 7 - 10 days.
