# Hard liquor types **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060 "2015-02-19T02:51:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/61 "2015-02-20T16:33:34Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > If you’d like to try something closer that probably tastes better. Check out the Vermont Spirit distillery they make a vodka from cow’s milk and also a brandy type product from maple sap. I’ve been trying to get a hold of their maple spirit since my partner toured their distillery last summer but its freaking hard. The maple spirit sounds good, but vodka is vodka is vodka. Once you get to that level of distillation (190 proof required by law) I doubt spectrographic analysis could tell if it’s made from cow milk or bull shit. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/62 "2015-02-20T16:37:10Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [hijack] > > BTW, what **is** the point of this frat-party fad I’ve heard about for vodka eyedrops and enemas? I mean, what’s the advantage over just drinking the stuff? > > [/hijack] Faster alcohol uptake into the bloodstream, I think. The danger is that one’s behind does not have a vomit reflex, so there is considerably more risk of alcohol poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/63 "2015-02-20T16:53:30Z")
…not to mention that putting stuff in one’s butt for non-sexual reasons is right in the sweet spot of [del]frat-boy[/del] college-aged male humor. The ones who would seriously consider doing such a thing, at least. . ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/64 "2015-02-20T18:14:41Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > The maple spirit sounds good, but vodka is vodka is vodka. Once you get to that level of distillation (190 proof required by law) I doubt spectrographic analysis could tell if it’s made from cow milk or bull shit. You’d think so but in staying current with the industry I’ve found a wide variety of naturally occurring flavor in vodkas. For example my favorite vodka is Sno made by J&L distilling in Boulder. They are a couple of nerds who built their equipment and put in a mass spec in their distillery to prove that nothing but ethanol and water is in the vodka, even at room temperature it tastes like water. On the other hand there is flavor present in most micro distilled vodkas because they’ve realized that competing on purity is something that is impossible to do against someone with an industrial still. If you look at the Woody Creek potato vodka and compare it to the grain vodka at Downslope distilling (25% rye if I remember correctly) and can’t taste the difference you need to go see a doctor. Now my pallet isn’t refined enough to do a blind tasting and tell you the source ingredient but there is clearly a difference and the milk vodka tastes nothing like any other vodka I’ve had. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/65 "2015-02-20T18:38:03Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > You’d think so but in staying current with the industry I’ve found a wide variety of naturally occurring flavor in vodkas. For example my favorite vodka is Sno made by J&L distilling in Boulder. They are a couple of nerds who built their equipment and put in a mass spec in their distillery to prove that nothing but ethanol and water is in the vodka, even at room temperature it tastes like water. > > On the other hand there is flavor present in most micro distilled vodkas because they’ve realized that competing on purity is something that is impossible to do against someone with an industrial still. If you look at the Woody Creek potato vodka and compare it to the grain vodka at Downslope distilling (25% rye if I remember correctly) and can’t taste the difference you need to go see a doctor. Now my pallet isn’t refined enough to do a blind tasting and tell you the source ingredient but there is clearly a difference and the milk vodka tastes nothing like any other vodka I’ve had. I’ve been meaning to do a blind vodka tasting for a while now, just to see if I can reliably tell any difference. If the local liquor store has any, maybe I’ll give it a try. I just don’t know if I can bring myself to pay premium prices for vodka, though, when there’s so much whiskey I haven’t drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/66 "2015-02-20T23:48:41Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > There is, IMO, something distinctly wrong with JD’s Honey Whiskey. At first taste it has a nice honey blush. But after the second taste onward, it makes me feel sick. Yuck. I liked it, but I have no desire to drink it again. I can work my way through a fifth of Jim Beam over the course of an evening and wake up the next day with a hangover not much worse than I would have after drinking a half-case of beer in the same span. I drank _half_ of a fifth of JD Honey one evening, and the next day I had the most blindingly painful hangover I’d had in years. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/67 "2015-02-21T01:40:21Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Is prison hooch its own liquor category, then? 😃 [I hope so; no other category would want to be associated with it.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruno) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/68 "2015-02-21T01:41:28Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I liked it, but I have no desire to drink it again. I can work my way through a fifth of Jim Beam over the course of an evening and wake up the next day with a hangover not much worse than I would have after drinking a half-case of beer in the same span. > > I drank _half_ of a fifth of JD Honey one evening, and the next day I had the most blindingly painful hangover I’d had in years. Hm. I wonder why. Perhaps hangovers are not solely a function of the amount of alcohol imbibed? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/69 "2015-02-21T01:44:21Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > It’s one of those internet things that some newscaster intern heard that the boyfriend of a friend of a niece tried once, and so now the Daily Mail says it’s the crazy new trend. In other words, [it’s probably bullshit](http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/fooddrink/a/Vodka-Tampons.htm). Besides, teenagers are plenty enthused with actually drinking vodka. Well, Stephen Colbert did a bit on it once, so it must be true. So there. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/70 "2015-02-21T01:46:14Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > I’ve been meaning to do a blind vodka tasting for a while now, just to see if I can reliably tell any difference. If the local liquor store has any, maybe I’ll give it a try. I just don’t know if I can bring myself to pay premium prices for vodka, though, when there’s so much whiskey I haven’t drunk. What good is vodka that **tastes** like anything?! It’s vodka, you mix it with fruit juice so you’ll have alcoholic fruit juice, that’s what it’s for! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/71 "2015-02-21T01:53:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Hm. I wonder why. Perhaps hangovers are not solely a function of the amount of alcohol imbibed? [Congeners](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congener_%28alcohol%29), possibly. Red wine is worse than white. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060/72 "2015-02-21T07:15:03Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > …not to mention that putting stuff in one’s butt for non-sexual reasons is right in the sweet spot of [del]frat-boy[/del] college-aged male humor. The ones who would seriously consider doing such a thing, at least. I won’t defend the honor of frat boy humorists, but will point out that college students are less likely in general to have parents meet them at the door to check their breath for booze or pot than their high school counterparts. And I suspect it’s a wasted effort, since taking a few shots into any orifice will make an alcohol stench that comes out of the pores of your skin, if I understand the bodily processes involved (which is a pretty big “if”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-liquor-types/713060.md?page=3)