Thanks for the great answers - they clarified a lot of things for me.
It’s an exciting time for the Bourbon and American whiskey industry. Im Scottish, the legislation about barrels for bourbon has helped out the Scotch whisky industry a lot, but I think the legislation is pretty outrageous!
There are some good American stouts being made in used our on casks as well.
Warning Issued
bot3 What you posted is a personal insult inappropriate for this forum. Plus, it’s clear you’re bringing in issues from another thread. If you have an issue with a poster take it to the pit. Do not follow a poster around to insult them.
I’ve got a question: Since the only ingredient common to all whiskeys is water (and alcohol, but that’s more of a by-product), and the flavors are all over the map, what would you say is the defining element that separates whiskey from other types of liquor? Is it the distillation process?
Whiskey is distilled from fermented grain, and not so distilled as to remove all traces of the grain flavor (190 proof is the legal max under US law; higher and it automatically becomes vodka.) US law also requires that whiskey is aged in wood, but there is no minimum aging required; one microsecond will qualify.
I think (though I’m not sure) that with the recent fad for unaged whiskey, at least some manufacturers have gotten approval from the ATF to label their product as whiskey without even a pretense of aging on wood (since being unaged is part of the marketing). Technically, this violates the ATF’s own rules, but those date from a time when the liquor market was more conservative and no one actually dreamed of selling unaged whiskey to consumers except as a form of fraud, by doctoring it to appear aged.
There are a few gray areas like this where a specific spirit doesn’t fall within the technical rules for any specific category laid down by the ATF. Aged vodka is another one. But generally speaking, if something is distilled above 190 proof, it’s vodka, and if it’s distilled to less than that, it’s categorized according to the source material.
I thought you had to order Scots whisky.
There is also sake, which AIUI is “rice beer” or “rice wine” in terms of production process, but has an alcohol content comparable to distilled spirits. (Dunno how they manage that.)
[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?
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Scots watter o’ life is when ye bevvy th’ sam mince, but wi’ a huir uv a thick accent.
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It’s just on the stronger end of regular wine, 15-20% according to Wikipedia. The modal liquor strength is 40%. Actually, shōchū isn’t even vodka strength, my mistake.
How about a honey distillate? There’s no common name for it that I’ve found, but I’ve made something that might be called “honeyjack” (freeze-distilled mead) and there are others who have used stills to produce a liquor from mead, sometimes called “honeyshine”. So, that’s another sugar source for a liquor–nectar. (Or an animal product, but I don’t care to contemplate the distillation of kumiss.)
I’ve also made druncola, which is fermented Coca-Cola. Its primary sugar was from corn (corn syrup, specifically), though I added cane sugar to kickstart fermentation. If I were distill that, what might it be? Would it being primarily grain-based make it a whiskey? 
Hoe does it taste?
Actually, it sounds kinda like a form of prison hooch.
The honeyjack was quite sweet, with a slow fire to it. The potency would sneak up on you. I’m tempted to say it was brandy-like, but it didn’t really taste like any brandy I’ve tried.
The honeyshine I’ve tried is harder to describe. It had a definite honey taste, the way rum tastes of molasses, but there was no other similarity. It wasn’t barrel-aged, so it’s hard to compare, but it might have been closer to whiskey (or rather, moonshine) than anything else.
Is prison hooch its own liquor category, then?
(After aging and recarbonating, it turned out surprisingly well. Sort of like mead-and-Coke, but lighter and less sweet. Plus, caffeinated booze for those of us who don’t like Irish coffee.)
According to Wikipedia it’s called araka or arkhi. Apparently it’s not produced commercially and is only distilled to 20 to 60 proof (kumiss itself being only mildly alcoholic). Both kumis and araka are on my list of things I really want to try before I die, even though I’ll probably regret it.
I’ve heard of teenagers shoving vodka-soaked tampons up their asses. The advantage being that it won’t be on their breath when Mom and Dad see them after the party. I don’t have any first- or second-hand experience with this and can’t vouch for its effectiveness. I may die without knowing, and not any time soon.
Of course someone has made it. Why would I dare imagine otherwise? :smack:
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. Besides, teenagers are plenty enthused with actually drinking vodka.
I had kvass once. Can you distill that :dubious:
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 would just call it a “honey eau de vie” or something like that but, you’re right, there doesn’t seem to be any common name for it. There’s at least one commercial version of it.
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.