Oh, and Listerine. Don’t forget Listerine.
Pretty much how I feel about Keystone. Although I wouldn’t say loyal. Strange thing for a guy to say that had a 10-level beer pyramid made with keystone cans. Yes I’m easily amused.
I came in to say this exact same thing. Since I can’t afford Smirnoff, this is my poison of choice for the ultimate Bloody Mary (with the requisit Major Peters, of course).
I can personally attest to filtering cheap alcohol. As Harmonix states, at least four passes are necessary. The problem with the experimenters Giant_Spongess linked to is that they sampled the vodka after each pass, and the differences are too subtle to detect after one pass.
Set aside a cup of “control” alcohol, filter the rest four (I do five) times, then try a blind taste test with your control cup. A huge improvement!
It’s surprisingly easy to make high alcohol content and tasty wine for a few bucks a gallon using frozen concentrates.
$3-$4 a bottle if you want to use a high end kit that might compare to $10-20 commercial wines. (Some minimal initial investment and time is required).
For cheap off the shelf options you might try Glenn Ellen wines, Old Forrester bourbon, or Miller High life beer…I think other than quirks like the $2 Chuck mentioned before (Charles Shaw) if you can ferret them out lower prices than what might be called middle shelf alcohol = lousy taste. At least in my experience.
You have to get in the bottom shelf trenches and see for yourself what Mad Dog 20/20 does to the inside of your eyeballs after drinking it, or what happens when you dance with Mickey’s Big Mouth :eek: if your taste buds have enough youthful resilience to absorb the punishment of Old English 800, Old Crow or “the beast” Milwaukee’s best etc… you may be able to save a few bucks on the bottom shelf otherwise just a little more $ makes a big difference.