See-throughs - long question

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:04:22 -0800, Karl S
wrote:

rb608 wrote:
"No fillers" is how I've been enjoying it thus far. I don't know where
the cutoff is proportion-wise; but at some point, the inital flavor of
the vodka (gin, whatever) becomes unimportant and overshadowed by the
mixers. If I'm drinking it straight, I want and am willing to pay for
the good stuff (within reason); otherwise I can just buy a jug o'
Popov, 1.75L for $9.99.

Joe F.

I'd sorta been hoping somebody would mention Everclear. Maybe mixed
half-n-half with distilled water. I mean, that's pretty much what vodka
is, right?

Just kidd'n!

Karl S.

There's a reason for that. The only thing I've found it good for is
making herbal tinctures. The stuff tastes horrible, even in mixed
drinks. You have to have a serious desire to get drunk to use
Everclear for anything but cleaning of external cuts and scrapes or
tinctures (which have to mellow for a long time).

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

Cyli wrote:
On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:04:22 -0800, Karl S
wrote:


rb608 wrote:

"No fillers" is how I've been enjoying it thus far. I don't know where
the cutoff is proportion-wise; but at some point, the inital flavor of
the vodka (gin, whatever) becomes unimportant and overshadowed by the
mixers. If I'm drinking it straight, I want and am willing to pay for
the good stuff (within reason); otherwise I can just buy a jug o'
Popov, 1.75L for $9.99.

Joe F.


I'd sorta been hoping somebody would mention Everclear. Maybe mixed
half-n-half with distilled water. I mean, that's pretty much what vodka
is, right?

Just kidd'n!

Karl S.


There's a reason for that. The only thing I've found it good for is
making herbal tinctures. The stuff tastes horrible, even in mixed
drinks. You have to have a serious desire to get drunk to use
Everclear for anything but cleaning of external cuts and scrapes or
tinctures (which have to mellow for a long time).

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

I've never tasted the stuff myself. I think it's banned in WA. or
something, or I would have tried some out of curiosity. What do you
suppose the difference in flavor might be? I've read that fermentation
can produce more than one alcohol, and that there are actually a family
of different grain alcohols - sort of like the various different sugars.

Here's what I found on the subject in a quick Google search.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusel_oil

Maybe that's the flavor difference in vodkas?

Karl S.

"Karl S" wrote in message
...
Cyli wrote:
On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:04:22 -0800, Karl S
wrote:


rb608 wrote:

"No fillers" is how I've been enjoying it thus far. I don't know where
the cutoff is proportion-wise; but at some point, the inital flavor of
the vodka (gin, whatever) becomes unimportant and overshadowed by the
mixers. If I'm drinking it straight, I want and am willing to pay for
the good stuff (within reason); otherwise I can just buy a jug o'
Popov, 1.75L for $9.99.

Joe F.


I'd sorta been hoping somebody would mention Everclear. Maybe mixed
half-n-half with distilled water. I mean, that's pretty much what vodka
is, right?

Just kidd'n!

Karl S.


There's a reason for that. The only thing I've found it good for is
making herbal tinctures. The stuff tastes horrible, even in mixed
drinks. You have to have a serious desire to get drunk to use
Everclear for anything but cleaning of external cuts and scrapes or
tinctures (which have to mellow for a long time). Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

I've never tasted the stuff myself. I think it's banned in WA. or
something, or I would have tried some out of curiosity. What do you
suppose the difference in flavor might be? I've read that fermentation can
produce more than one alcohol, and that there are actually a family of
different grain alcohols - sort of like the various different sugars.

Here's what I found on the subject in a quick Google search.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusel_oil

Maybe that's the flavor difference in vodkas?

Karl S.

Most vodkas are pure grain alcohol cut to the desired proof with water and
then by law, vodka has to be filtered through charcoal. The major
difference is how much charcoal in used.

Bill McKee wrote:

Most vodkas are pure grain alcohol cut to the desired proof with water and
then by law, vodka has to be filtered through charcoal. The major
difference is how much charcoal in used.

ISTR, from many years ago (and I couldn't even guess at the source)
that I was given to understand that there was some federal law that
vodka had to be pure grain alcohol and distilled water.
I interpreted this to mean that there was no difference in
quality/taste in vodkas SOLD IN THE US.
As, at the time, I (to put it mildly) hadn't much of a pallate, it was
all the same to me -- so buy the cheap stuff.
In later years, backpacking through eastern Europe and SSSR/Russia, I
found major differences.

cheers

oz, who uses it now only for disinfectant, having discovered single malt

"MajorOz" wrote in message
oups.com...

Bill McKee wrote:

Most vodkas are pure grain alcohol cut to the desired proof with water
and
then by law, vodka has to be filtered through charcoal. The major
difference is how much charcoal in used.

ISTR, from many years ago (and I couldn't even guess at the source)
that I was given to understand that there was some federal law that
vodka had to be pure grain alcohol and distilled water.
I interpreted this to mean that there was no difference in
quality/taste in vodkas SOLD IN THE US.
As, at the time, I (to put it mildly) hadn't much of a pallate, it was
all the same to me -- so buy the cheap stuff.
In later years, backpacking through eastern Europe and SSSR/Russia, I
found major differences.

cheers

oz, who uses it now only for disinfectant, having discovered single malt


No to just grain alky and water. Russian is potato skins for the starch.
Friend was the plant manager for one of the upper cost US brands. He is the
one who said the rules say charcoal filter. His brand used about 9' / 3m of
charcoal. The real cheap brands used a few inches. He said he could not
taste the difference, but could see the difference with an ohm meter. His
plant used grain alcohol delivered in railroad tank cars.

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 06:33:17 GMT, "Bill McKee"
wrote:

(snipped)

Most vodkas are pure grain alcohol cut to the desired proof with water and
then by law, vodka has to be filtered through charcoal. The major
difference is how much charcoal in used.

I'm betting EverKlear doesn't use much charcoal. I expected the harsh
heat, but the taste was not good besides. That was when I drank a
mouthful sort of by accident. So the next time I did a Bloody Mary.
It cut right through the SnapeTom and spices and I poured that out, as
I'd spit out as much as I could of the straight stuff.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 01:10:16 -0600, Cyli wrote:

I'm betting EverKlear doesn't use much charcoal.

Everclear is just 95% ethyl alcohol, 5% water. What you probably 'taste' is just
too much alcohol, not impurities.
--
Charlie...
http://www.chocphoto.com

"Cyli" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:04:22 -0800, Karl S
wrote:

rb608 wrote:
"No fillers" is how I've been enjoying it thus far. I don't know where
the cutoff is proportion-wise; but at some point, the inital flavor of
the vodka (gin, whatever) becomes unimportant and overshadowed by the
mixers. If I'm drinking it straight, I want and am willing to pay for
the good stuff (within reason); otherwise I can just buy a jug o'
Popov, 1.75L for $9.99.

Joe F.

I'd sorta been hoping somebody would mention Everclear. Maybe mixed
half-n-half with distilled water. I mean, that's pretty much what vodka
is, right?

Just kidd'n!

Karl S.

There's a reason for that. The only thing I've found it good for is
making herbal tinctures. The stuff tastes horrible, even in mixed
drinks. You have to have a serious desire to get drunk to use
Everclear for anything but cleaning of external cuts and scrapes or
tinctures (which have to mellow for a long time).

Cyli

I used to use it to sterilize my bottle caps when I home brewed beer. No
open flames!