Vodka, anyone?

[SilverEagles]

So, there are some less than optimal vodka suggestions in this thread. My favorite is Chopin. My choice in cheap vodka is Luksusowa, which is better than almost all American vodka.

[watchnerd]

So, there are some less than optimal vodka suggestions in this thread. My favorite is Chopin. My choice in cheap vodka is Luksusowa, which is better than almost all American vodka.

Luksusowa is one of the few vodkas that I can usually identify specifically.

[FeralCat]

For some reason, I am not into drinking alcohol any longer, and I am going to go with it and not drink. I just set up four 750 ml bottles of vanilla extract - beans are from Beanilla, and I used basic Pinnacle vodka in the glass bottles. I leave the bottles in a kitchen cupboard for about a year, and the resulting vanilla extract is fantastic. Next, I am going to try making anise extract for biscotti.

[Thesaints]

Vodka is not the best for making an extract: only 80 proof.
One can easily purchase online 180 proof food grade ethanol.

[FeralCat]

Vodka is not the best for making an extract: only 80 proof.
One can easily purchase online 180 proof food grade ethanol.

Ethanol gives vanilla extract a bitter flavor. Vodka doesn't.

[bikefish]

Tito's! It's made in Austin and it's really good. I also like Kettle One.

Stoli makes good flavored vodkas, but I usually get Smirnoff because they are a lot cheaper. Grey Goose Orange is a great one too.

I tried another Austin brand, Deep Eddy. I did a taste test between Deep Eddy and Tito's. IMO I think Tito's tastes better.

[protagonist]

""Title 27, Section 5.22 of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm code says that vodka must be distilled and treated until it is 'without distinctive character taste, aroma color,'" Pashman reported. "By law you have to make an industrial grade pure alcohol first, and then all you do is add water and you have vodka."
-Entrepreneur https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a- ... han/337537

I thought TTB dropped that language in 2020.

I wouldn't know. Just found it online. I thought of fact-checking it, but the idea makes perfect sense.

[protagonist]

So, there are some less than optimal vodka suggestions in this thread. My favorite is Chopin. My choice in cheap vodka is Luksusowa, which is better than almost all American vodka.

Luksusowa is one of the few vodkas that I can usually identify specifically.

I would suggest a double blind taste test with friends. Lots of people think they can identify their favorite but fail when it comes to the test.
You have to do multiple samples...if you only do one vs one you have a 50% chance of getting it right even if you can't tell.

I suggest that because:
a.) It's fun.
b. ) It could save you money in the future.

I also imagine if you pour cheap stuff into a premium bottle and serve it your guests will enjoy it more. When I was in med. school we did a wine tasting. One of the bottles was an empty Chateau Lafitte Rothschild bottle that we filled with Gallo Hearty Burgundy. People loved that one.

[watchnerd]

Luksusowa is one of the few vodkas that I can usually identify specifically.

I would suggest a double blind taste test with friends. Lots of people think they can identify their favorite but fail when it comes to the test.
You have to do multiple samples...if you only do one vs one you have a 50% chance of getting it right even if you can't tell.

I suggest that because:
a.) It's fun.
b. ) It could save you money in the future.

I also imagine if you pour cheap stuff into a premium bottle and serve it your guests will enjoy it more. When I was in med. school we did a wine tasting. One of the bottles was an empty Chateau Lafitte Rothschild bottle that we filled with Gallo Hearty Burgundy. People loved that one.

Perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying.

I've done double blind tastes tests.

I usually can't tell vodkas apart.

Luksusowa was an exception.

[protagonist]

Luksusowa is one of the few vodkas that I can usually identify specifically.

I would suggest a double blind taste test with friends. Lots of people think they can identify their favorite but fail when it comes to the test.
You have to do multiple samples...if you only do one vs one you have a 50% chance of getting it right even if you can't tell.

I suggest that because:
a.) It's fun.
b. ) It could save you money in the future.

I also imagine if you pour cheap stuff into a premium bottle and serve it your guests will enjoy it more. When I was in med. school we did a wine tasting. One of the bottles was an empty Chateau Lafitte Rothschild bottle that we filled with Gallo Hearty Burgundy. People loved that one.


(With wine, unlike vodka, different ones really are different. And to be fair, most of us were poor students who hardly ever tasted anything better than Hearty Burgundy. But the placebo effect of a premium label has a profound effect.)

[heartwood]

Back to vodka, the OPs original statement/question is deleted!

I did also find a post by Adrian Nenu near the top, back in 2009. Adrian where have you gone?

Well, w/o the OP I'll venture that I really like vodka (and gin). I've been off hard liquor for several years. I just sleep better w/o it. I've also cut back on wine; drink mostly Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.

Well, the recent renters of our condo left us most of a 1.75 l bottle of Tito's, in the freezer. Much gone now. I do enjoy vodka:Tito's, various Kirkland's, almost any brand!

I plan to go "dry" again once it runs out, but am enjoying it while it lasts. Skol!

[protagonist]

I would suggest a double blind taste test with friends. Lots of people think they can identify their favorite but fail when it comes to the test.
You have to do multiple samples...if you only do one vs one you have a 50% chance of getting it right even if you can't tell.

I suggest that because:
a.) It's fun.
b. ) It could save you money in the future.

I also imagine if you pour cheap stuff into a premium bottle and serve it your guests will enjoy it more. When I was in med. school we did a wine tasting. One of the bottles was an empty Chateau Lafitte Rothschild bottle that we filled with Gallo Hearty Burgundy. People loved that one.

Perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying.

I've done double blind tastes tests.

I usually can't tell vodkas apart.

Luksusowa was an exception.

Was it good or bad?
(I never heard of Luk....No idea if it is $10 a gallon or $100 a glass.)


My brand is Mr. Boston. https://fourseasonswine.com/shop/produc ... 3f378e45f3

[watchnerd]

Perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying.

I've done double blind tastes tests.

I usually can't tell vodkas apart.

Luksusowa was an exception.

Was it good or bad?
(I never heard of Luk....No idea if it is $10 a gallon or $100 a glass.)


My brand is Mr. Boston. https://fourseasonswine.com/shop/produc ... 3f378e45f3

It's not expensive, $16.99 for 750 ml around here, which is identical to the price of Tito's.

Good or bad?

It wasn't burning and didn't have a weird chemical smell or off-putting taste.

What was different is that it's just slightly sweet and earthy/vegetal, and has a different viscosity.

Straight it was nice, but I wouldn't use it in cocktails.

[Thesaints]

Vodka is not the best for making an extract: only 80 proof.
One can easily purchase online 180 proof food grade ethanol.

Ethanol gives vanilla extract a bitter flavor. Vodka doesn't.

Have you experimented adding a little water ? It would be surprising if 80 proof were exactly the ideal concentration for extraction.

[FeralCat]

Ethanol gives vanilla extract a bitter flavor. Vodka doesn't.

Have you experimented adding a little water ? It would be surprising if 80 proof were exactly the ideal concentration for extraction.

According to this source, 80 proof is within the range recommended by the FDA: https://www.vanillapura.com/blogs/extra ... la-extract

Everclear (190 proof) will not lead to proper extraction, it will immediately dry out the vanilla beans. Cooks Illustrated also recommends vodka or rum. I really get a very nice extract from vodka; I can tell when I make a vanilla custard. You do make a good point, however. If I move on to extract other botanicals, I should check for the recommended alcohol type.

[Thesaints]

According to this source, 80 proof is within the range recommended by the FDA: https://www.vanillapura.com/blogs/extra ... la-extract

Thank you! A very interesting link. At some point it was possible to buy krepkaya in the US, which is a 100 proof vodka. Not anymore since the Russian embargo. I wonder if one can find something similar. Certainly more economic than buying 180 proof ethanol and diluting.

[tsohg]

Well, again, this isn't news.

Everyone knows alcohol can kill you. Backing up the dose makes the poison:

It can do it fast, in one night via alcohol poisoning.

It can do it intermediate speed via alcoholic liver disease.

Or it can do it slow, via cancer.

Me, personally, I'm fine with that risk/reward profile.

You are mistaken. In this case the dose does not make the poison. As used, that expression refers to reference doses (RfD) for chronic exposure. Your example refers to a range of dose-exposure conditions corresponding to different health effects endpoints. In this case, the news is that the slope factor (SF) specific to the cancer endpoint with chronic consumption begins at 0.000, i.e., there is no NOAEL. Which is why the link I provided is only 4 days old… because that particular revelation is news.

Thanks for enlightening us.

[Hot Sauce]

You are mistaken. In this case the dose does not make the poison. As used, that expression refers to reference doses (RfD) for chronic exposure. Your example refers to a range of dose-exposure conditions corresponding to different health effects endpoints. In this case, the news is that the slope factor (SF) specific to the cancer endpoint with chronic consumption begins at 0.000, i.e., there is no NOAEL. Which is why the link I provided is only 4 days old… because that particular revelation is news.

Thanks for enlightening us.

What's up with the sarcasm and face palm?

[mrgeeze]

My wife likes her vodka martini to specific measurements; one and a half ounce of Grey Goose vodka (blue label), just a smidge less than three-quarter ounce of Martini & Rossi extra dry vermouth, three-quarter of a teaspoon of Collins brand dirty martini mix, and two pitted spanish olives. Even to the point that as the martini mix ages I cut back to just under the three-quarter teaspoon of mix.

Coming up on forty-three years of marriage next week, so I must be doing something right .... I stick with my two ounces of Johnnie Walker Black.

hard to call that a martini in my book.

[alpenglow]

This thread is making me thirsty. Too bad I'm doing Dry January.

Next time I'm at Costco I'm planning to try a bottle of the French vodka. Just not in January.

[tomd37]

Now that is an old post of mine just quoted! We are now married 58 years, wife is 89 and I am 87, she still drinks her Grey Goose but now on the rocks with just a dash of lime, and I switched from Johnnie Walker Black blended to The Glen Grant 18 Rare 18 year-old single malt neat. Here is to many more evenings of enjoying our cocktail hour together.

[blortchplop]

[jabberwockOG]

A common hack to create very smooth Vodka. By the cheapest available vodka and run it thru a Brita filter pitcher two or three times.
Tah dah - premium vodka.

[bikefish]

Now that is an old post of mine just quoted! We are now married 58 years, wife is 89 and I am 87, she still drinks her Grey Goose but now on the rocks with just a dash of lime, and I switched from Johnnie Walker Black blended to The Glen Grant 18 Rare 18 year-old single malt neat. Here is to many more evenings of enjoying our cocktail hour together.

Great post!