VODKA
VODKA CAN BE GREAT
All vodkas that we know of are the result of fooling with high-proof alcohol grains/beets/potatoes/ grapes/whatever distilled to at least 95% alcohol (when made from grain/corn it’s called grain neutral spirit, or GNS); some big guys make the high-proof themselves, others, including all craft distillers, buy GNS from mostly a few huge distilleries. No one in their right mind tries to make any significant amount of vodka from scratch on a potstill. Tito’s claim that he makes it all on a potstill is a myth..
You can produce vodka carefully and well, or not. The difference is in taste, smoothness, and hangover headaches. The photo is the Absolut distillery, which runs its GNS through 5 separate columns.
USA regulations define vodka as a neutral spirit, and have trouble with the fact that you can distinguish between vodkas by taste.
This is the Midwest Grain Products distillery in Atchison, KS, which produces vast amounts of GNS, mostly from corn, but also from wheat. MGP supplies many craft distilleries, to whom they also sell a lot of bulk whiskey from their distillery near Cincinnatti. Not all “craft” is craft.
You can taste the difference when vodka is made from rye (Xellent is a good one): a slight pungency. To us, the best are from wheat, which lends a soft bread-like mouth-feel. Soft red winter wheat (photo) is a favorite.
The quality of the water used to dilute is important, as is filtration. The number of times distilled is frequently meaningless; over-distillation and over-filtration strip out flavor.
A little-known fact is that you can legally add some 2% of “neutral blender”, which can included sugar, honey, citric acid, and glycerin= flavor (citric acid), mouthfeel & sweetness.
Citric acid (photo) is also used to clean dishwashers. A little citric acid can be good, and sugar heightens flavors. A good distiller uses invert sugar, which brings out flavor but doesn’t taste sweet.
If you add anything to high-proof beyond neutral blender, the USA calls it “flavored” vodka. Most of it really is: folks simply add chemical flavorings. What’s great about some craft-method flavored vodkas is that they use real ingredients, for example, by macerating fruit in GNS. Some of these vodkas are wonderful: they tend to be well-made. You don’t have to put really good vodka in your freezer to enjoy it. The photo is a Buddha’s Hand citron used by DSP CA-162.
If you use really good vodka in a cocktail, you don’t have to add sugar to hide alcoholic crudity, so you get a cleaner and purer taste of the other ingredients. The photo is a cucumber/ basil/lime recipe from liquor.com. If you added sugar, you would ruin it.