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I'll Drink to That! What is your favorite beverage to have with a cigar? Juice? Cola? Beer? Port? Single Malt Scotch? This room is for the discussion of beverages, especially alcoholic beverages that go well with cigars!

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Old 04-19-2003, 09:31 AM   #1
pcotton3
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Why I think bourbon is different from most others.

Last night I had some Ketel One vodka. It was good, but it lacked the character that I associate with bourbon. I think that character and unique taste are what separates bourbon from most other liquors.
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Old 04-19-2003, 11:46 AM   #2
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Re: Why I think bourbon is different from most others.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pcotton3
Last night I had some Kettle One vodka. It was good, but it lacked the character that I associate with bourbon. I think that character and unique taste are what separates bourbon from most other liquors.
Philip that is because bourbon is a uniquely American spirit that was "Born with the Republic". Before the American Revolution many farmers were also small distillers. The easiest way to take their excess grain to market was in liquid form in a barrel, as whiskey. The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and German Protestants were good God fearing hard working farmers and prodigious distillers, as well as hard fighters for freedom. After the revolution many soldiers were given land grants in the west. At that time the west was Kentucky and Ohio. Corn is also unique to the Americas. These fine floks used what they had. They made corn whiskey. (They also made rye, but that is beside the point.)

Eventually the sour mash process would be perfected by Dr. James Crow on Glens Creek in Kentuckey around 1835. The use of charred white oak barrels for the storage and shipment of this whiskey had been in common use for some time. No one knows who started the fortutious trend. At this time Kentucky was now a state and no longer Kentucky County, Virginia. One of the early counties in Kentucky was named after the royal family in France - the Bourbons. We liked France then. They helped us win. This corn whiskey was shipped out of Bourbon County, Kentucky down river to the thirsty French in New Orleans. The barrels were marked "Product of Bourbon County". This young bourbon reminded the drinkers of New Orleans a lot of cognac ( which is also aged in lightly charred oak barrels), so they started asking for it by name. "I'd like some more of that 'Bourbon' whiskey please.". The uniquely American spirit with the funny French name. I love it!

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Old 04-19-2003, 04:03 PM   #3
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Every book I've ever read about liquor says the more flavorless, or neutral, the Vodka, the fewer the impurities, hence the better the quality.

Seems kinda stupid to me.
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Old 04-19-2003, 07:25 PM   #4
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I like my bourbon a lot, but the vodka I like are the ones that have some guts to them. Stoli Peppar is my love. I am not going to pay a mint for something to mix. I can tell how it going to taste by putting it in the freezer for a couple of days, cracking some pepper over it, with a couple of cubes of ice. If it can stand up to THAT, it is good vodka. Otherwise it costs too much.
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Old 04-21-2003, 06:33 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LabRatGDI
Every book I've ever read about liquor says the more flavorless, or neutral, the Vodka, the fewer the impurities, hence the better the quality.

Seems kinda stupid to me.

That's why Everclear cut with water beats out Grey Goose.
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Old 04-21-2003, 08:28 AM   #6
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No kidding.
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Old 04-21-2003, 12:11 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SMOKINACTUARY
Quote:
Originally Posted by LabRatGDI
Every book I've ever read about liquor says the more flavorless, or neutral, the Vodka, the fewer the impurities, hence the better the quality.

Seems kinda stupid to me.

That's why Everclear cut with water beats out Grey Goose.
Most (but not all) Vodkas; Gins, and various bottled grain alcohols are mass produced in the mid-west in huge column stills from corn and commercial yeast with a special enzyme extract that negates the need for barley malt to complete fermentation. It's all very industrial. High speed and high proof. The grain alcohol is simply brought in by rail in huge multi-thousand gallon tank cars and watered down and bottled as vodka. All U.S. bottled vodkas are sourced this way except for Rain Vodka (formally known as Kentucky Rain)from Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky. They actually distil their own vodka.

Gin is this same grain alcohol that is watered down to bottling proof and flavorings added so it tastes like gin. Only imported London Dry Gins are actually distilled using juniper berries. All the others are a sham.

There is no expensive aging, and damn little quality control. There is, however, plenty a profit, and lots of tax dollars.

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Old 04-21-2003, 01:03 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Linn
Quote:
Originally Posted by SMOKINACTUARY
Quote:
Originally Posted by LabRatGDI
Every book I've ever read about liquor says the more flavorless, or neutral, the Vodka, the fewer the impurities, hence the better the quality.

Seems kinda stupid to me.

That's why Everclear cut with water beats out Grey Goose.
Most (but not all) Vodkas; Gins, and various bottled grain alcohols are mass produced in the mid-west in huge column stills from corn and commercial yeast with a special enzyme extract that negates the need for barley malt to complete fermentation. It's all very industrial. High speed and high proof. The grain alcohol is simply brought in by rail in huge multi-thousand gallon tank cars and watered down and bottled as vodka. All U.S. bottled vodkas are sourced this way except for Rain Vodka (formally known as Kentucky Rain)from Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky. They actually distil their own vodka.

Gin is this same grain alcohol that is watered down to bottling proof and flavorings added so it tastes like gin. Only imported London Dry Gins are actually distilled using juniper berries. All the others are a sham.

There is no expensive aging, and damn little quality control. There is, however, plenty a profit, and lots of tax dollars.

Linn
Is that even true of the Teton Glacier Potato Vodka?
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Old 04-21-2003, 04:39 PM   #9
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I read an article in Playboy magazine about Teton Glacier and they sang its praises. Said it was the only vodka in the USA made from potatos and that they actually used water from the Teton Glacier.

I hope Teton Glacier vodka is different from the others.
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Old 04-22-2003, 05:52 AM   #10
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Never heard of Teton Glacier Vodka. Where is it made? I am so jaded by marketing copy that I have to see the distillery for myself and what they are distilling and how are they distilling it. Where is it bottled - on site or off? What's the quality control like? Is it privately owned or does a large drinks conglomerate own it?

I, myself, have no interest in vodka as a spirit, so I pay it little or no attention.

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