Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Good Vodka

Wrong again Bristoe. A lot of us really like the taste of bourbon, scotch, gin, rum etc. I really enjoy the taste of a good bourbon or scotch and even a nice pot stilled vodka that hasn't been distilled until completely neutral in taste. I even buy maple syrup that has been stored in ex-bourbon casks. If people didn't like the taste of whiskey, or Gin or Rum etc, they would all just drink cheap vodka and mix it with whatever.

Been on a Luksusowa kick as of late. Decent Polish potato vodka for the money.

Used to get "Russian" brand vodla by the handle years ago. Had a sky blue label saying it was imported Russian vodka and that was it. We drank gallons of it until we couldn't find it anymore. Read this whole thread to see if it would be mentioned.

I like the taste of the alcohol I drink. I like Listerine, too. I was a regular drinker until I had kids and couldn't justify the cost of the good stuff. It was cheap stuff or nothing. So I quit drinking. Quit smoking too cause good cigars were out of budget.

Course now I can afford all the Bunnahaibin and Exquisitos I can stand, but this Southerner has learned he prefers Alabama whiskey and a chew. Different strokes.

Don’t know much about vodka except it’s necessary for tonic and lime. I usually buy Sobieski cuz it’s cheap.

I tend to think vodka is vodka, willing to be wrong about that. I guess we have Tito's and a local distillery brand on hand at our house. If I have to go buy it, I buy Stoli.

My brother likes Russian Standard Vodka for martinis. When I was drinking them Costco French or American worked.

Vodka that hasn't been distilled in a column still to a high alcohol % and then cut with water, won't have much flavor other than ethanol and whatever "flavor" the water has in it. But - - - vodka distilled in a copper pot still just a couple times will have some subtle flavor to it, imparted by the starch/fruit used and the strain of yeast. If you've ever had a good moonshine or white dog or new make, you've had a vodka that has some flavor. This is how many craft distillers make vodka and it's the type of vodka that I like for sipping. For mixing, you most likely want a very neutral (meaning tasteless) vodka.

I'm sipping on an apple vodka (Tuthilltown Distillery Indigenous Apple Vodka) that is distilled from apples and not flavored to taste like apples and - - - it's got a nice fruity nose and has a nice creamy, apple taste.

That's right. (Apple wine makes a great "vodka" like that).

But a good "highly rectified" vodka mixes well and won't burn you or cause hangover.

Wheat is probably the most common grain used to make vodka. White Dog is a combination of corn, barley and wheat. It's just un aged bourbon.

Old school moonshine was made from corn. If you've ever tasted any moonshine that's been made the way it was in colonial America, you would know that it's made from corn. The corn flavor is very prominent. It's nothing like vodka.

i am using everclear for that.

I'm not much of a vodka drinker, usually sticking to scotch and an occasional bourbon. I always figured vodka was all pretty much the same until I went to a grocery store in Kazakhstan and half the store was vodka, the vodka section took up two complete walls of the grocery store. I think there was more vodka in the store than food. I guess someone can tell the difference between brands if there are that many of them. It was impressive, I guess there is some truth to the legends of how much vodka the Soviets consumed.

True, but that's because moonshine, corn whisky, bourbon, etc. was double ran through a pot still and cut down some with a bit of water.

Fermented corn mash can be rectified (series or column still) into a tasteless "neutral" spirit.

Any grain can be. But in the old days processed sugar was very rare. Corn was used because it naturally has a high sugar content. Once processed sugar became widely available moonshine became "sugar whiskey".

You won't find any moonshine made the old way. It's way too much work for the volume it produces.

I once worked with a guy that made a small batch of old school pure corn moonshine just for himself and some friends. It's *very* different from sugar whiskey.

,....definitely not vodka,...or even White Dog.

So what base fermentable makes the best flavored vodka?

Wheat

I've been reading about Popcorn Sutton and other old moonshiners and even pulled out my copy of Fox Fire.

Compared to modern recipes, I can't believe that those old timers got much more than maybe 5% alcohol in their wash.

In one of Popcorn's recipes, I swear the only thing the malted corn does is provide wild yeast. All the alcohol is from sugar and the cracked corn was just there for some flavor.

It's also a nutrient for the yeast. Plain sugar water doesn't ferment well without something extra thrown in.

Its happy hour! Time to get happy.

Judging by the bottles, I think you inverted the ratio.

Like I said, time to get happy! LOL