This is not derogatory toward the new sponsor Rebecca Creek. But welcoming them did prompt this post.

I'd appreciate an informative reply and/or a reference to explain why distilling Vodka multiple times is a good thing. Is the process the same each time or is the temperature changed to remove certain other components?

[This message has been edited by JTMW (edited 12/22/2012 10:55a).]

I'm only a brewer, so my distilling "expertise" is extremely limited, but my best guess:

During distillation higher alcohols like methanol are mostly collected and disposed of, but w/ each distillation you could be removing a little more of the trace amounts left behind. I suppose this could make hangovers not quite as bad, but I'm not sure what (if any) effect it would have on taste. It's probably a marketing gimmick more than anything.

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong though.

Thanks, JI.

I'm a food technologist & suffered through more chemistry than I wanted. However, the multuiple distillation of Vodka and "hand made" makes this left-brained Clydesdale somewhat skeptical.

As far as Vodka goes, I always thought it's claim to fame was it was basically commercial alcohol and had virtually no odor and was a safer drink vs. someone smelling it on your breath. As a result, I always went for the cheapest alcohol (wino mentality).

My wife, however in the last few years, insists that cheap vodka upsets her stomach whereas Smirnoff or better is OK. So being the gentleman that I am and one amongst many whose mission in life is to feed alcohol to women, I have been buying Smirnoff.

But I digress. Back to chemistry and physics. Ethyl alcohol as I recall boils at about 180 deg F, but there are undoubtedly other volatiles that escape the still and condense along with the alcohol. So if you re-distill, at as close to 180 as you can, the condensate could be a little purer alcohol. Not knowing what the volatiles are or what their boiling points are is the mystery, I suppose.

Way back to chemistry, regardless of boiling point, there is a "vapor pressure" above a liquid; i.e., compounds obviously evaporate below their boiling point. Water in the lakes evaporated, but I haven't seen one boil yet.

Bottom line, I have to buy Smirnoff to maintain domestic tranquility. It's triple distilled. Any reason to think more distillations are significant?

If you drink a LOT of vodka, it will make a big difference to you in the morning. Lots of different ways to make vodka though. Potatoes. Wheat. Etc. I swear by Double Cross Vodka when I am drinking martinis (although not for anything mixed) and it is seven times distiller and seven times filtered. We have had multiple vodka tastings at the house and it ALWAYS comes out on top. Everyone's tasters and willingness to spend $ are different though.

General thought behind distilling it so many times is removing ethanol and impurities. It's not aged and it doesn't have any real flavor so you don't risk losing any of the flavor by distilling it a ****ton of times.

Kinda chuckled at Smirnoff not being lumped in with the other cheap vodkas but hey.

Also, vodka-martinis are generally hated as a red headed ******* child by the cocktail snobs I know.

I second Double Cross being the best vodka by a decent margin. Once I tried it I immediately called specs to order a case. It's difficult to find sometimes and is pricey but for Martinis it's the best in my opinion.

Alles ist relativ. If you drive a Bentley, I reckon a Benz is cheap.

Smirnoff is the "well" vodka at a local up-scale restaurant. In that context it's cheap. However, vs. Hood River in a plastic bottle, Smirnoff is a cut above or perceived to be.

Unless there is additional information forthcoming, I reckon my conclusion is that vodka is like many endeavors. One can pursue the last 5-10% of perfection at considerable and largely unjustified expense.

My 'well' vodkas I keep around are Titos and Rusian Standard

For guests I usually serve Zyr or Stoli Elit

cell phone dp an hour and a half later

[This message has been edited by Gruene town FIDO (edited 12/23/2012 9:07a).]

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Alles ist relativ. If you drive a Bentley, I reckon a Benz is cheap.

Smirnoff is the "well" vodka at a local up-scale restaurant. In that context it's cheap. However, vs. Hood River in a plastic bottle, Smirnoff is a cut above or perceived to be.

Unless there is additional information forthcoming, I reckon my conclusion is that vodka is like many endeavors. One can pursue the last 5-10% of perfection at considerable and largely unjustified expense.

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Not really. At all. But I also don't really care what you do either.

Sigh......

I was hoping for elucidation of the science behind or factual justification for mulitple distillation processes. Not which cork to pull or which cap to unscrew..

You got what you were looking for early on so we moved on. Additional distillation removes high order alcohols and other impurities resulting in smoother taste and less head pain in the morning.

Think Tito's advertises 6 times distilled but I get crazy hangovers off of it so no mas. I'll have to try Double Cross if I can find it.

As I understand the science behind it, when you distill, you get some bad stuff at first, the good stuff you want, and the really bad stuff at the end. What you're doing when you distill multiple times is keeping the good stuff in the middle, and leaving the bad stuff on the ends. The more often you do this, the cleaner the alcohol.

quote:

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Think Tito's advertises 6 times distilled but I get crazy hangovers off of it so no mas. I'll have to try Double Cross if I can find it.

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I'm going to guess that has more to do with the amount of Tito's drank than it does the impurities in it.

Suspicions Confirmed more or less. Check out this ABC 20/20 Vodka taste test.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Consumer/story?id=3201973&page=1

I agree with this. I drink martinis and I make them almost straight vodka. I bought a bottle of grey goose once and could not finish it. I had to mix with something else. Sky is what i nirmally buy but smirnoff works too.

To the first question on the post, and we do apologize for our delayed response...., Vodka IS known as the scentless tasteless spirit, this is due to the fact that in order to make vodka you pretty much just clean it and clean it and then when you get done you clean it some more! Unfortunately though there are many vodkas on the market that are made in record time and usually go from mash to bottle in the same day because it "Can be done" our outlook was that although it can be done doesn't mean it should be, the number of times a spirit is distilled will affect its flavor however the more important factor is the Amount of TIME not Times it is distilled. The longer the spirit is in process the cleaner it will get, clean meaining harsh alcohols and are seperated out (the "heads" in the distilling process) Another major component in the smoothness of vodkas is what metal they are distilled in, for example most stills are Stainless Steel, this is great for boiling but it removes all the minerals from your spirit giving you raw harsh flavor, copper on the other hand cleans and sweetens the minerals but leaves them in the spirit so the pure flavors of whatever you started with (in our case sweet corn) still carry over into your distilled spirit. Next and very significant is the blending, most all blending/filtration setups are designed to use room temperature water (again so spirits can be produced and bottled in the same day, fed regulation requires that you fill at 68degrees so they can keep a control on the fill volumes) when we blend and filter we use 24degree water and blend and blend until almost all the Fusil oils have hardened and rise to the top of our blender so that when we pull the vodka (now at 80 proof) from the bottom of the blender to the filtration system there is virtually no oil left and that which does remain is typically caught by the 26 filtration pads. All this is to say that unfortunatly because vodka IS known as the Scentless and Tasteless spirit there have been many cases where it has become a cash crop that can be produced rapidly and in theory will almost always be covered up by some type of juice or soda or other mixer so its not likely to affect you until the next day when your stomach is wretching and your head is pounding. That's actually what got us started on making the highest quality vodka we could and getting it on the shelves to Texans at the lowest price we can.
We sure hope you enjoy, if you have any questions please feel free to contact us directly, we also do tours every saturday from 12-5 and I would LOVE the opportunity to show you and your wife through the distillery and let you see how the process works!
Thanks,
Deb

Sponsor Message: It's not how you roll it's how you ROCK in 2013! Please ROCK responsibly and put some TEXAS in your glass with Enchanted Rock Vodka and Rebecca Creek Whiskey.
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Thanks, Rebecca.

I live in Oregon now, so I'm guessing your distribution does not extend to the would be State of Jefferson (Oregon south of Eugene and California notth of Sacramento). If I get a chance, I'll give it a try.