Comments on: Vodka Research

By: Chad

Chad — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 15:06:19 +0000

I work in advertising and one of my clients is a young batch distillery producing vodka, rum, gin, and eventually whiskey. I learned the process of distillation and the simple science and regulation behind vodka. Basically vodka is pure ethanol with water mixed back into it. In countries like poland and rusa perhaps, the regs arent so stringent and other elements might be mixed into the drink but in the u.s. the concetration of other impurities MUST BE very very small as to make them negligible in order to sell it as vodka (to sell it at all). Its something like .093 percent othr junk allowed.

When tested, vodkas like grey goose and ketel one and ones like yours in the experiment and gibleys or house brand crap are in no way distinguished by impurity. Grey goose may have more gunk than gibleys and ketel one may have les than both of the others. This stuff is all fact and simple fact at that. Any vodka producer (not their marketing dept.) Can tell u this and prove it to you.

So your experiment is awesome. A great way to bring science into the realm of taste and perception and out of the lab where people obviously have no interest in being.

It might seem funny at first glance that even after your findings report the first comment is made by someone calling inexpensive vodka the cheap crap. But the, dont we learn this again and again? The porsche cayenne and the volkswagon taureg are the same car. A cheap chinese gucci bag and the real thing are indistinguishable even by the makers of gucci bags. Of course there are instances all over the place where quality is hugely important and proves to be more lasting, effective, etc. It is that fact alone that allows us to be suckered again and again when its not.

My conclusion? Star belied sneetches.

Nice report.

By: assd

assd — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:44:53 +0000

Despite I don’t like vodka, I’m proud you mentioned Chopin as the ‘expensive and good’ one. My polish proud just popped into the air

By: john loberg

john loberg — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:22:09 +0000

Hmmm. Suspect data? Anyone who drinks straight alcohol (vodka, gin, burbon, etc.) knows, or should know, that only the first sniff and taste are reliable. The more one sniffs and tastes the less sensitive become your taster and smeller. After five or six sniffs and tastes I would be surprised if anyone could actually tell the difference between premuium vodka and sterno! Rule one – when testing any alcohol (at room temperature) only SNIFF ONE SAMPLE the first pass, and wait or clense your olafactiries before sniffing the second sample. The esters and residual oils will be evident only then. Then have a cracker or bit of cheese before the second sample. Rule two – buy and drink the alcohol of your choice regardless of the price or label!

By: Mike Kupietz, FileMaker Pro Consultant

Mike Kupietz, FileMaker Pro Consultant — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:33:59 +0000

I do feel the need to point out that you didn’t take a statistically valid number of data points, so your conclusions can’t be considered sound. Generally at least 30 data points must be collected to be considered statistically valid… IE one person would have to do 30 double-blind taste tests before you could really conclude whether or not they couldn’t tell the difference between the vodkas over the course of the trials. I would recommend redoing the study with a much greater number of data samples. You could also eliminate the evaporation hypothesis by subjecting the unfiltered vodka to the same type znd number of physical manipulations as the filtered vodka, or, even better, constructing an airtight experimental vessel within which to perform the filtering and store both vodka samples.

By: J Dorsey

J Dorsey — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:49:11 +0000

OK – here is my 2 cents. Vodka is distilled from any of the common grain cereals. It is a grain neutral spirit – it is made originally to a high proof – usually 190 proof or 95% alcohol and then cut with filtered water. It is not impossible that each type of permitted grain – has esters that are discernable to the nose. The water used to cut the proof is also contributing something to the taste, is it hard or soft or mineralized ??Bowman Vodka a very fine and inexpensive product formerly made upon ground now known as Reston VA – is now produced near Harrisonburg VA. It is filtered 4 times, as is Grey Goose. My Virginia based VA ABC store manager tells me 2 things about his preferences and Grey Goose in particular. One – at slightly higher cost per bottle .10 to .50 cents each he orders everything he can bottled in glass. Plastic is slowly killing all of us. Second – as to the Goose. It was for many years a 4th shelf – or bottom shelf Vodka. Then in the 1990′s they spent a fortune on advertising and “created the myth”. Burnetts – mentioned by another writer is a fine Vodka and a fine Gin too – referred to as a bartenders gin sometimes, because it is inoffensive and mixes well. Anyone who orders a Grey Goose Martini Dirty or with any known dead vegtable in it, and presumes they can tell Grey Goose from anything else is simply untutored and wasting a lot of money. My parting thought – last I knew the rail gin at Chiles at Tyson’s Corner was Tanquery and that is no booze to sneer at. My point ? Get your smelling nose and your fixation with image onto the same page. Chasing mere image is going to raise the cost of your life by 50% or more for no good purpose. My applause to the testors !!

By: Iskandar B

Iskandar B — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:08:46 +0000

Obviously I have come in late, but found this discussion interesting.

Jon reported on blind taste tests comparing the 25 vodkas available.

I think there is probably a chemical equivalent of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Actually, the inverse: the observer is influenced by the observation.

The findings of a group of individual who tested 25 different vodkas are, IMHO, somwhat suspect.

Nazdrovye

Izzy

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:13:34 +0000

Please don’t forget to use new filters for vodka filtration. Ethanol is used to clean carbon filters; if you use an old filter that’s been cleaning your water, the vodka will be unusually gross after filtration. I ran similar experiments at a vodka tasting party with a lot of scientists, and blind taste tests where people directly compared filtered to unfiltered skol revealed that about 3/4 of participants could tell the difference. However, they had been comparing the 25 vodkas available, so may have been sensitized to the various nuances in advance. But while it was improved by removing the strong off-flavors, it still lacked the smoothness and positive flavors that better brands had. You might try the following brands for different aspects:
Svedka: Probably the cheapest good vodka you can get, at around $14/750ml for a reasonably smooth and clean flavor.
3 vodka: the most flavorless and smooth vodka I know of. Preferred by people who don’t like liquor.
Russian standard or Hangar One: The two best vodkas available for overall combination of smoothness and flavor. Significantly better than grey goose.

By: Netopia

Netopia — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:43:03 +0000

Why not use grain alcohol to raise the alcohol level of the cheap stuff to the same as the more expensive and see what the results are?

By: Devin

Devin — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:20:58 +0000

Well this is all fine and dandy, but they do not say anywhere how many times they filtered it through the brita filter. Not very respectful of the scientific process. Personally i am a little dissappointed.

By: Vip3rousmango

Vip3rousmango — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:07:29 +0000

Um, this experiment was done by Myth Busters, and they had a “professional” Russian vodka taste tester who worked for an unnamed vodka distillery back in Russia. I recommend you check out the episode to see the result.