Homemade vs. commercial

[lampshade]

Why is our likker better than than the commercial stuff we buy in the store?

I'm looking at a bottle of a popular vodka, the name of which starts with "S". The label says it is triple distilled and filtered 10 times, Most of us in the community only double distill vodka and don't bother with filtering.

So what are we doing that produces a better tasting vodka?

[OBX Phantom]

I would have to say that it is because we remove more of the nasty stuff like the foreshots and heads from our stuff... to were the com. distilleries leave it in in order to increase volume. After all, it is about the money for them. "Just my opinion"

[warp1]

I keep tasting mine versus Grey Goose....theirs is still better, but I'm getting closer. I'm better at whiskey.....good, pure, vodka keeps kicking my ass

[Prairiepiss]

One word. Greed.

[Husker]

Actually, most of the shit is more than just simple 'greed', per se. It is 'how' they produce the shit load of product that they do. They (the big boys), run continuious stills. They simply take off at a specific 'location' in the column. However, all of the heads are flowing past this, and thus get taken off also.

There may still be a few pot still companies out there. I think some scotch and irish whiskeys are pot still run. Likely, some of the smaller rums are also, and probably some of the higher end tequillas. But it is says Jack, Beam, Crown, Cuervo, Bacardi (or 100's of other larger distillers), then it is about 100% assured they are running continuios stills.

Batch run pot still (or batch reflux), is really the way to make FINE distilled product. We can do a SHIT load better than the commercial companies can, because we do not have any bottom line to speak of. We make what we want, and we pour what we do NOT want down the drain. We can take the time to do things right the first time, and not have to hide behind a several years in a charred barrel, or filtering through 40 foot of maple charcoal, or whatever other way the big boys have to try to make their crap drinkable.

H.

[Prairiepiss]

In my eyes its still simple greed. They have the choice. Either make something really good with the right equipment. And it mite cost more to do. Or use the equipment they do use and make as much as quick as they can get it out the door. The cheapest way they can.

The other problem is. The masses are now so use to the crap on the shelf. They really wouldn't know a good spirit if it bit them. And are brainwashed to think these store bought crap is what its suppose to taste like. Advertising can brainwash the masses pretty easily. With enough money to back an advertising campaign they could carbonate and bottle horse piss and sell a ton of it. Right next to the old Milwaukee's Best.

[blind drunk]

Why is our likker better than than the commercial stuff we buy in the store?

It's like anything else - most things homemade are better than store bought. Alot of it comes down to pride (in the good sense of the word).

[Bayou-Ruler]

In my eyes its still simple greed. They have the choice. Either make something really good with the right equipment. And it mite cost more to do. Or use the equipment they do use and make as much as quick as they can get it out the door. The cheapest way they can.

The other problem is. The masses are now so use to the crap on the shelf. They really wouldn't know a good spirit if it bit them. And are brainwashed to think these store bought crap is what its suppose to taste like. Advertising can brainwash the masses pretty easily. With enough money to back an advertising campaign they could carbonate and bottle horse piss and sell a ton of it. Right next to the old Milwaukee's Best.

LOL hell i thought Old Milwaukee's Best was Horse Piss! Or...... wait maybe that was Schlitz

[lokibrew]

I' e been remarkably pleased with the craft distillng product. Small run, batch process. They are selling craftsmanship and quality as their differentiators

Now, that being said, they are more experimental and some of those are failures.


If you can get a bottle of hangar one, give it a go. Along with all their other product(St George Distillery)

[Buccaneer Bob]

Good stuff, guys.

It was interesting what Husker had to say about the location the commercial guys take off their "good stuff" on a continuous still.

Yeah, I have been making brandy and rum, and I have been sharing quite a bit with my extended family.

We were drinking some rum-and-7 a few weeks ago, sitting around chatting, and all of us trying to decide, somewhere in the backs of our minds, what we could compare the taste of my rum to.

For me, my rum with 7-up takes me back to a time when my parents took my brother and I to a Red Lobster, and I was treated to some sort of a "virgin" Spritey cocktail with a maraschino cherry floating in it.

I wish I knew what it was that I was drinking back then, but it was just too long ago.

Anyway, back to here recently, we were all sitting around chatting and sipping the rum-and-7, and my wife's cousin stood up after awhile, and she started tilting to the side, not really falling over, just tilting to the side a bit.

And she said something to the effect of, "Wow, there must have been a lot more alcohol in there than what I thought."

Of course, she was cool with that.

But I'm not so sure making really smooth liquor is the right way to go.

Others in the family have called my liquor "sneaky", and I am almost feeling a little guilty about it.

People are so used to being able to taste liquor a certain way, and if a mixed drink doesn't taste like "liquor" to them, they don't think there's very much "liquor" in it.

I almost think I should put a warning label on all my bottles that reads: "Warning, this liquor does actually have liquor in it. You just can't 'taste' it."

I don't know, maybe I'll just have to let everybody get used to drinking liquor that doesn't taste like "liquor" to them.

[Saltbush Bill]

It's like anything else - most things homemade are better than store bought.

I think the above sums it up very nicely

[MozzMann]

Why is our likker better than than the commercial stuff we buy in the store?

That's easy , we ferment and distill with love and care to achieve results that commercial entities can only dream of because they need quantity and not necessarily quality.

I have been distilling on a small scale for high quality neutral spirit that is later made into various other concoctions.

[OBX Phantom]

Good stuff, guys.



People are so used to being able to taste liquor a certain way, and if a mixed drink doesn't taste like "liquor" to them, they don't think there's very much "liquor" in it.

I almost think I should put a warning label on all my bottles that reads: "Warning, this liquor does actually have liquor in it. You just can't 'taste' it."

I don't know, maybe I'll just have to let everybody get used to drinking liquor that doesn't taste like "liquor" to them.

I have to agree with you Bob, I have got all of my friends hooked on my Apple pie. They love because you can't taste the alcohol but it will kick your butt....

[Bushman]

I' e been remarkably pleased with the craft distillng product. Small run, batch process. They are selling craftsmanship and quality as their differentiators

Now, that being said, they are more experimental and some of those are failures.


If you can get a bottle of hangar one, give it a go. Along with all their other product(St George Distillery)

Hangar one citrus vodka is made with Buddhas Hand citrus. I just bought 2 plants to start growing in doors to use for my citrus vodka. My wife loves her lemon drops and it gives a better flavor than the regular lemons in my opinion.

[mercmar]

This thread needs to go out again. Buccaneer Bob, sneaky is the word. my problem is I keep sneaking up on myself.

Participating in this hobby I am now cursed to taste the heads and tails in commercial spirits. to know about the glycerol and back sweetening they don't mention adding. the fake aging flavors. I can't smell hand sanitizer without smelling the nasties in it. This hobby is a blessing and a curse. Here's to all of you who know the truth.

[kmmuellr]

I shared a very young bourbon (my first) w/ a friend last night who is a long time bar tender. His comment was that it was "easy. Smooth."

Yep, I think it'll sneak up on you!

K

[dukethebeagle120]

I got a friend who is learning from me on his first batch of makers clone
I gave him a shot of 3 month old bourbon i made
He said shit thats smooth.
I told him wait and see in 9 more months
He likes jack
I told him thats sad stuff
Wait till his bourbon is done
He won't buy that no more

[Durhommer]

I don't know what it is but it seems like I can drink more of mine than I can store bought maybe it's the cuts but mine isn't as harsh going down in my opinion

[bunny]

Can really cheap commercial vodka be cleaned up into a premium (not just marketing) quality vodka?

If so, at what cost and how much better?

I would consider running a couple gallons of Flieshmen's through spp to find out.

[tiramisu]

Making jet fuel and GNC is easily achievable. Making a product that is the equal of a good commercial whisky seems like it might take 10 or 20 years of practice even with the grain bills and experience shared on this forum.

[NormandieStill]

I lived in Edinburgh for a few years and was introduced to single malts there. Later a friend joined the Whisky Society and I discovered single cask whiskys. I have a few bottles of cask strength single cask whisky that still blow my mind with their complexity. They're not necessarily smooth, but there's level upon level of flavour, in the nose and on the palate, often revealed through steady addition of water.

These are far from "standard" commercial whiskys, but I would say that certain Scottish distilleries set the bar pretty high. I'm a big fan of Islay whiskys and was introduced to Kilchoman when their oldest whisky was 4 years old. It drank like a 16-year Lagavullin. Knowing what I now know about cuts and ageing I do wonder what their older whiskys are like.

[Yummyrum]

I have a foot in both camps . I like that we can make super clean booze if we want . But I also love and for the most part prefer Commercial spirits . To me clean ... or smooth wreaks with something missing

OK , that may sound off for someones that’s a Moderator on this forum and been a home distiller for many years. ... buts that’s just me .

There is a multitude of Commercial stuff available and while I quite like most of it , some of it is utter shite ... especially the Rums.

Having said that , I have tasted quite a lot of Homemade spirit and likewise , some is amazing while some is really quite horrible .

So I don’t think we can say one is better than the other .
Only that we as Home Distillers have the ability to eventually work out what it is we like in a spirit and develop some control over what we do to aim for what we really like

[LWTCS]

I have a foot in both camps . I like that we can make super clean booze if we want . But I also love and for the most part prefer Commercial spirits . To me clean ... or smooth wreaks with something missing

OK , that may sound off for someones that’s a Moderator on this forum and been a home distiller for many years. ... buts that’s just me .

There is a multitude of Commercial stuff available and while I quite like most of it , some of it is utter shite ... especially the Rums.

Having said that , I have tasted quite a lot of Homemade spirit and likewise , some is amazing while some is really quite horrible .

So I don’t think we can say one is better than the other .
Only that we as Home Distillers have the ability to eventually work out what it is we like in a spirit and develop some control over what we do to aim for what we really like

Pretty much my thinking too.
Hard for the larger cross section of hobby guys to compete with the tools available to the big bourbon houses for example.
10 year old my wife bought me last week only lasted 3 days.
Haven't tasted anything near that good from a hobby distiller or a small "craft" distillery.

It's one thing to make a drop that that friends and family can enjoy because you arrived with a bottle or two tucked under your arm rather than develop a spirit that people (other than friends and family) will repeatedly pay money for.

[bluefish_dist]

The big advantage small distillers and home distillers have is they can be ruthless with cuts. The big guys simply can’t do that as it adds too much cost. The big guys also have an advantage over the small guys, they have been doing it long enough that they have some old stuff in barrels that can only be replicated by time.
When developing my white rum recipe, we got the well known standard for comparison. Wife spit it out as it was so bad in comparison. Ended up giving it away as no one would drink it.

Yes, compared to the usual commercial stuff it’s fairly easy to make a better drop. The better stuff, not so easy.

[Butch27]

I have a foot in both camps . I like that we can make super clean booze if we want . But I also love and for the most part prefer Commercial spirits . To me clean ... or smooth wreaks with something missing ....
Only that we as Home Distillers have the ability to eventually work out what it is we like in a spirit and develop some control over what we do to aim for what we really like

Everyone has their own taste preferences. Some like Pepsi because it is not harsh, others like the bite that Coke brings. Personally I like Coke. If I want smooth, I will drink water.

[tubbsy]

I have a foot in both camps . I like that we can make super clean booze if we want . But I also love and for the most part prefer Commercial spirits . To me clean ... or smooth wreaks with something missing

.....

There is a multitude of Commercial stuff available and while I quite like most of it , some of it is utter shite ... especially the Rums.

I agree 100% Yummy. I'm pretty happy comparing my rums to commercial stuff but whisky, particularly single malt, I prefer commercial every time. I have made some pretty nice single malts, but it is either too smooth (ie, boring), or I have gone too far the other way and it tastes a bit manky. Getting that sweet spot literally takes time, as in years.