Home Distiller

I was at the liquor store and saw a bottle of Tito's Vodka- locally made, good rep, ect, so I bought one. Took it home, smelled ok, had a glass on the rocks, tasted good, had 2 more and went to bed. Next morning, had a nail between the eyes headache and suffered all morning. Did the eyeball test the next evening and it stung a little, but not too bad. I'm usually pretty good at spotting heads, but this one fooled me. Too bad, really wanted to like it with a small legal distiller putting it out.

What a shame, heartcut! And that for a micro distiller!

I must say that since I distill myself, it is not only as if I can smell in many store sold products, but also ... as if I am getting a hangover so much more easy. Just a few gins or vodka's from a store and I feel bad the next day. Do you have the same?

Odin.

Definitely noticing hangovers more with stuff like Smirnoff.

Commercial gin I generally find OK though. I am fussy so I buy premium brands. Don't like vodka enough to spend big bucks.

Me too. This here rough and tumble home made is not rough and tumble at all..I can hardly drink beer or wine anymore as it is just way too dirty for my delicate sensibility .

Try Sobieski vodka ... Very very very good and only and by far the cheapest good stuff.

I have read that if glycerin is added it covers up the heads and tails taste, but you still get nailed by them.

When I switched from stoli to Sobieski I had major detox 1.5 to 2 days after I switched.

I wake up feeling much better now that I switched to Sobieski.

I drink Titos on a regular basis. No hangover and I prefer it to Ketel One. Maybe just because i'm not making my own yet, but I think it's great!

Ar,

Ehmm ... sounds like a heads addiction you had to get rid off?

Jake,

Not getting hung over from commercial gin makes sense. In a way. I you look at the charts on different non-ethanol alcohols present in various sorts of likker, it is gin/genever that scores the best. Explanation is that gin, like vodka, is distilled three times (contrary to whiskey/brandy being distilled twice). And after the third is done, the fourth "herb" distillation takes place. Higher abv makes for cleaner cuts.

Carbomb,

What Ketel One you like? The vodka or the gin? The genever díd give me a head ache after only 3 glasses!

Jake,

Sorry, but did you say you buy "high end stuff"? Common, really? In the UK? I mean, that is like saying to a Scotchman you buy a blended whiskey and then tell him it is high end stuff. Just kidding you, I mean "pulling your leg", Jake!

Odin.

Odin.

Odin wrote:
Carbomb,

What Ketel One you like? The vodka or the gin? The genever díd give me a head ache after only 3 glasses!

The vodka. I get a headache as well from the Ketel One.

I read a lot of good things on Ketel One vodka. It is made from wheat and filtered afterwards. Made in one of the oldest distilling pots in the world. They mill their own grain in an authentic Dutch windmill. I should visit their museum once. it is only like 40 clicks away from where I live ...

Odin.

@Odin I'll take that from you but not from just anybody.

@Arp If it's Polish, I'll drink it. It's one of those life rules that is easily learned.

Another thing to point out is the purity required to not give a hang over changes depending on the quantity drank. I drink about 2 cups of 40% a night so it has to be pretty clean stuff.

At one cup I can drink a little lower quality vodka and be fine.

At 3 cups I havn't found anything that can stop some yuckiness in the morning.

Yeah I think I was addicted to the heads or tails in the stoli which was covered up by the glycerin to taste smooth.

What I have started to realized is that:

Ethanol burns
Heads and tails kick
If its smooth and doesn't burn as much it's got glycerin in it and you can't detect the quality with your taste you have to wait till the next day to know how good or bad it was.

Of course those rules I have made I test at 40% straight and swish with water before and after.

Anyone else have ways of telling the quality of the product by taste?

@Jake: just kidding you! Happy to swim over the pond one day and drink with you to make up!

@Arphaxad: that is an interesting discription you give. Is it what you learted from drinking vodka, or does it apply to a broader range of products? My description would be slightly different. Heads is what smells "brandy" tickles eyes & nose. Ethanol is sweet and smooth (talking about my own stuff, definately without glycerine), tails is hot and burns the tongue & throat. But that is just my interpretation. Not an expert for sure.

Odin.

Odin, though I try to be moderate, if I drink too much of my own stuff I don't get the headache and upset stomach, just move and think slower. I do think I'm more inclined to get a hangover from commercial stuff now, perhaps just out of practice. I do try to support local distillers, but that's my last bottle of Tito's.

I'm sory to hear this report about Tito's. You would think if your going to put forth the effort to distill a product 6 times using 10 pot stills. You would try at least to get rid of some of the nasties. Sounds like a waist of time to me.

Tito's vodka is now on the store shelves in Indiana. Thought about trying it but at $35/750ml I left it on the shelf.

Arphaxad wrote:Try Sobieski vodka ... Very very very good and only and by far the cheapest good stuff.

I have read that if glycerin is added it covers up the heads and tails taste, but you still get nailed by them.

When I switched from stoli to Sobieski I had major detox 1.5 to 2 days after I switched.

I wake up feeling much better now that I switched to Sobieski.

Sobieski is made from rye. I had some Stoli lovers do a blind test and they picked Sobieski over Stoli.

Aphaxad, Burbank,

Do you taste the rye back in the product? Or just a very little? If so, I will certainly buy a bottle to try!

Odin.

Odin wrote:Aphaxad, Burbank,

Do you taste the rye back in the product? Or just a very little? If so, I will certainly buy a bottle to try!

Odin.

No rye taste, but I haven't had it in awhile either. I was at a polish wedding and we were drinking Finlandia like no tomorrow, no headaches.

I remember drinking Finlandia every now & then. Liked it.

Arphaxad wrote:Anyone else have ways of telling the quality of the product by taste?

Not so much by mere taste but with only a sip or two... If I start feeling like my nose is stuffing up or I start sneezing I know there are heads present, whether they can be tasted or smelled... I'm having a tough time with commercial spirits these days... Almost ready to give up on drinking Dewars... If any of my spirits cause these symptoms they are set aside to be diluted and rerun... And while this only rarely happens with pot stilled spirits I don't recall ever having problems with neutral spirits run in reflux mode... Taking more conservative center hearts in pot still mode cures the problem...

It's not that I necessarily like neutral spirits more than flavored, it's more a matter of how my body reacts... Plus I never experience any lingering effects from neutrals... Just a seamless transition from "Ah, I've got a nice comfortable buzz!" to "Hey, where did that buzz go!"...

Hey Rad have tried Famous Grouse? Not bad for a cheap Scotch.

Rad

I really like Dewars but it has the same effect on me. I love the taste but it definitely has some effect on my allergies and respiratory system. My wife doesn't like it when I drink dewars she says it makes my asthma worse.

And to Odin my taste test really only applies to vodka. I bought 23 different kinds and did shots every night for weeks, trying to narrow down what I liked. I ended up picking stoli but the was no Sobieski back then.

And after research and some advice from her I recently realized that what I aw liking in stoli was the smoothness from glycerin covering up the harsh taste of the crap.

After that I had to reevaluate what I was looking for in a drink and I am looking for something that not only tastes clean but o etching this I clean.

And as to whether or not I can taste the rye in h Sobieski. .... I can taste he effect of it. It does have a flavor of sorts it's sutle and smooth and sweet and deep. But not harsh or bite y

Why the f**ch aren't the ingredients on likker bottles? I had no that glycerin was used in vodka and color is allow in single malt scotch. The latter was a real let down.

blind drunk wrote:Why the f**ch aren't the ingredients on likker bottles? I had no that glycerin was used in vodka and color is allow in single malt scotch. The latter was a real let down.

You would have to ask the feds, according to them vodka is suppose
to be oderless, colorless and tasteless. So why the heck should you
drink it?

The vodkas that I do like have tended to be made of rye. Wyborowa and Zubrowka spring to mind.

I have tried quite a variety of different Russian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian vodkas and I haven't really liked any of them.

I have tried Finlandia 40% and 60% and liked them both.

+1 on Famous Grouse by the way, I reckon that's a decent blend.

Odd...

I have had the Tito's, and had no ill effects from it. Now I am leery of getting a "bad bottle"... Shame, I really liked it.

-KI

I never had a problem with titos. I know Tito Beveridge to say hi to and have talked with him at some length on a couple of occasions and the guy is seriously passionate about making clean liquor. His approach to it is a little unrefined but he compensates for that with overkill. He cuts heads and tails by volume on each of six passes. not a hell of a lot of finesse but highly effective as far as I've ever been able to tell. He claims to be cutting out more than 50% of potential yield.

Titos is my go-to package store vodka and I the first thing I recommend to people asking for advice on store bought vodka.

+2 on famous grouse; clean tasting.

I recently had some of my former favourite, Buffalo Trace. They have lowered the proof (in the UK), and it is no longer as nice as it was. It also gave me a hangover, where before it did not. I won't be buying it again.

I don't like vodka, and can't really compare one with the other, but I had a taste of Absolut that a friend had in his freezer. I tasted, not terrible, but like second rate moonshine.

-Dan

I have enjoyed drinking Tito's with no issues the morning after.....The product that it reminds me of is the: http://moonshine.com/stillhouse.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow ,,,,which by the way I view as a vodka.... Both are quite good but the Stillhouse product is twice as expensive and bunch more was spent on glass and label appointments.....Pushing $50 bucks in my market. It was just not worth it....The Tito's is a far better value at $17-$22 for an equally good drop.......

But what impressed me most about Tito's,,,,was that Bohunk said he liked it....I can't get the Chase product here. But if I could I dern would.
Bohunk said he run across this Tito chappy while poundin the pavement.. He said it was good....I think that speaks to Bohunk's sense of integrity and fairness.....
If yer close to Nebraska,,, git the Chase product....I bet my ass it would be a good drop at likely the best price point in North America.

Well, after buying a 1.75ml bottle, it'd be a shame to not give it another chance. I did. Tastes good, smells good (doesn't smell headsy), hurts the next day. Sounds like others have had good experiences with Tito's, maybe a bad batch? I'm not going to have any more of this bottle.