The Tasting Panel magazine

October 2011

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anticipate this segment to grow strongly in the future, although it is likely to be new brands that make the running if the switch from cognac to premium vodka continues. Raw Material Vodka can be made from anything containing starch able to be converted into fermented sugars. Cereal grains are the most common, even though molas- ses and corn are becoming popular for low-priced mass-market products. At the same time, a great number of innovative ingredients are chosen for the growing number of inventive newcomers. Distillation Traditionally, all vodka was made using pot stills, just like cognac and single malt whisky. Pot still distillation results in alcohol rich in character and body, which contain the delicate aromas and flavor elements of the crop from which it was produced. The downside is that this production method is slow, labor intensive and expensive. However, the major problem is the fact that nowa- days, regulations stipulate that vodka must be distilled to a minimum of 96% abv (192 proof), which is not possible in traditional pot stills. Since the 19th century, vodka produc- Vodka Flavor Chart Rain Tito Crystal Head Cavalli Pearl Frïs Vikingfjord Iceberg Cape North Finlandia DQ Death's Door Skyy 90 Effen THE VODKA FLAVOR CHART COMPLEX Purity Vodka Boyd & Blair Oval U'Luvka Karlsson's Gold Cold River XO Jean Marc Kauffmann Level Cîroc Stoli Elit Absolut Elyx Double Cross Absolut 100 Russian Standard Imperia Moon Mountain Square One Reyka Absolut Vox RÖKK Svedka Skyy Blue Angel Smirnoff Red Fleischmanns Seagram's McCormick 360 Vodka Trump Platinum 7X Polar Ice Barton Gordons Eristoff Kamchata UV Skol Danzka Popov Dworek Chopin Boru Purus LuksusowaOrzel Three Olives Wódka Pravda Pinnacle Crop Sobieski Wyborowa Stolichnaya Smirnoff Black Akvinta Chopin Rye Ed Hardy Medoyeff American Harvest 45th Parallel Kanon Hangar One Ketel One 42 Below Van Gogh Bong Belvedere Grey Goose Charbay Exquisite Vermont Gold Belvedere Intense Ultimat Dry Fly NEUTRAL THE TASTING PANEL, 2011 ers have moved on to column stills, which perform numer- ous distillations in a single process, allowing large batches of neutral alcohol to be produced industrially at low cost. The column still produces neutral spirit with little or no character of the raw material. A third option is to marry together the distillates from the two distillation methods in balanced proportions. Distillation is basically a matter of separating a more vola- tile component—alcohol—from the less volatile component, water. The process results in ethanol, methanol and small amounts of impurities including fusel oils, esters and acids, collectively known as congeners. Most other spirits keep small amounts of congeners as they, if correctly used, contribute to positive flavors. Instead, most vodka producers strive to remove impurities as well as flavors characteristic through a rectification process. As Hasse's Blind Tasting Results: The Top Ten Vodkas Purity Vodka Origin: Sweden; ingredients: wheat and barley Vermont Gold Origin: USA; ingredients: maple syrup sap Stoli Elit Origin: Russia; ingredients: wheat Belvedere Intense Origin: Poland; ingredients: rye Karlsson's Gold Origin: Sweden; ingredients: potato Ultimat Origin: Poland; ingredients: wheat, rye and potato XO Jean Marc Origin: France; ingredients: wheat Chopin Rye Origin: Poland; ingredients: rye Dry Fly Origin: USA; ingredients: wheat Cold River Origin: USA; ingredients: potato october 201 1 / the tasting panel / 99 RICH LIGHT

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