Apart from rye, what else may vodka be made from?!
Apart from rye, what else may vodka be made from?
Answers:
Literally anything you can ferment and distill.
Rye, corn, potatoes, wheat, grapes, molasses, cane sugar, barley...the list goes on.
Vodka is simply alcohol that's been distilled and filtered sufficiently to make neutral, tasteless spirit and then cut with water to bottling strength (typically ~40% or 80 proof)
It's impossible to remove 100% of the taste or smell of the original source of the vodka, but you can get it really close. Combined with the characteristics of the water used to cut it to drinking strength, this is where each individual vodka gets its quality and subtle character. The more times it's distilled and the more times it's carbon filtered, the more neutral it becomes. That's the difference between the so-called "premium" vodkas in vogue today and the regular cheap vodkas.
Source(s):
I read way too much about this stuff
potatoes
potatoes
Originally, it was made from potatoes. Although some eastern European vodkas are still made from potatoes and corn, most of the high quality imports and all vodka made in the United States are distilled from cereal grains, such as wheat.
Grapes can also be used.
We use our heads to produce a vodka with a nose." Theoretically, vodka can be made from almost any fermentable organic material - from whey to molasses. Absolut Vodka, however, is made solely from grain, which more than 400 years of tradition has proven to produce the best and purest vodka possible. Absolut Vodka uses a special method of distillation that retains a smooth grain character and is extremely low in unwanted by-products.
This is the story of how Absolut Vodka is made.
Fermentation - The Happy Life and Death of the Yeast Cell
A few thousand years ago, someone made the bright discovery that when deprived of oxygen, the yeast cell turns sugar into carbon dioxide and ethanol. Fermented beverages are born. These beverages were eventually distilled, giving us dozens of different spirits, one of which is vodka.
Fermentation is an extremely delicate and complicated process where the yeast cell converts the sugar in the mash to ethanol. The result is a mixture with an 8% alcohol content and a hundred or so by-products, some unpleasant tasting, some harmful. A concern for quality from the very beginning of the production process minimizes these impurities - using only high quality grain, preparing the grain, safeguarding against bacteria and carefully controlling the fermentation process. Virtually all remaining impurities are removed in the distillation and rectification.
Distillation - The Trickle Down Theory of Alcohol
Turning the fermented grain mash to vodka takes distillation. The principle has remained unchanged ever since it was accidentally discovered over a thousand years ago.
There are two kinds of distillation: batch distillation and continuous distillation. Batch distillation is an age-old method used for many types of spirits. Refined to a high degree of sophistication, this method is still used in areas like Cognac and the Scottish highlands to make cognac and whisky.
Absolut Vodka, however, is distilled using the second method, continuous distillation. This type of distillation builds on the same laws of physics as batch distillation. The essential difference is that the spirit is cycled back and forth producing a very pure final product.
Continuous distillation turns the 8% fermented mash into crude spirit with an alcohol concentration by volume of 85-90% (170-180 proof).
The Dilemma of Vodka - Purity vs. Character
The last step is rectification, a method of removing unwanted by-products introduced over a century ago by the man on the bottle's medallion - Lars Olsson Smith. The crude spirit passes through a number of columns, each designed to remove a different set of impurities. One column extracts unpleasant tasting solvent compounds; another removes fusel oil; a third methanol; a fourth concentrates the spirit - 96% pure alcohol by volume and extremely low in impurities.
It is here we are faced with the dilemma of vodka production - distillation and rectification technology have advanced so far towards producing an absolutely pure vodka that it has also succeeded in removing trace elements that give vodka the character of the raw material from which it is made. Absolut Vodka has solved this dilemma by, parallel to the main distillation, producing a spirit where the goal is to retain the fine character of the grain. The final composite spirit, produced at or above 95% alcohol by volume (190 proof), has that unique smooth and fine character. Exactly how this is done is a well-kept secret.