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An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

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Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#71

Post by eu7durb3rjdur »

ken wrote: post #69
gunshai wrote: post #4

I've been telling my friends for years, if you can successfully sell Vodka in today's market you can probably market any product. While there are "differences", they all basically have to be the same by law and you probably can't reliably identify a difference in a double blinded application. "(1) “Vodka” is neutral spirits so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be with…

I really don't think it's that hard to sell ethanol. This is a substance which is regularly purchased by 70% of the population. You don't even have to be "not worst". "Worst" often also means "cheapest", and there's lots of people who seek out the cheapest option. It's well known that wine with pictures of animals on the label outsell non-animal-labelled wines by more than 2:1. This is not a particularly sophisticate…

It's hard to do without breaking the market because it's so cheap. Reagent grade ethanol is dirt cheap and for this reason also spiked with chemicals to penalize people who drink it. Without sin taxes and regulations that accomplish similar ends you could probably sell 1.75L of vodka for 2 dollars. But then poor people could afford to have fun in a non-puritan fashion and Americans hate that for some reason.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#72

Post by Animats »

In the current market, if they have alcohol and a bottling line, making hand sanitizer might be a better idea.

The "high end vodka" thing is such a joke. A few years ago, one of the vodka companies put an article into Wikipedia with all their high-end vodka hype. That did not end well for them. People started digging for reliable sources about the company, and found them. Turned out the vodka company was entirely a marketing operation. Production, bottling, and distribution was outsourced to another company, one that makes liquor products to order in addition to marketing brands of their own. That company is quite open about what they do in the trade press, so lots of reliable info was available.

The ethanol came from an industrial refinery sized plant in the Midwest, where corn went in and ethanol and cattle feed came out. Some of the alcohol was re-distilled for beverages and cosmetics, and some of it went to oil refineries to be blended into gasoline. Tank cars of ethanol went by rail to the outsourcing company, which had its own railroad sidings. The outsourcing company took in ethanol, did a bit of re-distilling and polishing, added de-ionized tap water and flavoring, and bottled. Just like they did for the other thousand or so products they make. No secret in the industry, but something the general public usually doesn't find out about.

It's all bottles and labeling. The outsourcing company admits they make a thousand different brands of booze, but only have a hundred different recipes. The company moved to an area north of San Francisco a few years ago to be next door to the bottle-making plant, and have better rail access. All that ended up in Wikipedia.

There's an interesting economy of scale in doing it this way. Under US law, the booze industry is divided into distillers/brewers, wholesalers, and retailers. Usually, the distiller/brewer makes the final product and bottles it, there are bulk shipments of bottled goods to wholesalers, and wholesalers are basically a fulfillment operation serving retailers. But the way this outsourcing company does it, the distiller/brewer is an industrial plant sending them tank cars of ethanol, and they make up the consumer product and distribute it to retailers. Only one step of trucking instead of two.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#73

Post by jerrysievert »

klodolph wrote: post #65
jcelerier wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> an apple is a pome, not all pome are apples. coming from a language where "pomme" is the translation of "apple"... wat ?

If you look up “pome” in an english dictionary, it’s a botanical term that refers to fruits such as apples and pears.

yeah, I chose it to be more specific and try to stop "but an apple is not a fruit!" comments :)

can't win them all.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#74

Post by waynecochran »

ogre_codes wrote: post #21

This is such a classic Oregon thing. #1 Oregon loves micro-breweries and micro-distilleries are popping up everywhere. #2 They are upcycling/ reclaiming a by-product. #3 It's an innovation that favors smaller local businesses versus big business. #4 OSU has an "Assistant Professor of Distilled Spirits"

I wonder if the phrase "Cowcohol" was used in his dissertation.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#75

Post by freehunter »

jerrysievert wrote: post #46
gunshai wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>source: I've made quite a lot of vodka (most of which has been turned into gin) My assumption here is because gin tastes good. :grin:

or, as some like to call it: flavored vodka

Flavored vodka is a big business. Just wander down any liquor aisle.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#76

Post by KingMachiavelli »

auiya wrote: post #55
jerrysievert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's ignoring the headache you're going to have after a night of drinking Karkov. typically from cutting the heads too shallow. ethanol's boiling point is 173ºF, where the alcohol that is giving you your headache is lower. cutting the heads (or lower evaporating alcohol) too shallow gives you more of that alcohol. now, as to taste, I disagree a little bit with the gp post in that enough complex sugars also make i…

Is there any way to "fix" cheaper vodkas by holding it at the proper temp for sufficiently long enough? Or are they beyond salvageable by that point in the process?

Yes & no. While you could redistill it and be extra generous with the amount of head (& tail?) thrown away. Or you could build a activated carbon filter; if you search around there is a lengthy PDF describing the proper dimensions & volume of carbon filtration needed. The cost of the activated carbon is probably going to exceed just buying slightly more expensive such as Costco/Kirkland vodka. It's not as cheap as the plastic bottle brands like Taaka but save for really high consumption levels it's probably cheap enough.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#77

Post by Znafon »

Animats wrote: post #72

In the current market, if they have alcohol and a bottling line, making hand sanitizer might be a better idea. The "high end vodka" thing is such a joke. A few years ago, one of the vodka companies put an article into Wikipedia with all their high-end vodka hype. That did not end well for them. People started digging for reliable sources about the company, and found them. Turned out the vodka company was entirely a m…

What is the company?

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#78

Post by dathinab »

Animats wrote: post #72

In the current market, if they have alcohol and a bottling line, making hand sanitizer might be a better idea. The "high end vodka" thing is such a joke. A few years ago, one of the vodka companies put an article into Wikipedia with all their high-end vodka hype. That did not end well for them. People started digging for reliable sources about the company, and found them. Turned out the vodka company was entirely a m…

> It's all bottles and labeling.

Mostly, but there is a difference of taste between low and mid quality vodka. But the difference between mid and high quality vodka is questionable. At least for most people, this happens to also be the case for many other alcoholica.

Be aware that it's about taste not fancy production methods. And yes while not strong vodka has taste to it ;=) it's not "just" pure alcohol.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#79

Post by anon73044 »

fenwick67 wrote: post #6
gunshai wrote: post #4

I've been telling my friends for years, if you can successfully sell Vodka in today's market you can probably market any product. While there are "differences", they all basically have to be the same by law and you probably can't reliably identify a difference in a double blinded application. "(1) “Vodka” is neutral spirits so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be with…

Anecdotal but, I feel like I can tell good vodka from cheap vodka easier than good wine from cheap wine.

I'd put a $5 bottle that's been aerated against a $50 that hasn't any day of the week.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#80

Post by jfengel »

frandroid wrote: post #64
NikolaeVarius wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Send it through a filter. Thats what my Dorm did and it worked just fine.

Like, a paper filter for coffee?

An activated carbon filter, like a Brita pitcher.

I've heard mixed results on the reports. It's certainly removing some things, and leaving others. The results likely depend on just how bad it was when you started. But given that Brita filters aren't exactly cheap, you might have better luck just buying the $20 vodka rather than the $10 vodka.

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