Pie_man: Drinking alcohol such as beer, wine, even a long drink alone is not wrong. Drinking straight vodka alone is wrong in the sense you only get stoned instead of enjoying it together with friends; and some perceive it as the road to alcoholism.
Since I was 18, I tried making vodka for my own use (of course, illegal activity). Then I started studying chemical engineering, and my expertise grew. Later, I was just interested and really know my vodka, although I do not make it since 1985 ;-) So, let me tell you what vodka is all about, comprehensively
Comprehensive Bassist's Guide to Alcohol Making
All generic alcoholic beverages are made by fermentation of sugars with yeast. The raw material and the process conditions affect the chemical composition of the product. This is why lager beer and real ale are so different, both being beers.
Any fermentation product includes:
-- Extreme low-end (like subsonic frequencies ), that is, solids, that are filtered out
-- Low-ends (bass), which is fusel oil and like components
-- Low-mid, that is, water
-- Hi-mid, that is ethyl alcohol or ethanol
-- Treble, that are different ethers and esters
-- Overtones, complex chemicals defining the flavor
All of us, as bassists, now understand the composition of fermentation broth, right?
Let us ignore beer and wine now, as these are just filtered broth, with soda (beer) or with vintage overtones (wine).
At some point in history, the Arab nation had great civilization. They used to make the best steel in the world. They had the best doctors, such as the guy called Avicenna. They had great mathematician Algorithmus who invented algebra. They had great chemists and of course alchemists Some smart guy there invented alembic (a-ha!) Of course not that bass guitar, but a simple distillation rig. He found out that alcohol boils more readily than water, and he called the fortified product alcohol.
Then, for many hundred years, North European nations mimicked the alembic concept with kettle distillation. The resulting product was highly impure (all tonal ranges were there), the liquid was gray, white smoke coloured, and terribly bad. For that reason, siwucha, eau de vie, aqua vita was sold to peasants and also drunk by poor gentry.
The name of vodka is Polish (wódka means "little water") and it was adopted first by the Russians.
I will put whisky and cognac and even rum aside -- these beverages, although all of them originally made by kettle distillation -- differ from vodka starting from raw material, preparation, fermentation and finishing/maturing.
The breakthrough happened in 19th century in Russia. The rectification (multiple distillation in a single apparatus) was already well known. The main contributor to modern vodka was Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev (the same who invented the periodical chart of elements). Mendeleev was made a director of Imperial vodka monopole in Russia and made a lot of studies on alcohol. He for example found that the taste of 38 vol % (76 proof) vodka was the best, but since he knew that excise taxing of 40% (80 proof) vodka would be easier, he decided that all commercially made vodka should be 40% vol. Russia became a world leader in vodka manufacture at that time. Since larger part of Poland was part of the Russian Empire at that time, Poland got on vodka making, too.
IIRC, at the end of 19th century, a smart Swedish guy got brilliant idea to make very clean (sterile!) alcohol, market it smartly in pharmacy bottles, and outwit the government in the tax matters. This was the beginning of Absolut vodka.
Now: Why are straight (clear) vodkas so different between each other? Vodka can be made from anything containing sugars: Mashed potato, grain, table sugar, even of bread crumbs. The fermented broth contains wide spectrum of "tones". Sugar fermentation produces no methanol at all (and methanol is poisonous). Grain fermentation makes relatively small amount of unwanted "tone". Fermented potato produces significant traces of methanol that has to be thoroughly removed.
Next step, distillation is really complex. The manufacturer has to recover as much of alcohol as possible to avoid profit losses. Low-ends are real vice, so the "basses" are rolled off completely. High-ends contribute to unpleasant smell, and these are also hangover promoters, so they are cut as much as possible. Still, high-end traces remain making different vodkas taste differently. Charcoal filtration removes some remaining "overtones". Finally, rectified spirits are diluted with water and... here is the culprit. Water itself is not clean (minerals, impurity traces) and it affects the smell and taste of vodka dramatically. I have a feeling that Absolut is made with distilled water, explaining the vodka's sterile taste
Now, if I were making long drinks, I would go for Absolut. You can drink A LOT of Absolut without side-effects. But Absolut is sterile, not really good for straight drinking. (Did you know that pure ethanol had very pleasant, ether-quality smell?)
Other vodkas have specific taste and smell. When I drink the straight vodka, I just pour the contents of the glass straight in my throat. Yet, good vodka can be really tasted. When I need to sing and have some throat problem, I actually wash my throat with symbolic amount of good vodka, no jokes!
If I want to show to my friends how hardcore I am, I pour quite large portion of vodka into a glass, and drink very slowly, looking intensely in friends' eyes) And I do not drink any soft drink afterwards (It is normal to drink some coke or fruit juice) The point is, with very good cold vodka you can do it, but many people are convinced vodka is the vice and you have to "kill the enemy" by drinking it fast
To make the end: I do not drink clean vodka alone; and I do not know anybody else doing it, except alcohol-addicts
-----
Ziltoid, I will write the tutorial later))
Since I was 18, I tried making vodka for my own use (of course, illegal activity). Then I started studying chemical engineering, and my expertise grew. Later, I was just interested and really know my vodka, although I do not make it since 1985 ;-) So, let me tell you what vodka is all about, comprehensively
Comprehensive Bassist's Guide to Alcohol Making
All generic alcoholic beverages are made by fermentation of sugars with yeast. The raw material and the process conditions affect the chemical composition of the product. This is why lager beer and real ale are so different, both being beers.
Any fermentation product includes:
-- Extreme low-end (like subsonic frequencies
), that is, solids, that are filtered out-- Low-ends (bass), which is fusel oil and like components
-- Low-mid, that is, water
-- Hi-mid, that is ethyl alcohol or ethanol
-- Treble, that are different ethers and esters
-- Overtones, complex chemicals defining the flavor
All of us, as bassists, now understand the composition of fermentation broth, right?
Let us ignore beer and wine now, as these are just filtered broth, with soda (beer) or with vintage overtones (wine).
At some point in history, the Arab nation had great civilization. They used to make the best steel in the world. They had the best doctors, such as the guy called Avicenna. They had great mathematician Algorithmus who invented algebra. They had great chemists and of course alchemists
Some smart guy there invented alembic (a-ha!) Of course not that bass guitar, but a simple distillation rig. He found out that alcohol boils more readily than water, and he called the fortified product alcohol.Then, for many hundred years, North European nations mimicked the alembic concept with kettle distillation. The resulting product was highly impure (all tonal ranges were there), the liquid was gray, white smoke coloured, and terribly bad. For that reason, siwucha, eau de vie, aqua vita was sold to peasants and also drunk by poor gentry.
The name of vodka is Polish (wódka means "little water") and it was adopted first by the Russians.
I will put whisky and cognac and even rum aside -- these beverages, although all of them originally made by kettle distillation -- differ from vodka starting from raw material, preparation, fermentation and finishing/maturing.
The breakthrough happened in 19th century in Russia. The rectification (multiple distillation in a single apparatus) was already well known. The main contributor to modern vodka was Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev (the same who invented the periodical chart of elements). Mendeleev was made a director of Imperial vodka monopole in Russia and made a lot of studies on alcohol. He for example found that the taste of 38 vol % (76 proof) vodka was the best, but since he knew that excise taxing of 40% (80 proof) vodka would be easier, he decided that all commercially made vodka should be 40% vol. Russia became a world leader in vodka manufacture at that time. Since larger part of Poland was part of the Russian Empire at that time, Poland got on vodka making, too.
IIRC, at the end of 19th century, a smart Swedish guy got brilliant idea to make very clean (sterile!) alcohol, market it smartly in pharmacy bottles, and outwit the government in the tax matters. This was the beginning of Absolut vodka.
Now: Why are straight (clear) vodkas so different between each other? Vodka can be made from anything containing sugars: Mashed potato, grain, table sugar, even of bread crumbs. The fermented broth contains wide spectrum of "tones". Sugar fermentation produces no methanol at all (and methanol is poisonous). Grain fermentation makes relatively small amount of unwanted "tone". Fermented potato produces significant traces of methanol that has to be thoroughly removed.
Next step, distillation is really complex. The manufacturer has to recover as much of alcohol as possible to avoid profit losses. Low-ends are real vice, so the "basses" are rolled off completely. High-ends contribute to unpleasant smell, and these are also hangover promoters, so they are cut as much as possible. Still, high-end traces remain making different vodkas taste differently. Charcoal filtration removes some remaining "overtones". Finally, rectified spirits are diluted with water and... here is the culprit. Water itself is not clean (minerals, impurity traces) and it affects the smell and taste of vodka dramatically. I have a feeling that Absolut is made with distilled water, explaining the vodka's sterile taste
Now, if I were making long drinks, I would go for Absolut. You can drink A LOT of Absolut without side-effects. But Absolut is sterile, not really good for straight drinking. (Did you know that pure ethanol had very pleasant, ether-quality smell?)
Other vodkas have specific taste and smell. When I drink the straight vodka, I just pour the contents of the glass straight in my throat. Yet, good vodka can be really tasted. When I need to sing and have some throat problem, I actually wash my throat with symbolic amount of good vodka, no jokes!
If I want to show to my friends how hardcore I am, I pour quite large portion of vodka into a glass, and drink very slowly, looking intensely in friends' eyes
) And I do not drink any soft drink afterwards (It is normal to drink some coke or fruit juice) The point is, with very good cold vodka you can do it, but many people are convinced vodka is the vice and you have to "kill the enemy" by drinking it fast To make the end: I do not drink clean vodka alone; and I do not know anybody else doing it, except alcohol-addicts
-----
Ziltoid, I will write the tutorial later
))
Like the time I made my own KCLO3 for homemade firecrackers 
