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Quinoa Whiskey? Modified Crop List Spurs Distilleries To Try Alternative Grains
By definition, whiskey is a grain spirit. And until now, that "grain" has been limited by federal law to four specific crops: corn, wheat, rye and barley. So when Darek Bell, founder of Corsair Distillery in Nashville, Tenn., wanted to start experimenting with alternatives, there wasn't really a playbook to follow. "We started looking at a whole lot of grains that were coming out of sort of the health food movement, the green movement," Bell said. "We're thinking, 'What would it taste like to distill this?'"
Bell and Corsair settled on quinoa — partly, Bell said, because of its distinct flavor and partly because of the perceived health benefits (none of which, unfortunately, can really withstand the distillation process). The distillery has been producing and distributing quinoa whiskey since 2011. Other spirits and liquor companies have been using quinoa in their products; FAIR, a French distillery, launched quinoa vodka in 2012, while several craft breweries, like Altiplano and Aqotango, use quinoa in their beers.
With a grain profile of 20 percent quinoa and 80 percent malted barley, Corsair's product is a spirit with a distinctly earthy and nutty flavor that may not immediately register on the palate as "whiskey." And until recently, the federal government didn't recognize it as whiskey either, due to its limited definition of "grains."
At first, the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, also known as the TTB, wanted Corsair to classify the product as a quinoa rum (despite the fact that it contained no fermented cane product). Then, they suggested it be labeled as a "neutral spirit" — a clear liquid distilled from a grain-based mash that holds a high content of ethanol — which didn't really describe the crafted and aged spirit in Corsair's barrels. "Supposedly [a representative from the TTB] called the USDA, [which] said 'Yes, these are in fact grains' and gave us the go-ahead," Bell said.
Then, in early December, the TTB took a step to officially include quinoa as a whiskey grain. On Dec. 3, the TTB outlined a new definition for what crops count as grains as part of a 132-page list of updated recommendations for the labeling of wine, beer and spirits. Per the new TTB proposal, the list of whiskey grains now includes "cereal grains and the seeds of the pseudocereals amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa." And this is a big deal for craft distillers like Bell.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Thursday January 17 2019, @10:08PM (5 children)
I was drinking potato vodka, cos I couldn't drink gluten filled booze, and had a laugh when I saw in a magazine some dip shit who was supposed to know vodka saying that flavoured vodka was 'in' because regular vodka "had no flavour, no taste" to it.
Fuck.
WATER has flavour and so does vodka: a swig of potato vodka tastes different from wheat vodka. Premium vodka tastes different from lower price vodka.
Don't tell me, Mr Vodka specialist, vodka needs flavouring or it has no taste.
Dont know what quinoa vodka would taste like but I'm betting it wouldn't be tasteless.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday January 18 2019, @04:58AM
Maybe the guy wrote the article after drinking a bottle of fireball, switching to vodka, and realizing that it tastes just like water (in comparison).
Not that I would know
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday January 20 2019, @01:59AM (3 children)
Have you ever done blind tasting? I highly recommend it. You may realize the "distinctive" flavors aren't so distinctive.
The general definition of vodka favors no flavors or odors. Many other distilled spirits do various things to deliberately retain flavor, but vodka by the nature of its production is intended to destroy that distinctiveness.
What you're really talking about are adulterants left over that make the vodka less pure. Not saying you can't like some of them -- everyone has their tastes. I was into some pricey potato vodkas myself years ago briefly. Then I did a blind taste test with some friends and realized a lot of marketing BS influences people more than you might think.
Over the years I've found amazing wines for around $5, and a scotch that costs 1/3 of what I thought would be necessary for a decent bottle in blind tastings.
I note these are my evaluations. Everyone likes different things. My point is blind tastings rarely show the most expensive "premium" liquor coming on top for most people. Vodkas are particularly bad this way -- sure, most of the really cheap stuff is awful, but a lot of the "premium" idea is mostly in the price and in your head, rather than in actual taste.
Hence why flavored vodkas are popular now... They're perceived as "in vogue" and people are willing to pay. And because most premium vodka marketing is BS anyway. (Most premium alcohol marketing is too... Not just vodka.)
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday January 20 2019, @02:35AM (2 children)
I'm not talking about premium tasting better than low cost. I'm talking about even WATER having a distinctive taste. Vodka has a taste to it, no matter what kind you drink.
If I want a flavoured vodka, I'll have it, BUT vodkas have a taste, a flavour all their own.
And yes, even water from ANY source has a taste, a flavour.
And I made a Chablis once from a kit and it was waaaaay better than most any I've had from a winery, so yeah: 'high price' doesn't always mean good.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday January 20 2019, @02:59AM (1 child)
Okay, I misunderstood the mention of "premium" in your post.
But my point still stands that vodka by definition and by manufacturing process is designed to be basically the LEAST flavored alcohol. The "ideal" vodka should be as close to flavorless as possible, if you go by textbook or legal definitions of vodka and the very reason it is made the way it is.
Thus, of all the spirits out there, I think vodka is the one where it makes perhaps the most sense to deliberately "flavor" it, since it naturally is supposed to be as "neutral" in flavor as possible.
Note that I agree with you that it's still a ridiculous marketing scheme. And I also agree that all vodkas have SOME flavor. But I don't think it's quite so preposterous to say that vodka is as close as you're going to get among distilled spirits to a "blank slate" of flavor, hence the fad to produce flavored vodkas.
If you were going to market some random sports drink with 19 different random flavors, for example, I'd probably recommend you start with water as a base, because it is RELATIVELY flavorless. You wouldn't start with grapefruit juice or tomato juice or iced tea or whatever unless you wanted all of your drinks to taste like grapefruit or tomato or tea.
But water is neutral enough to be malleable. So is vodka. And thus the fad. Arguing against the logic is like arguing that 19 flavors of Gatorade shouldn't exist because water always has some flavor (and Gatorade is mostly water). Of course it does, but that's beside the point.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday January 20 2019, @01:04PM
I was just railing against the 'expert' saying it is tasteless when I can tell the difference between vodkas JUST from the taste, and certain vodkas I enjoyed and others I didn't because I didn't like the taste.
Just like saying water has no taste, then saying you flavour your water to give it flavour: NO, you flavour your water because you want it to taste of oranges or whatever, whereas I prefer the taste of plain water (and can tell one water from another JUST by the taste), just as I enjoyed the taste of plain vodka.
Meaningless because I don't drink anymore (except for a couple expected set-backs).
If you want flavourings in your vodka, that's fine: just don't set yourself up as an 'expert' and tell me vodka has no taste (he was just probably trying to push more expensive flavoured vodka and not really an expert)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---