Ever Been Caught in a Downpour?

Reading through the New York Times recently, and I found an article all about getting caught in a "caught in a downpour", and while this is something that I’ve suspected in the past, it’s not something I was ever able to prove.

The working in a restaurant outside of New York City where we poured cheap booze into all of the name-brand bottles: a trick known as a “downpour.” Now it’s not like we came up with the idea. Bars have been downpouring since before the invention of the neon sign." [source]

While the writer goes on to say that they were certainly the exception, rather than the rule; the fact remains, it does happen occasionally, so don’t accuse your favourite bar of serving you swill just yet.

In all honesty, many folk can’t tell the difference between premium liquor and a less than premium brand, however, there are plenty of single malt scotch drinkers and small-batch bourbon drinkers who know when they aren’t getting their brand.  For each small-batch bourbon drinker you find, there are 3 times as many vodka drinkers who care not because the drink tastes different with Grey Goose over Absolut but because ordering a Grey Goose makes you look like a hot shot.

The whole point of vodka is that it doesn’t have a ton of flavor. It mixes easily with pop and juices, which is perfect for people who don’t want to taste the alcohol in the first place and to many brand new drinkers.

Although vodka can be made from a variety of things — including sugar beets, potatoes, grain and even hemp — after the fermented material is distilled the final product is pretty much the same no matter how pretty a bottle it comes in. Even the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives describes vodka as a neutral spirit “without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color.” To be fair, that definition first appeared in Treasury Department literature in 1949. And I’m sure there have been advances in the distilling of vodka since. But enough to warrant the price commanded by Belvedere, Grey Goose and Ciroc? [source]

That’s an age-old question, frankly. The New York Times Dining section ran a blind taste-test for vodka a few years back. The results of which were touted as the be all and end all from the winning brand – Smirnoff, which was included in the 20 odd premium brands they were trying.  Apparently when you pour vodka into frosted, decanter type bottles, there’s no perception of what it "should" taste like.

End result? The next time you’re having a vodka drink at a bar, or buying a bottle at the liquor store, don’t bother with the premium brands. Why pay three times more for something that simply isn’t going to make much of a difference in the end anyway? Personally, I’m gonna stick with Finlandia.

[image source provided by Grey Goose]