How cheap vodka differs from expensive, except for the price tag: I study the label

Until the thunder breaks out, the peasant will not cross himself. There has never been a particular desire to conduct our own research on such a native Russian product as vodka.

Although a little surprise sometimes arose in the background – with the same amount of alcohol consumed in the evening, the morning state can differ by an order of magnitude.

It was written off, as usual, on the quality of the snack, mood, magnetic storms and damned oatmeal cookies.

Until a friend called from the hospital: the feast had dragged on the day before, and he finally dug out the familiar “Five Lakes” (340 rubles) from the depths of the bar, the history of which he no longer remembered. They drank a glass, grimaced, went home, and the next morning – an ambulance.

What is vodka made of

The composition is extremely simple – alcohol and water. The taste depends on both ingredients, and the possible consequences, perhaps, only on the first. Even if alcohol is diluted with tap water, it is problematic to affect the body with the amount that is consumed even for the longest feast.

Alcohols for the production of vodka are of the following varieties:

1. Supreme purification. It is made from potatoes, beets, grains, molasses and any combination of them. Methanol in the product is not more than 0,05%, aldehydes up to 4 mg/dm3, fusel oils up to 8 mg/dm3.
2. Basis. Produced on the basis of a potato-grain mixture, the potato content is not more than 60%. There is the same amount of methanol and aldehydes as in the previous one, and less fuselage – up to 5 mg / dm3.
3. Extra. The requirements for raw materials are similar. Methanol is reduced to 0,03%, aldehydes to 2%, and the content of fusel oils is acceptable up to 6 mg/dm3.
4. Suite. The products are the same as for the previous two alcohols, but there are already more grains – no more than 35% is left for potatoes. The requirements for impurities remained the same as for Extras.
5. Alpha. It is made exclusively on grain raw materials: wheat, rye or a mixture thereof, sometimes rice is used. The best alcohol product to date, methanol barely gets to 0,003% – this is its unique feature, the rest is unchanged.

Brief description of the process

The preparation of vodka traditionally includes the following steps:

1. Water purification – sedimentation, aeration, reduction of salt content in water (increase in softness), filtration using sand, coal and membrane filters. Sometimes coagulation is used. Distillation and boiling is not practiced – the water must remain “alive”.
2. Buying or preparing alcohol. At the plant, grain or vegetable raw materials are cleaned, crushed, and heat-treated. Then malt is added to the raw material and left for fermentation. After fermentation, the mash is sent for distillation (of course, with the selection of heads and tails) and the resulting alcohol goes through several stages of purification – depending on its class.
3. Mixing vodka and alcohol to the required degree.
4. The optional stage is aromatization. It is carried out if it is in the recipe for a particular vodka. Pepper, honey, vanilla, ginger, fruits, chocolate, cinnamon and bread infusion are most commonly used.
5. Filtration of the resulting mixture with quartz sand and activated carbon.
6. Relaxation. The resulting mixture before bottling must necessarily stand for two to seven days.

What is used to produce cheap vodka, and what is used for expensive

The characteristics of alcohols quite clearly show which one will be used to make expensive vodka, and which one – for the budget one. The highest grade, despite the loud name, is used in the production of the cheapest varieties of vodka.

The Basis or Extra alcohol included in the composition also means that the product is rather cheap, no matter what the price is on it. When using them, the manufacturer may evade specifics and not mention the variety used. But there are also honest ones.

Those rare labels that indicate the grade of alcohol:

Lux alcohol found on the label hints that the product is expensive, and even more so for Alpha class products. These are premium and super-premium products:

• Khortytsya (490 rubles per 0,7 l);
• Russian Standard (595 rubles per 0,7 l);
• Crystal (500 rubles);
• Yuri Dolgoruky (410 rubles).

From imports:

• Gray Goose (Grey Goose, France, 1879 rubles per 0,7 l);
• Finlandia (Finland – both the name and the country of manufacture, from 728 rubles);
• Vinsent (Vincent, Holland – greetings from Van Gogh, then 1533 rubles).

What is the difference between cheap vodka and expensive

If by cheap and expensive we mean the quality of vodka, then the main differences will be in the degree of water purification and the content of harmful substances that are prescribed in the standard for each type of alcohol.

If we are talking about the price tag, then cheap vodka can easily turn out to be expensive for a completely understandable reason – the desire to earn extra money that arose from the manufacturer or seller.

This is typical for product advertising costs or fakes – when the cheapest product is poured into containers of a well-known brand – most likely, my friend suffered from this option.

To prevent this from happening, it is better to buy vodka, and other alcohol in chain stores, give preference to bottles of non-standard shape or colored glass, which are difficult to fake, and in the pricing policy, all other things being equal, stick to the golden mean.

But in fact – I don’t know how – in the same Pyaterochka I came across a frankly “potato” with a pungent smell “Bread Half” (279 rubles), although Lux is declared in the composition. But Metro has never let me down.

When choosing, it would be useful to check the excise tax using a program on your phone and buy only with a result that completely matches the label.

The most reliable is Duty Free (another thing is that in such an abundance preference is no longer given to vodka, but to whiskey or other imported products) or high-quality double-cleaned home-made moonshine. What do you prefer at this time of day?