I argued with a friend that cheap alcohol does not mean bad: I analyze the difference in composition, production technologies and aging

Not so long ago, literally four days ago, I had a big argument with my old friend (I remember that at one time that was the name of the TV show alone). The subject of disagreement was relatively cheap alcohol, which supposedly is always worse than expensive quality products.

I stood on the fact that now it is almost impossible, or rather, it is inappropriate to unambiguously judge a product, looking only at the price tag, while my friend, Vasily, defended the opposite position. In his understanding, cheap alcohol is necessarily a low-quality “swill”, a surrogate, a “palenka”, as you wish.

And then he told me: “Okay, okay, then tell me how your deshman alcohol is made, from what “quality” raw materials it is made – tell me!”.

Factors affecting the cost

Well, yes, I mostly used budget drinks, although I tried expensive ones, and it was a shame that a completely non-drinker (okay, he also drank) friend judges a product by its price! I am a person who will not back down from his own, although, of course, he will listen to the opinion of his opponent.

I answer him that the factors affecting the cost are not only raw materials or cooking processes, but also banal marketing moves, in which “you, fans of super-quality products, believe with pleasure!”.

I tried a lot of things, poisoning myself only once with boxed wine – “My dear winemaker” is called. I don’t argue, raw materials, process – a lot also depends on this, but a promoted brand will add a price so-so, don’t worry, mom!

Wine

Cheap wine “starts” from 100 rubles, I would say, up to 300. The price of expensive wines, as I understand it, has no limit at all. From 400-500 and higher, higher and higher, breaking through the firmament. Champagne, well, or sparkling wines, as it is right now, these are bottles with a “starting point” of 500 rubles and more.

Liqueurs

What I would actually call a liquor (not an aperitif and not a mixture of vodka and vanillin) starts somewhere from 500-600 rubles to 700. Above – already expensive, there are more than 1, and 000 for a bottle of 2 plus gift versions.

Beer

Beer drinks start at 40 rubles (there is one called DON, even cheaper). The real “starts” somewhere from 132 rubles for one tin can or bottle of 0,5 liters. The price of a brand for the same volume can exceed 800 wooden ones!

Vodka and cognac

The price of cheap vodka usually starts from 250 rubles to 350. The cost of expensive drinks reaches 1, exceeding this mark. Now, I see, cheap cognacs start at 000 (the very edge), an example is “Five Stars” from Tatspirtprom for 452.

Somewhere from 600-700 expensive drinks “start”, plus, do not forget, gift options.

I am still convinced that buying most types of expensive alcoholic products is simply an overpayment. Designed for “gourmet fanatics”, for the stereotype from the series “expensive means cool.” Maybe I’m wrong.

Raw materials – comparison and main differences

As I understand it, raw materials are divided into primary and secondary (all sorts of additives).

Vodka and cognac

If we take vodka, then first of all we compare two components – this is alcohol and vodka. The better the brand of alcohol, from “highest purification” to “Alpha”, the steeper the vodka. With water quality, about the same song.

Cognac, apparently, can also be “forged”, using some ordinary food C2H5OH instead of high-quality grape alcohol. Tint it and flavor it – that’s “five stars” for you!

Wine

Wine is generally, well, for me it’s not a “dark forest”, of course, but also a sea of ​​nuances. A lot depends on the wine material: grapes of valuable varieties or cheap. It can be a powder with yeast and sugar, which is stupidly poured into water and left to ferment.

Preservatives, all sorts of flavor enhancers and acidity regulators go there – as a result, you get a chatter like Ordinary table wine. And if alcohol is splashed at the factory, then in general you can call it a proud word Port wine.

Liqueurs

I read about liqueurs not so long ago. There, too, you can take alcohol, water, a lot of sugar and use our favorite food chemistry. Everything you can imagine: from strawberries and coffee to vanilla with pineapple.

Or you can take alcohol and really pass it (or insist) through natural berries, fruits, nuts … It will come out more expensive.

Beer

Beer is also a “hot” topic, supposedly everything that we see from 35 rubles per jar is just a beer drink that uses cheap raw materials, while expensive ones use pure malt, hops and almost “holy water”.

The dispute not only does not subside, but is gaining momentum. Vasily began to poke me into the “chemical raw materials”, they say, someday you will be poisoned by these components, but high-quality alcohol – “this is different, you need to understand”!

My emotions began to rage: “You eat these chips, crackers literally in bags, drink soda in buckets! Vasya, we live in the modern world – we use this chemistry every day, right now it’s all – chemistry!

Production and purification technologies – comparison

As for cleaning, this is most of all related to strong alcohol. There, both alcohol, and water, and their mixture must pass through the filter many times, and cheap vodka, as Vasily continued to repeat, contains a lot of fusel oil and other rubbish. Like, the equipment is bad, old.

Vodka and cognac

If harmful substances remain in alcohol, it is dangerous to drink. “The manufacturer will take care of the quality of the promoted product so that the money invested in advertising justifies itself,” Vasily said, and then I agreed with him.

This is all, of course, wonderful, but do not forget that expensive alcohol is not immune from counterfeiting. Personally, I would be offended if I bought expensive cognac, and it would turn out to be a “palenka”. Question: and I would notice to taste that this is a fake?

But! Many also write that supposedly cheap vodka is usually impossible to drink, you want to immediately pour it out. Well, I don’t know, I drank both expensive and budget vodka – everything was fine.

Expensive (real) cognac is prepared by infusing grape spirit in oak barrels. Cheap – I don’t even want to think about how ordinary alcohol is dyed and flavored.

Wine

It is more difficult with wines – yes, very expensive wines are made in the traditional way (they are aged in barrels without yeast, the grapes are crushed with their feet), their recipes are classified.

By the way, boxed wines are not necessarily cheap “swill” for 130 rubles, there are such boxed wines that “you will be left without pants” (I saw some for 400 rubles)!

Cheap wine, I think, is made simpler: they take grapes (wine powder), sugar, mix and leave to ferment. Cheap “champagne” is carbonated wine, expensive ones are made by corking the wine into a bottle at the stage while it is still fermenting, or simply forced carbonated.

Liqueurs

The same with liqueurs. There, most likely, they simply mix the components without infusions. Some, for example, with the taste of coffee – the feeling that they took 3-in-1 and mixed it with vodka and added sugar. They have alcohol separately, and the taste is separate.

Beer

Real beer has its own traditional technology, although now, I think, modern equipment and simplified schemes are used in the preparation of expensive drinks. So my non-drinking friend, you see, is very worried about how this particular drink is made.

Okay, when it comes to raw materials, I can still understand. But does it matter how this product is made, e-my! If it is cheap and stands on the shelf of a licensed alcohol store, then excuse me, it was definitely not bottled in the basement of a neighboring house. Plus, if they also take it well, and the price is nice …

Exposure

This is when we talked about cognac and a little bit about wines with liquors.

Woo! “Here, real expensive cognac is aged in barrels for years, where it is poured with exquisite taste and aroma!” Vasily tells me romantically.

And I’m spoiling his karma like this: “Oh yes, they keep it in the cellars of a neighboring house, in enameled tanks and bottles for mash, pouring wood chips into it. Enterprising uncle Petya pours it into bottles and molds labels with stars!

Then we began to talk about the fact that cheap drinks supposedly should not be aged, at least for years. For this, I think, there will be their own food chemistry to saturate the product with taste and aroma.

I have an opinion that now there is less and less chance of running into a cheap low-quality drink that can somehow harm your health. Quality control is getting stricter every year.

In general, which of us is right with a friend? He, who cares about quality, raw materials and the cooking process, or me, who “if only it was tasty, pleasant and inexpensive”? Maybe we are both right about something…