CLIX Vodka - distilled 159 times

I saw an ebay auction for CLIX vodka. The auction claimed CLIX is
distilled 159 times. Thinking it was some bogus info I did a search
and learned it's a BT product and it is distilled 159 times.

I'll be darned...

Interesting. I couldn't glean from the BT link exactly how this is made, e.g., were separate mashes made for each grain type, distilled and later combined? Also, given you can get practical purity (around 196 proof) in a few runs, I wonder what was achieved past the first few, i.e., how did the proof keep rising? Or did they just boil and re-boil the same alcohol at the same strength?

Or do they mean perhaps that the re-distillation of condensing distillate in the column counts as multiple runs? Each time the spirit condenses and is re-vaporised in a column it is redistilled (on the plate where the steam vaporises it), but I don't think they mean that here.

Gary

People will tell you that each plate in a column still is the equivalent of a single pot still, so perhaps that's how they get 159 times. The idea of 159 discrete passes is ridiculous. You would simply be passing GNS through the still just for the numbers but accomplishing nothing. Without a better explanation, the number is meaningless. Also, the reality of vodka is that greater neutrality is mostly achieved through filtration, not redistillation.

To get to 159, I have to believe each grain was mashed and distilled separately. Prior to this, the only vodka they actually made was Rain, which was made from a single mash bill that I assume is mostly corn. All of their other vodkas are just bulk GNS that they purchase, filter, and bottle.

I do know that in Canada, when making base whiskey, they take the 70 percent ABV distillate and reduce it with water to 10 percent before redistilling it to 95 percent. Somebody explained this technique to me but I don't remember the explanation. They may have done that a couple of times, again counting each pass through the column based on the number of plates in it, which is probably 12 to 16.

They've clearly left the door open for a savvy competitor to release a product distilled 160 times. What good is their marketing plan when that happens?

Related link: Gillette: We're doing five blades! (nsfw)

Chuck, the reduction to about 10% ABV and subsequent distillation is the extractive distillation step. It is done to remove certain congeners not otherwise removable because too close in vaporization temperature to ethanol. The mixing of the distillate with hot water enables this. The low levels of congeners remaining in the first run (from the stripper) become insoluble (relatively) by the addition of with water. They collect at the top of the mix and are drawn off. The remaining solution is piped out and purified to high proof in the third column (rectifier).

Gary

Anyone notice that CLIX is 159 in Roman numerals?

How did that meeting with production go?

"You want us to distill it how many f%#&ing times?"

I have to admit, Harlen had some taste when he picked the burl for the box. Next to bourbon, woodworking is my other passion.

But really, is the following going to do anything??

"the final product rested in a cool and dark stainless steel tank for 12 more months to ensure the smoothest finish before bottling."

Maybe that's the secret to Saz 18, its been all those years in the tank!!:lol:

While I think it would be cool to work at a place like BT, I would not want to be a PR guy. "You want me to say WHAT!!! Ok, it's your name on the bottle......."

B

Blurb in Texas Beverage Journal says:

"...the distilling team started with 28,400 gallons of mash, dividing them down and re-distilling over a period of 12 months, resulting in 2,000 precious bottles..."

Just all seems like a marketing ploy. How much cost in in that crystal bottle and burl wood box?

SRP: $299

I saw one of these. Beautiful, but really? A bit disappointed that they even made this. And who is this product aimed at? I guess it's like the William Heaven Hill except that no one even wants to drink this.

Super premium vodka is a category in which too much is never enough. There is a vodka filtered though diamond dust, after all.

As my friend Terry Sullivan once suggested, the ultimate vodka would be vodka filtered through the pubic hair of 1,000 Polish virgins.