Using Brita To Filter Vodka

[Gillman]

This was similar to my own experience described earlier, however I should add that when I placed the bottle in the freezer the liquid froze, something vodka never does.

I was only able to reverse it by mingling the filtered vodka with regular vodka and even then I had to try twice, ie. add enough of the non-filtered stuff (maybe 1/3rd).

What I am wondering is whether the filtering may trap some ethanol molecules and could the smoothness possibly derive, at least in part, from a greater water content?

Gary

[smokinjoe]

This is the same result some friends of mine and I got when we threw a really big party at a convention, and as one of the party games, we featured the Brita filter test with Rubinoff vodka as the bottom-shelfer, Absolut as the mid-shelfer, and Grey Goose as the luxury-priced top end. Most people could pick out the distinctive nastiness of the unfiltered Rubinoff, but after three Brita filter passes, it was indistinguishable from Absolut, and only some could pick out the Grey Goose.

(Rubinoff Vodka is a proud product of Somerville, MA, available for about $5.99 for a 750, but more often found in the $11.99 1.75 liter plastic bottle. Urban Dictionary has this to say about it: "Horrible alcohol from Slummaville. Tastes like nail polish remover going down. Gives you a full body hangover and makes you feel like someone threw you down a flight of stairs.")

What happens when you mix it with Malort?

[squire]

Wonder how that reviewer knows what nail polish remover tastes like.

[cowdery]

This was first done several years ago. The experimental results were logged and posted, and very funny. The conclusion of most who have tried it is that, yes, it works, but adding the cost of the Brita filter to the cost of the cheap vodka brings you easily into the range of a vodka comparable to what the filtering will produce, so it's not really cost effective. The reality of vodka is that while something like Rubinoff is pretty vile, you can get something like Smirnoff or Svedka for not a lot of money and the only difference between that and something like Grey Goose is pretension.

How do vodka makers get from raw GNS to something palatable? The same way, charcoal filtering. So it's no mystery.

'vodka sommelier'? Really?

[squire]

Must be a graduate of the vodka university.

[Kalessin]

What happens when you mix it with Malort?

Get me a bottle of Malort and some college students, and I can probably run that experiment at the next big shindig..

[Jfevre]

Classic. This post brings back memories. When I was in college we did this on recommendation from my chemistry prof. We would run it through the filter 3 or 4 times. It worked good enough for college drinking. We would get Mohawk or 5 o'clock to start and leave the finished product in the Britta, it made for some confused house guests in the a.m.