What is the difference between top shelf and bottom shelf

To help you make the best choice for your sipping pleasure, here are the differences between top-shelf and bottom-shelf vodkas. Vodka is made through a series of processes, including fermentation, distillation, and dilution. During the fermentation process, impurities — known as congeners — develop and help create the flavors unique to each brand of vodka. Congeners can also be responsible for giving you dreadful hangovers, so finding a vodka that has just the right balance of character without making you hate yourself the next morning is a delicate process.

There are fewer congeners found in top-shelf vodkas than in the bottom-shelf vodkas, which is often due to the fact that top vodka brands tend to have a more sophisticated distillation process.

The distillation process is the biggest factor affecting the flavor and quality of the vodka that ends up in your shopping cart. While some top vodka brands brag that they distill their vodka more times than other brands, too much distillation can actually weaken the character of the vodka. In fact, too much distillation will leave you with a strong alcohol taste that many drinkers find abrasive.

Vodka should be smooth, without a bitter taste, strong odor, or harsh burn — because nobody likes feeling like they're drinking paint thinner when they sip a vodka cocktail. While I do consider myself a bit of a vodka snob, if you have to use bottom-shelf vodka, here's what to look out for in a budget brand.

Bottom shelf vodkas tend to have more of a bitter taste than the higher-shelf bottles. Bottom-shelf vodka can be on the more intense side and often comes with a strong alcohol burn going down. Due to the lower price and quality, you're paying for the fact that it can get you tipsy and not any specific flavor qualities that come naturally to higher quality vodkas.

It depends on what you're mixing it with. I'll drink any cheep vodka when I have a vodka tonic because the tonic and lime kill the vodka taste anyway.

Now if I'm making a martini I'll only get the good stuff. Now with Scotch you only drink the best when you're drinking it by itself. Big difference there. I disagree about the mixed drink thing. The only way I can't taste the alcohol is if it is in a margarita frozen especially, a properly made margarita on the rocks shouldn't be THAT sugary or a daquiri My favorite drink is tequila and lime with a slight touch of ginger ale.

A bad tequila will rape your brain, a good tequila will send you to cloud 9. Totally worth it. Joined: Jun 25, Messages: 24, Likes Received: 6, I'd have to say the one liquor where I've always noticed it is Tequila.

I don't mind a shot of good tequila. Plastic bottle tequila is only good for mixing margaritas for people you don't like. Yonkers Contributing Member. Joined: Jun 19, Messages: 8, Likes Received: Every blind taste test I could find online says that you guys wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Joined: Aug 15, Messages: 15, Likes Received: Tiers to clothing, cars, and even food. Oh boy…thousands. Amongst those thousands, they are broken down into categories: well, premium and top shelf liquor. Referred to as well or rail spirits, these alcoholic beverages are the cheapest offerings on the totem pole. We should say bargain booze! The well or rail is the spot where non-name brand liquors are kept for ease of access and speed. Oak barrels for home use range from one to 20 liters.

These are much smaller than the barrels used in distilleries and age spirits much faster. The smaller the barrel, the faster its contents will age to perfection. A barrel is an excellent investment that will save you lots of time and money over the years. You can also whip up classic barrel aged cocktails to serve, such as Sidecars or Manhattans. Wooden barrels for aging liquor are made without nails or glue; the wood stays together thanks to metal hoops placed around the outside.

When you cure the barrel, the wood will swell, tightening these hoops and keeping them in place. The curing process can take up to a week, so be patient. Spirits with rich, spicy characteristics work very well, such as scotch, bourbon, and rum. Or, you can use American oak barrels to make countless recipes for delectable barrel aged cocktails, such as:. These are just a few ideas for barrel aged cocktails to get you started.

Your guests will be satisfyingly impressed when you serve one of these at your next get-together. Also, aging liquor in oak barrels is just one of the things you can do when you start this hobby at home. Your barrel aged cocktails will be fantastic, but you can also age wine and beer in oak barrels for an interesting take on these well-liked drinks. When it comes to drinking like an adult, wine is something you should be somewhat knowledgeable about, just like liquor, and you can make a great impression on your friends, guests, boss, or whomever you happen to be entertaining by serving them wine aged in an oak barrel.

Aging beer at home is another fun pursuit that many homebrewers have started experimenting with. Keep in mind that beer ages faster, as it has less alcohol and lighter flavors than wine or liquor. Get started making your own barrel aged cocktails with our premium oak barrels and accessories today.

Continue reading. Log in.