Posted on 05/06/2010 5:51:52 AM PDT by Palter
In early April, Kris Comstock, a representative for the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky, conducted a seminar on bourbon at Char No. 4, a bar in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, that offers 150 kinds of American whiskey.
Among the bourbons he poured were Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare and Blanton’s. But his students weren’t interested in those.
“The first thing that everyone wanted to taste was the white dog,” he said. “We make products that win amazing awards all around the world, and they want to taste the white dog.”
White dog, or white whiskey, is, basically, moonshine. It’s newborn whiskey, crystal-clear grain distillate, as yet unkissed by the barrel, the vessel that lends whiskey some or all of its color and much of its flavor. And white dog is currently having its day.
“Aging in wood has many beautiful effects on a spirit,” said Tad Carducci, half of the cocktail consulting duo known as the Tippling Brothers. “But it does tend to disguise whatever the base spirit is. When you strip that away, you’re getting a real sense of what wheat offers, or rye or corn.”
Unlike vodka, in which the source grain is often purposefully purified to a vanishing point, white dogs are pungently fragrant, with a chewy sweetness to them.
This spring, Buffalo Trace began a limited commercial release of its white dog, which until now was available only as a much-coveted souvenir from the distillery’s gift shop. The bottles took their place on store shelves next to a growing line of colorless whiskeys.
Most are the work of young micro-distilleries like Death’s Door, in Wisconsin; Finger Lakes Distilling, in upstate New York; Tuthilltown, in the Hudson Valley; the Copper Fox Distillery, in northern Virginia; and House Spirits, in Portland, Ore.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
'Because the liquor is worth more to the government than beer or wine. Uncle Sam takes an excise tax of $2.14 for each 750-milliliter bottle of 80-proof spirits, compared with 21 cents for a bottle of wine (of 14 percent alcohol or less) and 5 cents for a can of beer. No one knows exactly how much money changes hands in the moonshine trade, but it's certainly enough for the missing taxes to make a difference: In 2000, an ATF investigation busted one Virginia store that sold enough raw materials to moonshiners to make 1.4 million gallons of liquor, worth an estimated $19.6 million in lost government revenue. In 2005, almost $5 billion of federal excise taxes on alcohol came from legally produced spirits.'
Taste has nothing to do with it. These people want to get blind drunk that drink this.
It was so horrible we made 100 gallons of it.
When I was 16—a long time ago, we would get a gallon glass pickle jar, fill it with ice, half a quart of shine, and fill it with orange juice. Drank it from the jug, passed it around. Go to the Church dances and have a great time. Life was simpler then.
Where are you from?
May I point out that the tax on distilled spirits was enacted in 1863 at the behest of one Abraham Lincoln? That tax is still with us. I offer it as a plain demonstration of the tyranny of one Abraham Lincoln!
Out of HS, I worked in a factory in Connecticut. A black guy nearing retirement from Mississippi spoke reverently of “scrap iron”. He told me Federal liquor had coloring and other additives and not to drink it. His relatives sent him shipments of the good stuff from down south.
Any time I think of monnshine I always remember Andy Griffith’s character, Will Stockdale, being taken to the club to get him drunk in “No Time For Sergeants.”
The other is Granny and her moonshine from the “Beverly Hillbillies.” It was strong enough to power Jethro’s rocket that he planned to take him to the Moon.
I once had a dog that was pungently fragrant. Liked to chew on my slippers, too. Izzat the same? :-)
I'm acquainted with a few people who know a thing or two about the moonshine trade. I'll ask them if their product is "pungently fragrant with a chewy sweetness" and see how loud they laugh. Will report back to FR on the matter.
Love it!
I wasn’t aware of that fact ... thanks for posting!
? What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
Actually, the original tax on distilled spirits was enacted in 1791 at the behest of George Washington.
I therefore offer it as a plain demonstration of the tyranny of one George Washington!
It also led directly to the first armed rebellion against the authority of the United States government, which GW crushed by massive armed force. So it seems appropriate the same tax later helped fund the crushing of a later rebellion.
Believe it or not, this Kentucky girl just had her first taste of moonshine over the weekend. A neighbor of my daughter’s in Kansas City, brought some to a party. Raspberries soaked in moonshine. I haven’t missed much in my 58 years. Yuck!
I know that lore well.....wifey hails from Stearns County, and the stuff still gets talked about on occasion.
It has a direct effect on your knowledge of sipping versus swilling ‘shine.
My point is that most who partake of white liquor do so in moderation.
Location often provides for experience in some subjects.
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