As I have explained to my kids:
All booze starts out as vodka. Basically alcohol and water.
Then it is flavored, with wood or berries and so on and so forth.
When they make Jack Daniels, they first make vodka, then they put it into barrels.
So all booze is basically flavored vodka.
It may be a bit more complicated than that, but not by much.
I live a simple life, so I drink cheap vodka, which is basically the same as expensive vodka, because I have never been able to discern a difference between the two. It is just alcohol and water. I just cant wrap my head around one company’s alcohol and water be better than an others.
Try Beak & Skiff Vodka - made from apples. Nice, distinctive, from my hometown.
If you would, try Powers Irish Whisky. It’s not expensive. Not much more than normal vodka. Do a taste test comparing what you normally drink and that side by side. I find quite a bit of difference. Cheap vodka has a harsh bite to it. It is made in a continual distillation still which mixes the heads with hearts and tails and there are off flavors if you look for it. I think you would change your mind if you did did a taste test like I said. cheers!
Unless you're downing synthesized lab-grade ethanol, booze always takes in some distinct flavor from the distilling process.
Booze made from sugar, potatoes, corn, barley or fruit will each taste different. Even if the mash is distilled identically. You're never getting pure ethanol by distilling and it will always pick up some flavors from the mash.
Good vodka is finished by further purifying the distilled ethanol through charcoal or limestone. This removes most of the bad tastes picked up during distillation. However, it also gets rid of any character or good taste. Vodka is more like a finely machined tool than a work of art. Once the process is developed, all vodka from that distiller will taste the same
Most brown liquor, like whisky, is finished by aging in barrels. The charcoal inside the barrel slowly filters the ethanol inside as the barrel “breathes” due to weather variations. The flavors from the mash, the charcoal, the wood, the climate, the air, the water, etc ALL combine to give each barrel a unique flavor. Each barrel is like a unique work of art and each distillery has its own secrets that took centuries to perfect.
We sometimes forget this aspect because the big-brand blends use taste experts to blend each batch so it always tastes the same. In reality, each barrel they source from always tastes unique.