What Is Grain Alcohol Usually?

[floridanative]

I don't drink anything but corn or potato vodka but someone I know has been drinking a rock-gut vodka that says 'grain alcohol' on the bottle and it's from Albertson's who says they don't know what it's made of. Anyway, we were in the liquor store on Sat. and the guy there was showing me all the new vodkas made with grapes and even soy...very pricey to say the least. Anyway, he said that grain alcohol as it pertains to vodka is almost always made from rye. Anyone else ever heard this? The person drinking it has Celiac and has been on the gluten-free diet for over 7 months with much improvement but no weight loss. There seems to be a corelation between the grain vodka and being bloated so if it is made with rye, that makes sense now.

[elonwy]

Whiskey is made from rye. Vodka is usually made from Wheat. I have wheat allergy in addition to celiac and I have a reaction to grain alcohols made from wheat.

The soy vodka's I haven't liked as much. The potato and corn ones are good, I haven't ponied up for the grape versions yet.

Elonwy

[Corkdarrr]

That's a really good question...I hope someone on here knows the answer to it.

I found a minibottle of grain alcohol just the other day. Of course, being liquor they dont' have to print anything on it except not to drink while pregnant or drink and drive.

Of course, this bottle also has a warning about how flammable it is...190 proof would do it!

Courtney

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

Vodkas can be made from:

1. Neutral Grains (can be wheat, corn, rye, combis of each, etc) (Absolut, Stoli, Ketel One, etc)

2. Potatoes (Chopin, Luksusowa, Glacier Bay, etc)

3. Corn (Smirnoff)

4. Grapes (Ciroc)

5. Rye (Belvedere)

6. Sweet Potatoes

7. Other veggies (LOL)

It all depends on your senstivity. I can drink the grain vodkas without any symptoms. However, I usuallyu drink Smirnoff as it is cheap and just as good (and made from corn)

[tarnalberry]

Distillation does not allow gluten to pass into the final process (though anything can be added back if the manufacturer so chooses), but grain-alcohol can be from any grain. Vodkas are usually wheat (these days, in the US) but are plenty often rye as well, and also plenty often potato.

Ciroq, the grape vodka, is, by the way, a FABULOUS vodka. The only one I'll drink. (Though I don't drink any more due to my migraine medication...)

[MistressIsis]

Don't forget my new fave Tito's Vodka (corn) There's some more but everything tasted like moonshine! I can't touch Smirnoff, gives me insta-headache

[debmidge]

Vodka types:

can someone advise what "Blue Goose" is from?

and what brand is a sweet potato base?

Why is it that the wheat and rye vodkas do not take on a golden hue like whiskey does?

[floridanative]

Thanks tarnalberry for telling us about Ciroq vodka. I only saw it recently when getting my fave vodka 'Iceberg' (corn) but now I'm curious to try Ciroq as a special treat!

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

Vodka types:

can someone advise what "Blue Goose" is from?

and what brand is a sweet potato base?

Why is it that the wheat and rye vodkas do not take on a golden hue like whiskey does?

Debmidge,

Are you referring to "Grey Goose" ?? If so, it is a grain based vodka (wheat, etc)

The only sweet potato vodkas I have seen are Korean based or in Korean restaurants...

[debmidge]

yes, sorry I mean Grey Goose.

I went on their website and yes, they state wheat based.

I always mix this up with Blue Goose which is particular to my work

"The Honorable Order of the Blue Goose, International is a fraternal organization of men and women who work in the property and casualty insurance industry. As Ganders, we are members of Ponds located throughout the United States and Canada. There is fellowship, education, charity, and leadership in our organization.

We invite you to learn more through our website. You will find character, charity, and fellowship in abundance among a welcoming group of friends. A place has been saved for you. Please join us."

[IrishKelly]

ANYONE KNOW WHAT RUM IS MADE FROM?

[penguin]

Rum is made from sugar cane, and tequila from cactus (agave, if it's genuine)

Elonwy: I never thought about vodka and a wheat allergy. Crud.

[up-late]

Now I know why I'm sick from it some of the time not others.

Beware in pubs, most are honest but I used to work in one that topped up with the cheap stuff.

[purplemom]

I am so confused!! I thought I read a while back that all vodka was safe. My husband traded his Harpoon IPA for Vodka and Cranberry.

We recently bought Chopin potato vodka, a little pricey, but he likes it. I thought it might be gentler on his gut. Should I be steering him away from certain vodkas?

[Helena]

Well, there's a whole debate about whether distilled grain alcohol is safe. The Canadian celiac assn says yes, but several people on this website react.

I appreciate the list of different types of vodkas---I've had trouble with alcohol. I don't know whether it is the alcohol itself or the ingredients . . . . the last time I had one drink (vodka + orange juice), I felt kind of ill the whole night and the next morning couldn't hold any food down at all.

I would like to look into making my own vanilla flavouring----I'm not sure about potato vodka as I'm allergic to potatoes (and to corn and to soy). But I could maybe have vodka distilled from grapes . .. or sweet potatoes. Is it fairly rare to find sweet potato vodka? What brands are available?

[mynxr]

The distillation process does prevent the gluten protein from passing through the filtration process.  However for people who are gluten intolerant like I am, the cross contamination that occurs prior to distillation is still present after distillation.  Therefore while the protein molecule isn't present, the distilled liquid is cross contaminated by containing the gluten protein molecule prior to the distillation process.  I get very ill from any distilled alcohol that contained gluten prior to be being distilled.  For those of you that are gluten intolerant, please be exceptionally careful.

Extracts are another thing to stay away from for the same reason.  We have to make our own.  It's a long process but worth not getting sick.