re: Vodka is healthier than whiskey because it tastes bad. So you drink less of it.

To be legally called vodka the distiller has to distill their beer made from any starch of their choosing above 95%. Good vodka is distilled above 97%. Distillers finish the vodka by cutting with water of their choice usually to 40% (80 proof). How a distiller finishes the vodka has major impact on flavor. Vodka is very clean because it's mostly ethanol and water and you just have to metabolize ethanol. If you are going to rank acholic beverages, vodka or drinks made with neutral grain spirits are probably the healthiest.

The next healthiest are whiskies. They can be distilled up to 90%, no higher to be called a whiskey. 90% is pretty clean but their are a lot more higher order alcohols, esters, congeners, etc. than vodka. American, Canadian, Irish, Scotch and Japanese whiskies would fall into this category.

The next healthiest is probably bourbon. The beer from bourbon has to be made with more than 51% corn and cannot be distilled above 80%. This makes it challenging for distillers to make bourbon taste good but when they do it's usually pretty good. Bourbon also has to be aged in new American white oak barrels.

I don't believe that there is an distillate concentration requirements for tequila however the primary starch has to be agave'. Because there is no distillate concentration requirements there is a wide range of taste in tequila. In fact, IIRC mezcal is pulled off the tail ends of tequila batch runs or the lower part of tequila continuous stills. With other spirits these tail ends are usually thrown out or further processed for fuel.

Similar to tequila there are no distillate concentration requirements for rum however the primary starch has to be from sugarcane.

Also similar to tequila and rum is grappa. Grappa is a spirit made from distilling wine. The grape is the primary starch. If the win is distilled and aged in the Cognac region of France you can label it Cognac. Otherwise it's also called brandy.

But brandies have different starch sources. Not only grape but pear, apple, banana, etc.

Rum, Tequila and grappa have a wide range of unhealthiness and all depends on the by products of fermentation besides ethanol and the distiller's chosen method to get the taste he is looking for.

With that said, sprits are always healthier than wine and beer. Wine is probably the most unhealthy.

Lol

quote:

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The reason a lot of alcoholics drink vodka is it is harder to discern on the breath than whiskey, especially with a cigarette.

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im not saying youre wrong, but ive known several alcoholics who only drank vodka and you could smell them from the other room. The ones I knew chose vodka because it was cheap and/or you could easily mask the flavor.