Organic Vodka

[freshherbs]

never knew shampoo was distilled....doh.

how about a Pert-ini

[kvltrede]

Somebody made a good point above but as long as the discussions seems to have moved away from it I thought I'd mention again that the benefits of organic vodka and shampoo, if any exist, are pre-production benefits.

I'm no scientist and I'd certainly agree that vodka is vodka and that organic grains aren't necessarily going to produce a better vodka. I'd also agree that that the use of the word "organic" as part of Square One's marketing campaign is somewhat misleading. However, assuming that the grain used by Square One is, in fact, grown under the guidelines that allow the term "organic" to be used, I think one could safely say that the growers of the grain used by Square One have done less damage to the environment than the growers of "non-organic" (inorganic?) grain.

Of course this also assumes the term "organic" continues to mean something. If what I've read about the gutting of the guidelines regarding what constitutes organic food is true then the term "organic" means far less than it suggests....

Kurt

[slkinsey]

. . . assuming that the grain used by Square One is, in fact, grown under the guidelines that allow the term "organic" to be used, I think one could safely say that the growers of the grain used by Square One have done less damage to the environment than the growers of "non-organic" (inorganic?) grain.

I'd like to think this is true. And I believe it largely is true. But it doesn't have to be true. Organic growers can do all kinds of things that are horrible for the environment, so long as they do it the "organic way." This includes things as mundane as irrigation techniques and water sourcing to the use of pesticides and antifungals like oil, bacillus thuringiensis, copper sulfate, pyrethrum and rotenone -- many of which have far greater toxicity and environmental impact than manufactured pesticides (copper sulfate, for example, has been banned in Europe because it is a permanent soil contaminant that has high toxicity for both humans and fish -- it is still allowed in the US). All this is to say that it is entirely possible for a "not organic" farm to have a much smaller environmental footprint than an "organic" farm. It takes a lot of grain to make distilled spirits, so I think I'm safe in assuming that Square One isn't buying from small farms.

[trillium]

I totally disagree with you.  Vodka makers use many chemicals when they are making the vodka and that is the reason they have to distill and filter their products many times in order to get them to be clean.  With organically grown ingredients and no chemicals used during the distillation process there is definitely going to be a difference between organic vodka and regular vodka.

There's an easy way to settle this argument...

anybody got an HPLC handy?

regards,

trillium