NY Craft Distillery - Dutch's Spirits - Sugar wash Moonshine

[mamajuana]

There are many different spirits these days attempting to pass themselves off as rum which are not made from sugar cane or its byproducts such as the beet sugar rums, sorghum, even maple. How about spirits made from sugarcane byproducts that avoid labeling themselves as rum or otherwise?

This spirit calls itself "NY Sugar wash moonshine". It lists the ingredients as "100% cane Neutral Spirits." Some say this is more of a vodka others a rum. Made from 100% Demerara Sugar.

It has a long history behind it which started in era of prohibition. The spirit is produced now in the same distillery using the same inputs. There is a massive back story regarding this rum that I won't get into here since we all know this is purely marketing at its best.

I found a bottle of this locally and bought one of the two bottles the store had. In researching white rums and some places label it as rum others vodka. I bought the bottle for 21.99, at that price it was worth exploring. The bottle is of high quality even has a loop on it to hold onto.



Notes from a brief tasting I just did right now:

Nosing on this spirit is very similar to that of an Agricole blanc. Very similar with its sweet floral notes to that of Rhum JM blanc. Their is also a fruity note to the aroma which would put this closer to a cachaca much like the brand Armezem. Nothing like molasses based rum at all.

The flavor of this is fairly sweet and floral. That being said this is fairly rough around the edges and offers less flavor than Agricole Blanc. The fire aspect of this is closer to that of young Cachaca. The strong spicy hit mellows out with a long sweet finish.

The heat of a corn based moonshine is totally missing here. There is no vodka I have had anywhere near this profile either. Overall, personally If I had to peg this I put it closer to Cachaca style rum which tend to have a better aroma than actual taste and have a nice burn to them then finish off in a much softer flavorful note.

Curious to the thoughts of others on this product, Rum or not?

[Capn Jimbo]

"Designed for the production of fine artisanal spirits, our custom 580 gallon copper still was meticulously crafted over the course of nine months by Germany's oldest still company. With a swan’s neck helmet, a four-plates side-column, two 20 plates sequential rectifying columns; and a 6,000 liter mash preparation vessel, the equipment is truly state-of-the-art."

http://www.dutchsspirits.com/dutchs-spirits-distillery/

More anon...

[Capn Jimbo]

Back...


Anything called "neutral spirits" legally is a vodka, as per the standards of identity. Indeed the president of the company admits this, though he makes every effort to repeat the legally meaningless term "moonshine". Practically speaking moonshine historically referred to illegally made alcohol, and since this product is entirely legal, labelled "neutral spirits", it's both a practical and historical error to call it moonshine.

It's yet another marketing ploy to sell what should cost no more than $10, for more than triple the price, as high as $50 for what is really a bottom shelf product carrying the completely meaningless label of "Moonshine".

http://abcnews.go.com/video/embed?id=24848087
(start at 3:45)

[Capn Jimbo]

Another note...


"Moonshine" really is an American classic spirit and in that sense has always been corn-based, new (white) make. It got its name from the notion from the "moonshiners" who made this illegal whisky during Prohibition, often at night. The term was affiliated with the Appalachian region and deep south, and mostly made in very simple pot stills using a copper coil condenser. It was typically brand new, hot, and high proof. Much was poorly made; some even repurposed old leaded car radiators that also contained residual glycol (antifreeze) to condense what was then very dangerous to drink.

Thus the key words should be: corn, whisky, high proof, new make, pot stilled and illegal. Of these the most important ought to be "new-make corn whisky". Unfortunately the marketing boyz will grab onto any romantic idea and remake for their own profitable purposes.

Since the Standards of Identity do not define "moonshine", the monkeys are free to call anything by that name as long as the actual identity appears somewhere on the label (usually in small print). The sad part is that there are now actually new "moonshine" sections at the big retailers containing these made up products.

The truth: almost all of them are made with relatively tasteless neutral spirits and are flavored in one way or another. These are really cheap and cheesy products that are actually delivered in mason jars to look authentic, and then sold at amazingly high prices. Pure profit. Worse yet, the poor consumer actually thinks he/she is paying for a piece of real history, ie high proof, new-make corn whisky when in fact they are getting nothing more than a cheap flavored vodka.

Honest to the godz, I saw a demo at Total W&S featuring a selection of "moonshine" from some vendor. Turns out not a single one was corn whisky, but all were made from grain neutral spirits - plus flavorings of course.

[mamajuana]

Interesting info Capn. I have learned from this greatly thank you. I have also located further information on this recent 100% cane Neutral spirits bandwagon.

First to consider: Dutch's Spirits was the first per the TTB website to be granted permission under this 100% cane Neutral spirit category to list themselves this way. Since then half a dozen others have done the same.

I found this truncated quote from the CEO to clarify further why this is not listed as rum:

"To clarify a bit, our Sugar Wash Moonshine is technically a Cane Neutral Spirit (and is labeled as such). The distinction from rum is that it is distilled up to 190 proof (“neutral”) before being diluted back down to 80 proof for bottling. The flavors that come through are a result of our base (pure demerara sugar), yeast selection and fermentation and filtration protocols."

Source: http://www.drinkhacker.com/2012/05/09/r ... ch-brandy/ (in comments section)

That being said this is distilled slightly higher than the standard for rum so it can't be labeled as such even though in taste it is clearly closer to rum than any vodka. Pure marketing.

This like the Seagram's Brazilian Rum is distilled slightly higher than cachaca. So it can label as rum without any afterthought.

In the end I have gone through most of this bottle at this point.

If I had to put a 1/10 score to this product for sipping it would be:

6/10


Nothing I would purchase again.