Vodka ist not Vegan?

[Thomas Prufer]

So someone tells me, "Vodka is not vegan. They use milk in making it!"

Ah, the thrill of alarms bells going off in me head, just like old times when
there was a deadly spider in the yucca palm!

I wasn't sure how a mix of ethanol and water could be not vegan, or how using
milk could benefit a vodka. A bit of googling turns up one vodka ("Parliament")
that uses milk to settle impurities. I think the milk is used as beaten egg
whites are to clarify a broth.

A recent read of one home-still/moonshine site also suggested that while a lot
of the impurities bind well to activated charcoal, mechanically filtering out
the finest dust of that charcoal suspended in the vodka will improve the taste
significantly with little effort.

So, there is non-vegan vodka...


Thomas "now returning to regular programming featuring the other coal" Prufer

[R H Draney]

Thomas Prufer filted:

I've been trying to figure out why some brands of horchata make a big fuss about
the wholesome milk used to make them, while others have a bold sticker on the
label proclaiming the stuff "dairy-free"....r


--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.

[David Hatunen]

On 19 May 2013 11:11:35 -0700, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
wrote:

If you don't know why, then you're not lactose-intolerant (I am).

[Thomas Prufer]

On Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:15 -0700, David Hatunen <hat...@cox.net> wrote:

>If you don't know why, then you're not lactose-intolerant (I am).

Would vodka have enough lactose in it to be a problem? Just curious...

I think the person worrying about the milk in vodka was refusing animal products
on principle, and therefore would also not want anything that had been made with
the help of animal products.

Also as to the horchata, there are dietary laws, secular and religious, hence
occasional "may contain nuts", "processed in a factory also processing
soybeans/peanuts/soylent gren", kosher, halal, ...

Thomas Prufer

[David Hatunen]

On Sun, 26 May 2013 09:46:13 +0200, Thomas Prufer
<prufer...@mnet-online.de.invalid> wrote:

>On Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:15 -0700, David Hatunen <hat...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>>If you don't know why, then you're not lactose-intolerant (I am).
>
>Would vodka have enough lactose in it to be a problem? Just curious...

At this point the subject seems to be horchata, which is generally
vodka-free

>I think the person worrying about the milk in vodka was refusing animal products
>on principle, and therefore would also not want anything that had been made with
>the help of animal products.
>
>Also as to the horchata, there are dietary laws, secular and religious, hence
>occasional "may contain nuts", "processed in a factory also processing
>soybeans/peanuts/soylent gren", kosher, halal, ...

The subject was dairy-free horchata, wasn't it?

I'm not terrible knowledgable on the subject, bit I suppose dairy-free
has some effect on kosherness...

[Thomas Prufer]

On Sun, 26 May 2013 15:17:41 -0700, David Hatunen <hat...@cox.net> wrote:

>At this point the subject seems to be horchata, which is generally
>vodka-free

Ah, yes, just asking, out of idle curiosity, and also to raise the signal a bit.
ULs are thin on the ground now with everyone whipping out a smartphone to check
Wiki online at the drop of a hat.

Couldn't see vodka could contain anything but a trace of lactose. I'd gathered
that that milk was added as a flocculant and then filtered out of the alcohol to
remove impurities.

However, more googling leads me to this, by a supplier offering a vodka on
alibaba:

"Vodka "russkiy parliament" has a special natural carbohydrate module
(naturaladditives - amber acid, lactose and some others) which prevents the
absorption of the toxic substances into the blood. Thus, it considerably lessens
the morning-after syndrome. Another effect of amber acid results in velvet
smoothness of the vodka. The bottle of "russkiy parliament" has an original non
refillable closure with tubular measuring hopper. Every bottle is delivered in
an effective looking gift box."


Thomas "likes effective-looking gift boxes" Prufer