Whiteness: It's Not Just For Vodka Anymore
In another sign of our growing national rejection of all things brown, the Times takes a look at the world of whiskey, which is itself undergoing a caucasianation, at least among its more trendy adherents. Welcome to the world of white dog.
White dog, or white whiskey, is, basically, moonshine. It's newborn whiskey, crystal-clear grain distillate, as yet unkissed by the barrel, the vessel that lends whiskey some or all of its color and much of its flavor. And white dog is currently having its day.
Well, every dog does. And I guess it's nice to see that one of America's oldest traditions is being revived and refined and commercialized to appeal to a wealthy elite who would otherwise disdain its low class origins. (Although I am certainly no less guilty of that than anyone else: The first time I drank moonshine was in the back of a country store in Columbus, Mississippi, where it was passed around in a flask. When I sipped it the first thing I said was, "This tastes just like grappa!" I remain mortified to this day and will probably go to my grave still cringing about it.) In any event, the article summarizes the growing popularity of these albino liquors, many of which are indeed excellent. Of course, much as with any other hobby, there's a certain amount of snobbery which creeps in. This quote from an anonymous moonshine aficionado is pretty much the pro forma response to any previously obscure interest that begins to gain popularity:
He said he was not surprised by the advent of commercial white dogs. "I've been telling people for years that they have to taste corn whiskey, so that when they taste whiskey, they can find their way around the inside of their mouth."
That said, he's not overly impressed with what's coming out. "The hobby distillers who are on the foodie bent are making better whiskey than you can buy. Period. No question about it. You just can't do as good a job making 1,000 gallons at a time as you can making 10 gallons a time. There's people making white dog that is mind-blowing."
Expect a distiller to show up on the cover of Whiskey Drinker magazine wearing a T-shirt that says "Corporate Moonshine Still Sucks" any day now.
So things that poor white people drink is cooler than things poor non-white people drink?
*faints*
Wake me when the hipster penmanship and handwriting revival hits. At least I can do something with that.
Moonshine is now $40/btl.
(My pruno, however, can't be bought.)
off my leg, filthy cur!
*of course, I'd still drink it!
Does this mean I have to get a NYT trend still to go next to my NYT trend chicken coop?
And reading some of those cocktail recipes at the end of the article was disturbing. Corn whiskey and sake doesn't sound like a mixture I want to experience.
On the plus side, you won't remember what it tasted like. Or why you got those tattoos.
Novelty cocktails are one thing, but sake-based novelty cocktails are JUST NOT OK. Ugh, I need a real drink to take the imagined taste of that out of my mouth.
Also: this is the best they could think up for a "moonshine-based" drink? It's almost 2/3 sake. Ugh.
Right? Try subbing it out in gin drinks where you'd use a more assertive gin. Try a White Blood-and-Sand. Grow a set and bartend like a man, instead of hiding behind low-proof fillers.
Sake cocktails are like mocktails as far as I can tell. In NYC they seem the provence of places that only have been and wine licenses.
Beer. Beer.
@Dain — Given the sweet taste of a lot of these "moonshine"-branded un-aged corn whiskies, I'd think it'd substitute well for tequila. Of course, I hate tequila, so I'm always looking to get rid of it.
I bet nothing those foodies make beats the Baldwin sisters' Recipe.
Well, you know the old adage: if it ain't white, it ain't right.
Sun's out; guns out! Oh wait, that's something else. Never mind.
I have had this and it's not moonshine. Moonshine typically has methanol in it and is made from a small still. This has neither and it's a lot purer.
You can tell the quality moonshine if it beads up nice and big when you shake the jar. Some people swear by the "burns blue, it's true" test, but methanol will still pass that.
Or, uh, so I'm told.
It does. In fact it burns bluer. The only reason you are burning it in the first place is to make sure you don't get a red flame which indicates lead. That shit will make you go blind.
didn't the government poison industrial alcohols during prohibition to deter the making of moonshine? i seem to remember that it killed several people as well.
They may have specifically poisoned industrial alcohol, but most not-for-consumption alcohol just includes a higher/non-zero percentage of methanol, which will poison you.
I've had the House Spirits White Dog. Pretty good. It did taste like grappa, though. Really rough grappa.
Yeck. Moonshine is one of the few things I won't drink. Another is grappa.
White dog isn't necessarily corn whiskey. I tried a rye recently that was every bit as undrinkable as the corn type. There's a reason you put that stuff in oak. But if you like the sensation of throat gonnorhea, I highly recommend the rare White Dog from the Hudson Manhattan people.
I've had the Tuthilltown, and was sort of Meh. After the third glass the kick isn't as pronounced.
Really, after three glasses, I'm looking for the thrill that can only come from a superheated slurry of equine bacterial vaginosis, broken glass and a road flare.
Hahahahaha!
A "white dog" is soju and yogurt and 7-Up, served in the G.I. bars outside American military bases in Korea. Everyone knows that.
You also left out the gonorrhea.
True!