Frank wrote:
FTR, in my original post, I meant to reference an endpoint ABV% in accordance with typical drinking ABV% for scotch. This tends to be, in my experience, between 40%ABV (this is the typical strength preferred by most 'mass-producers' for the marketplace) and around 48-53%ABV (this being typical of the range for those special barrel/cask strength releases favoured by the more 'artisan' distilleries). I am comfortable with bottling at either 'level' for home use and sharing ....and I would never personally condone unsafe drinking practices; either amongst guests or on webforums
Anyway (blah blah)......my enquiry here related, simply, to diluting spirit per se and the optimal method to do so.....and I apologise if the wording above was overly ambiguous.
In the UK a new legislation was introduced in 1967 to increase the duty paid on spirits with a abv higher than 43%. Predictably to avoid this extra duty most distilleries reduced their abv to 40%. This reduction however saw a massive increase in the public buying "doubles" for the same "kick". It also meant that the HMRC were collecting "double" the duty for exactly the same amount of alcohol as sold before! What a f**king rip off. I have listed below a few standard pre 67 abv ratings for well known spirits.
Smirnoff 67%
Bells 63%
Black Bush 63%
McKibbins Dark Rum 74%
Dimple Scotch 70%
Gordon's 54%
I have tried three of the above spirits at the abv they were originally distilled for and I can tell you the alcohol content plays a huge part in the whole character and flavour of the drink. McKibbins becomes an entirely different experience the alcohol opening the flavours up not masking or hiding them. The higher alcohol content stimulates the olfactory receptors in the nose making flavours and smells more intense!Statistics: Posted by RickyRasper — Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:29 am
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) note.
(especially re any comparative testing).