I don’t drink alcohol, so I knew nothing about it when I started. But I’ve learned a lot this year. Some Vanilla Extract instruction indicate that “The quality and brand of the alcohol are not important.” or “This is probably the only time someone will tell you to buy the cheap stuff!!”. Consequently, when I went to the liquor store for the first time for this project, I looked for and bought “the cheap stuff!!” And it was CHEAP! $9.99 for 1.75 litres … almost a half gallon. The brand is Titul, and it was on the lowest shelf in the furthest corner of the liquor store. Actually, it was only carried in the highly discounted liquor store … not in the less sketchy stores I’ve visited since.
It wasn’t until at least a month had passed that I finally read the label. This is from Ukraine, and as of its production date in October, 2024, Ukraine is in a war with Russia. It will probably be fine, but modern warfare uses many things that can get into the environment, so I’m hesitant to continue using this brand.
I then moved to Skol at $9 per litre, which says, “PRODUCT OF THE U.S.A” on its main label, but in the fine print around the neck, it also says, “REIMPORTED BY SAZERAC COl, NEW ORLEANS, LA”. Online sources indicate it is distilled in Kentucky, so I’m not sure what that’s about.
It wasn’t for some months that I realized that the cost of the alcohol is actually a small part of the overall expense of making a bottle of Vanilla Extract. Imagine, if you will, that you are going to make a four-ounce bottle. If you bought the aforementioned Titul at 9.99 for 1.75 litres, with tax included, it would be $10.96 for a fraction over 59 ounces. That is 10.96 divided by 59 = 18.6 cents per ounce.
If you move to a fairly expensive alternative like Grey Goose, it currently is priced at $42.99 for 1.75 litres locally. With tax, that would be $47.18 divided by 59 ounces = 80 cents per ounce. A difference of 61.4 cents per ounce, so the cost of alcohol for your four-ounce bottle of vanilla extract would go from $0.74 to $3.20. That’s an increase of $2.50 for the whole bottle.
What I am trying to communicate is that the cost of the alcohol is just a fraction of the cost of producing Vanilla Extract. Therefore, even if the quality of the extract increases quite a bit by increasing the quality of the alcohol, the overall cost of the extract will not be greatly impacted. On the other hand, if the quality of the alcohol does not have a noticeable impact on the quality of the extract, the overall cost of the extract will not be greatly affected by the increased cost.
Conclusion
We can definitively answer Question #02 right now: What effect does the cost of alcohol have on your overall cost of producing your own Vanilla Extract? Not very much. The way to determine this is take the total amount you paid for the alcohol, divide it by the quantity held in the bottle, and this gives you the cost per unit. Multiply this cost per unit by the amount you are going to use in your extract, and that result is the cost of the alcohol in your extract.
Example: I purchased a 375 ml bottle of Tito’s Vodka locally for $11.99 plus $1.17 tax = $13.16. 375 ml is 12.68 ounces, so that gives us a price of $1.04 per ounce. If I make a 2-ounce bottle of vanilla extract with 2 ounces of Tito’s Vodka from that 375 ml bottle, the cost of the alcohol in the extract will be $1.04 * 2 = $2.08.
Update 04 July, 2024
I live in the far south end of Nashville, Tennessee, and it turns out there is a vodka distillery about an hour south of here. I drove to Big Machine Distillery in Lynnville and took the $15 tour on Wednesday. It was very interesting. It’s a very small operation … only 7 employees. They run their vodka through the column still over 20 times, then filter it through some kind of volcanic rock and a bunch of platinum beads. Whatever trips their hammer, doncha know?
Short version: I think I’m going to start using Big Machine Vodka … either their namesake ($24.19 for 1.75 litres at Total Wine) or their Pickers brand ($18.49 for 1.75 litres at Total Wine). This works out to about 40¢ or 30¢ per ounce, respectively, when bought in bulk. Significantly more than Skol ($11.99 at TW … 20¢ per ounce), but not a choice that will significantly change the cost of our Vanilla Extract. Plus, we get to start saying “locally sourced”, which is a big buzz word in the Farmers’ Market biz.
