{"id":2499,"date":"2010-10-17T16:01:03","date_gmt":"2010-10-17T20:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.extrawdwmagic.com\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2010-11-21T12:13:30","modified_gmt":"2010-11-21T17:13:30","slug":"epcot-food-wine-2010-%e2%80%93-belvedere-vodka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/?p=2499","title":{"rendered":"Epcot Food &#038; Wine 2010 \u2013 Belvedere Vodka"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Who &amp; What: <\/strong>BELVEDERE VODKA (Poland), presented by Donae Burston (oops, he\/she wasn&#8217;t there, we had a substitute&#8230; Michael Flannery)<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 322px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ngg-singlepic ngg-none \" src=\"http:\/\/www.extrawdwmagic.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/2010-food-amp-wine-festival\/belvedere-vodka-oct-15-2010-3.jpg\" alt=\"belvedere-vodka-oct-15-2010-3\" width=\"312\" height=\"384\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our substitute presenter...<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>When: <\/strong>Friday October 15, 2010 6:00 pm<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where: <\/strong>Festival Center, Epcot<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tastings:<\/strong> Belvedere Pure (a.k.a. plain), Belvedere Pink Grapefruit, Belvedere Orange<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 522px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ngg-singlepic ngg-none \" src=\"http:\/\/www.extrawdwmagic.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/2010-food-amp-wine-festival\/belvedere-vodka-oct-15-2010-1.jpg\" alt=\"belvedere-vodka-oct-15-2010-1\" width=\"512\" height=\"269\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">for tasting - can you see any vodka?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 522px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ngg-singlepic ngg-none  \" src=\"http:\/\/www.extrawdwmagic.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/2010-food-amp-wine-festival\/belvedere-vodka-oct-15-2010-2.jpg\" alt=\"belvedere-vodka-oct-15-2010-2\" width=\"512\" height=\"333\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">that&#39;s Nora&#39;s thumb, now do you get an idea of how little was in the glasses?<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>What We Learned:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vodka in General\n<ul>\n<li>US Govt defines vodka as an alcohol made of any starch, it must be flavorless &amp; tasteless; any inocuous alcohol<\/li>\n<li>vodka #1 spirit in the US<\/li>\n<li>60 calories per 1.5 oz pour\n<ul>\n<li>one of the lowest calorie drinks you can do<\/li>\n<blockquote>\n<li><em>Nick did some fact-checking &#8212; 80 proof vodka, gin, rum, or whiskey has similar calories<\/em><\/li>\n<ul>\n<li><em>1 oz ~ 64 calories<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>1.5 oz (one jigger or one shot) ~ 97 calories<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>if you go from 80 proof to 100 proof the calorie count increases to ~ 124<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<li><em>so&#8230; vodka is not the lowest in calories and the presenter was off by about 50% on how many calories are in a shot of vodka<\/em><\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>tasting vodka\n<ul>\n<li>you taste sweet on the front of your tongue &amp; you taste alcohol with the middle of your tongue<\/li>\n<li>you should smell spirits with your mouth slightly open (unlike wine)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Belvedere Vodka (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.belvederevodka.com\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Belvedere_vodka\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>)\n<ul>\n<li>the first premium vodka sold in the US (1994)<\/li>\n<li>made with rye, 65% starch &#8212; germinated rye, not malted rye<\/li>\n<li>water comes from a 30,000,000 year old artisinal well\/aquafier\n<ul>\n<li>this water undergoes reverse osmosis<\/li>\n<li>on the plant\u2019s property and is used for all purposes, even washing new bottles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>natural airborne yeast &#8212; common with spirits &#8211; not with sake or beer<\/li>\n<li>their master distiller has been with the company for over 40 years<\/li>\n<li>it takes 80 pounds of rye to create one bottle of vodka<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Belvedere Pure Vodka\n<ul>\n<li>distilled in column distillery 4 times<\/li>\n<li>thus no flavor of it\u2019s own!<\/li>\n<li>this is the base vodka, the flavored vodkas use this and macerated fruit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Flavored Belvedere Vodkas\n<ul>\n<li>start with Belvedere Pure Vodka<\/li>\n<li>put in stainless steel tanks to move to different facility<\/li>\n<li>add macerated fruit to create flavors\n<ul>\n<li>orange flavors come from mandarin orange, orange peel, lime peel\u2026<\/li>\n<li>pink grapefruit flavors come from pink grapefruit (equivalent of one per bottle of vodka), ginger, lemon&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>another distillation is then done<\/li>\n<li>get cloudy if you add ice &#8211; natural oils from real fruit they use<\/li>\n<li>20-25% of volume is put back into next batch to maintain flavor consistency<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Bartender Info\n<ul>\n<li>gin is the first flavored vodka\n<ul>\n<li>he says Bombay Sapphire Ginis less flavorful than regular Bombay Gin &#8211; took down a notch to try to mimic vodka (and get some of vodka\u2019s marketshare)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>agave syrup = lowest glycemic index (best to use!)<\/li>\n<li>bartenders work with acids (fresh fruit juices) &amp; sugars (cane sugar syrup, honey, agave syrup)<\/li>\n<li>Moscow Mule &#8211; vodka + lime + ginger beer<\/li>\n<li>Collins &#8212; absolute classic vodka cocktail &#8212; vodka + citrus juice + club soda<\/li>\n<li>Dacquari &#8212; ditto for rum<\/li>\n<li>Classic Cocktails\n<ul>\n<li>all spirit &#8211;&gt; stirred<\/li>\n<li>sugar or juice added to spirits &#8211;&gt; shaken<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Tasting Notes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Belvedere Pure Vodka\n<ul>\n<li>Nick\u2026 smells purely like alcohol &amp; tastes harsh, no body but it is vodka<\/li>\n<li>Nora\u2026 almost senseless \/ tasteless \/ no aroma other than ETOH<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Belvedere Pink Grapefruit\n<ul>\n<li>Nick\u2026 first taste &#8211; smells very limey &amp; tastes like grapefruit but still \u201charsh\u201d; second taste &#8211; \u201cI could drink this with grapefruit juice but that would be a waste of a premium vodka!\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Nora\u2026 spicy peppery &amp; don\u2019t care for it on it\u2019s own<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Belvedere Orange\n<ul>\n<li>Nick\u2026 first taste &#8211; smells like orange cleaner, not appealing and tastes like inhaling orange cleaner, not a good taste; second taste &#8211; lost harshness because the first taste was so bad, but still bad, not at all appealing<\/li>\n<li>Nora\u2026 I\u2019m don\u2019t care for it on it\u2019s own<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Final Thoughts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the pours for these Beverage Seminars at the Festival Center are tiny and skimpy, we estimate them to be \u00bd oz pours &#8211; Nick tried to get a photo showing how small they are\n<ul>\n<li>the Tequila Tasting at Mexico is making these beverage seminars look bad<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>6 crackers for 4 people; 3 tastes x 4 = 12; so \u00bd cracker each but no plates or even napkins<\/li>\n<li>Nora says &#8211; I still prefer Stoli flavored vodkas, but after this tasting, I think I\u2019m off vodka for a while<\/li>\n<li>the speaker was a substitute, not from Belvedere; he\u2019s a bartender and once he started talking about that he became more enthusiastic and entertaining\n<ul>\n<li>regardless, we wouldn\u2019t go to a seminar just to hear him speak<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who &amp; What: BELVEDERE VODKA (Poland), presented by Donae Burston (oops, he\/she wasn&#8217;t there, we had a substitute&#8230; Michael Flannery)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our substitute presenter&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>When: Friday October 15, 2010 6:00 pm<\/p>\n<p>Where: Festival Center, Epcot<\/p>\n<p>Tastings: Belvedere Pure (a.k.a. plain), Belvedere Pink Grapefruit, Belvedere Orange<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">for tasting &#8211; can you see any vodka?<\/p>\n<p \n\n<p>continue reading <a href=\"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/?p=2499\">Epcot Food &#038; Wine 2010 \u2013 Belvedere Vodka<\/a> &#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[190,223],"tags":[202,211,215,216],"class_list":["post-2499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epcot-food-wine-festival","category-hard-ticketed-events-2","tag-beverage-seminars","tag-epcot-theme-park","tag-walt-disney-world-2","tag-wdw-2","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2499"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2544,"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions\/2544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extrawdwmagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}