Drinking Vinegar Taste Testing Part One (and a Recipe for Apple Drinking Vinegar)

The contenders

With all the news surrounding drinking vinegars I thought a taste test was in order! Pok Pok has released their house-made vinegars to a lot of fan fair. Justin and I went to a local tasting and enjoyed the apple, honey and tamarind flavors. I was curious to know how they would taste side by side with the Taiwanese vinegars which orginally hooked me.

The first drinking vinegar I ever tasted was apple flavor. The intense fall flavor, pure apple, really hooked me. I decided that if we were gonna do a taste test we should focus on the apple flavor. I sent an email out to friends, seeing if any brave souls would be up for a tasting. In the end 3 friends joined us for BBQed pizza and taste testing.

In preparation for the tasting I purchased a bottle of Pok Pok's apple vinegar ($17!!!), Apple Good Health Vinegar ($4), and made a batch of homemade apple vinegar (ball park $3 max). I have seen a few other drinking vinegars debut in the local farmer's markets but haven't purchased them.

For comparison's sake let's look at the ingredients of each product:

Pok Pok's Apple Vinegar: 

cane sugar, apple cider, apple juice concentrate, cider vinegar, 

natural coconut vinegar, citric acid, salt

(coconut vinegar interests me, I have heard it is a very mild vinegar. Also salt and additional acid.
 Hmmmmm)

Apple Good Health Vinegar: 

apple juice, glutinous rice vinegar, fructose, honey

Homemade Apple Vinegar ala Farmer Jo:

apple juice, sugar, apple cider vinegar

Check back for Part Two: The results of the taste test. 

Making the apple drinking vinegar was much faster than the other drinking vinegars. Mostly because there was no infusing involved. I bought apple juice and reduced it by half to intensify the flavor.

Apple Drinking Vinegar
3 cups all 100% apple juice (I used R.W. Knudsen's)
1 cup white sugar
2 cups apple cider vinegar

1. In a medium sauce pan boil juice until reduced by about half. This took about 20 minutes. For accuracy's sake I poured it out and measured it until it was 1 1/2 cups of juice.
2. Add sugar to hot juice. Stir until disolved.
3. Pour into a clean jar and add vinegar.
4. I let the juice/ vinegar cool overnight but is ready to drink right away.