Are they forthcoming about the process they use to make their vinegars directly or through their third-party manufacturer? Many companies are not. One trick to identify vinegars that are made using a more industrial process is to look at their ingredient list.

If you see something like “ vinegar (diluted with water to X% acidity)” in the ingredients this most likely means they are making vinegar using a more industrial technique that lets the bacteria produce higher acidity vinegar that then has to be diluted after fermentation with water to become an acid level you would want to use on your salad. This ultimately matters because it impacts the quality and taste.

Vinegar is made through fermentation so all the ingredients should be present at fermentation. If you add water after fermentation you are not only diluting the acid level you are also diluting the flavor. Think of it like a cake—a cake baked with all the ingredients is very different from a cake that was baked and only after had raw eggs added. Same ingredients but very different result.

We never add water to our vinegars after fermentation.

We are strong believers that vinegar flavors should come from fermentation not post-fermentation infusions.

Introducing fruits, herbs, or spices during the actual fermentation process provides a greater depth of flavor and more nuance. This stands in contrast to ‘infused’ vinegars which simply add herbs or fruits to a liquid that is already vinegar. Think of it as a vinegar tea. We have even seen people call themselves vinegar makers when all they do is buy vinegars and then simply infuse the vinegar.  

Infused vinegars can be fun but they lack the flavor sophistication that comes from fermentation. Some manufacturers will be upfront about infusing but, for others, you may need to ask—especially when you see a large or exotic cocktail of flavors listed.  

We never infuse vinegar and only ever co-ferment.

Your vinegar should list its specific alcohol base either on the front label or back label ingredients. Meaning it should tell you if it is a red wine vinegar, cider vinegar, beer vinegar, etc.

Watch out for ‘spirit’ vinegars—these are just distilled white vinegars and they are sometimes mixed with thick fruit syrups that end up creating a sweet vinegar. They have a candy quality (and pretty bottles) but don’t be fooled.

You should also seek out vinegars that give you greater clarity on the type and source of your alcohol fermentation base. For instance, we disclose that our Ultimate Red Wine Vinegar is made with Syrah/Shiraz red wine from California. This helps you better understand the profile of the wine used and, therefore, the influences in the vinegar. It also tells you we are just not using ‘leftover’ wines to make our vinegars but are methodical about sourcing wines to ensure vinegar quality and flavor.

We only use American crafted beer, wine, cider, and sake as our alcohol fermentation bases.

A well-made vinegar will be a clear expression of the alcohol that was used to create the vinegar.

If your malt vinegar just tastes like ‘malt’ and acid you are missing out and it tells you something about the jumbled production process. Our IPA Beer Malt Vinegar echoes the hops in an IPA whereas our Porter Beer Malt Vinegar has the darker flavors of a porter.   Your vinegar should not taste like a generic and unidentifiable ‘beer’.

Our vinegars always reflect the flavors of the craft alcohols we use to make them.

This is another one you might have to ask about since it is not often disclosed.  

A common industrial vinegar production method makes vinegar quickly but a byproduct is that the vinegars are clouded and lack luster (literally). To ‘fix’ this the vinegars are then filtered. The filtering removes flavor elements from vinegars that are already less than flavorful.

Our vinegars are never fine filtered and they are always raw.   This is one reason you will see floaters in some of our bottles even as the vinegar itself is brighter. We believe this whole vinegar provides greater flavor complexity and allows the vinegars to continue to evolve over time.

Vinegar benefits greatly from aging.

Over time the vinegars become less sharp and aggressive and a well-made vinegar will begin to exhibit new flavor layers. Aged vinegars are more costly to produce and can be a sign that a maker is more focused on quality over quantity.

All of our vinegars are aged after fermentation and most are aged in 25-gallon American oak barrels.