important question...

[thanate]

So... can anyone give me a light to dark color continuum of the following drinks, preferably with notations of which are likely to be redder or yellower? I have 9 different drinks to color in, and only 6 brown colored pencils. (they can of course be mixed and matched, but I don't have sufficient alcohol color spectra in my head to do this properly.)

bourbon
gin
italian (sweet) vermouth
french (dry) vermouth
scotch
rum
brandy
jamaica rum
demerara rum

Comments

[lagged-variable.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that you can (generally) differentiate between dry and sweet vermouth by color. There are also (and I'm not sure how this correlates to country-of-origin) red and white vermouths, with white being the more popular, by far. I'm assuming that by "jamaica" you mean "spiced"? I've never heard of "demerara" rum before, so a google search is my guide there. Finally, color has as much to do with brand and aging as it does with liquor per se, so any strict ranking will be suspect at best. With all those caveats in mind, I would assert, from lightest to darkest:

gin (always transparent)
vermouth (which is still pretty much entirely transparent)
french?
italian? (this might be yellower)
rum (this can actually be as clear as gin or darker than the typical spiced variety, however, depending on type)
scotch
bourbon (generally redder than scotch, I believe, but not necessarily by much since both are just regional varieties of whiskey)
demerara rum
jamaica rum
brandy (obviously depends on what type of brandy. I've heard the analogy "whiskey is to beer as brandy is to wine". Reddish and purplish varieties are common)

[thanate.livejournal.com]

fabulous. thanks. :)

[astormorray.livejournal.com]

gin is a pale yellow, rum is a deep gold (at least the kind we buy), and brandy is a darker brown, I think?

I'm not helpful, really.