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Large scale industrial production of spirits is pretty much like that - manufacture the alcohol and then add different flavourings and colours to produce a variety of drinks.

Edit: Obviously there are dedicated manufacturers producing whisky, gin etc. - but they are at a smaller scale.

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In Romania there is a whole host of cheap liquors where the label will say in tiny print “alcoholic beverage with X flavouring”. For example, the label might show a pirate, leading consumers to think it is rum, but there in tiny print “alcoholic beverage with rum flavouring”. I always imagine a man in a white coat with an eyedropper adding a drop of flavouring essence to what is otherwise industrial ethanol and water. But EU labeling laws for many beverages are strict, so if it doesn’t use the weasel wording, you can trust that you are getting the real deal.

I've had stuff like that at cheap all-inclusive resorts in Egypt or maybe Spain before - really nasty hangovers!

Lidl sells lots of liquors like that. Usually water, alcohol, syrup, and some kind of flavouring.

It's disgusting to me because I have always seen alcoholic drinks as something holy - just adding ethanol to water sounds like something deserving of the wrath of the gods.

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