Many rice wine vinegars have sugar added. If yours did, that could produce the burnt smell. I'd start all over with the cleaning process using distilled vinegar and water, then following with plain water a couple of times.

Only use distilled white vinegar and distilled water! Never use rubbing alcohol inside electrical appliances, it's fine for the exterior to remove fingerprints and grease.

Every grocery store sells distilled water for $1 a gallon, you can also use it to clean windows and for your cars fluids( battery, window washer and coolant).

Good thing you asked! It would be a disaster to use rubbing alcohol and could be very dangerous. I think fogbound is probably right. Rice wine vinegar has sugar, which carmelizes when heated, which makes it brown and when overheated can cause the burnt smell. I would start over again using distilled vinegar and water and in the future, always use distilled, or at least filtered, water to avoid the build up of deposits. I've used my iron for more than 10 years and have never had to clean it and I've always used distilled water. A gallon is cheap and lasts forever! Good luck with the cleaning process.