Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow may be tax time or something. And that would suck, you know?
Last night, some folks got together to drink and play pool. Some took in dinner and a movie. Other people went to a ballgame, or had a clambake, or fought a couple guys before passing out, or dealt out a few hands of Texas Hold 'Em.
Last night my buddy Brendan came over and we all made flavored vodka. We decided to go the low road, utilizing a theory first promulgated by the website Oh My God It Burns! which posits that a home water filtration unit (such as a Brita filter pitcher) can remove the impurities from cut-rate vodka and render it the near-equal of top-shelf brands.
What we found was that filtering a bottle of cheap (plastic-bottle store-brand distilled with pride in Somerville, Massachusetts) grain vodka five times does in fact remove nearly all the nasty smell, aftertaste, and burn, making it almost but not quite as delicious as the magically smooth Luksosowa brand potato vodka we used as a control. Although a faint hint of the gluey flavor of cheap vodka remains, the newly enspiffened and filtered liquor is nevertheless the full equal of Skyy, Stoli, or Ketel One, and will work very nicely once infused. Brendan had already made some raspberry and lemon vodkas, both of which were delicious in lemonade.
We ended up making four different vodkas: pepper, orange, ginger, and cranberry. Think about it! Instant seabreezes with just soda water! Orange vodka in cream soda! Ginger vodka in ginger ale! And the by-now hackneyed spicy martini!
We expect the pepper and cranberry vodkas to be ready within a few days based on past experience. The orange zest can sit in the vodka for months, though we anticipate maximum flavor extraction to be achieved in a month or so, possibly sooner. The ginger vodka is a total toss-up, (just a little ginger flavor so far) and I expect I will end up adding another quarter cup or so of grated fresh ginger to the 500ml of vodka and quarter cup of sliced ginger already in the jar. For the pepper vodka we chose one lone poblano pepper. Both Brendan and I have tried making pepper vodka in the past, and have learned caution accordingly.
My first attempt at pepper vodka used 750ml of Luksosowa and three fresh cayenne peppers fresh from Chainsaw Mick's garden. Within three days the vodka had turned green and was spicy enough to kill a lesser man. I enjoyed every drop of that vodka in a succession of my own patented "filthy" martinis, the recipe for which follows, until I got to the dregs. It seems that capsaicin, the active heat ingredient in chili peppers, is both alcohol soluble and heavier than vodka. The last martini from that bottle nearly killed me, but through generous applications of ancillary oral analgesics (shots of Jim Beam) I managed to get through it. Brendan's prior experiences were similar, so for this new iteration we chose to employ the mild and flavorful poblano chile. If after 48 hours the vodka has not taken on any heat, I can always drop in a leftover cayenne for a little while to kick it up, but I expect I won't have to.
We also chose to try to make our vodkas extremely concentrated, so that when the infusions are ready we can dilute them down with freshly filtered cheapo liquor to a usable strength. We have future plans for combo infusions, say, ginger and lemongrass or orange and vanilla. I am hoping to try out more savory flavors as well like cinammon, clove, and cardamon. If anybody has any hott drink ideas, please send them along. Perhaps I could substitute dark rum for the vodka in the last instance and make insta-mulled cider when winter comes. Nummy-num-num-num.
So that was my Saturday night. Any of my friends living nearby can expect fancy-pants liquor for Festivus this year.
Filthy Martini
2 oz. ice-cold pepper vodka
dash chilled dry vermouth
2 tsp chilled green olive juice
1 Tbsp chilled kosher pickle juice (use fermented pickle juice with live cultures, not just vinegar pickles)
2 green olives
In a shaker, pour vermouth over ice and drain, leaving behind only a residue. Add vodka and olive and pickle juice, and shake or stir as desired. Strain into martini glass and garnish with olives.
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My sister was in poland last
My sister was in poland last year, and brought back a couple little flask bottles of the most awesome flavored vodka. The name translated as "buffalo vodka", and it was flavored with a piece of sweet grass. (Supposedly the kind of grass that the european buffalo like to eat.) Grass flavored vodka may sound strange, but it was actually delicious. Making your own flavored vodka sounds like a really great idea, especially when you're starting with inexpensive stuff and filtering.
I don't like that you're promoting the dirty / filthy martini concept. I personally feel it's a sin against good alcohol. Flavored, ok, but olive and pickle juice is just ... filthy.
I remember one time I was having dinner with some family at a nice restaraunt. My uncle ordered a dry martini, but the waiter somehow heard "dry" as "dirty". He nearly spit when he drank it.
Paul,
Paul,
You may have experienced Zubrovka, which my wife and in-laws shorten to "bison" ("BEE-zohn") to more simply reflect the friendly ungulate on the bottle. My father in-law brought many bottles for the wedding.
Zoiks.
What's funny is that people combine their general nationalism with specific products, like vodka. Ask a Pole, and he'll tell you Russians make piss vodka. Russians tell you the same thing about Poles or other western Slavs. The Nordics are uppity about their brews, too.
In my house we give big ups to Grey Goose, but buy Chopin or Wyborowa . If my wife were Canadian, it might have been different.
I too have had the Zubrovka.
I too have had the Zubrovka. I actually didn't enjoy it so much, but when I had it it was rather warm, and I suspect that it had it been ice cold I would have found it delicious.
Paul, I smell what you're cooking regarding the gilding of the lovely vodka lily, but I can only agree to a point. I generally don't go in for the super-girly chocolate martinis, chimichanga martinis, or what have you. But I'm a really big pickle guy and a really big martini guy, and I find that throwing some living bacteria into my martini helps me get through the night a little better.
Don't get me wrong... my usual martini is a classic 1:5 ratio with a twist, but sometimes a departure from that orthodoxy is a lovely thing.
J,
J,
I'm not a vodka dude so much, and I detest pickles and every medium in which they can appear. So I have little to say in this thread.
I'll just add that if you have vodka ice cold, you risk offending certain vodka purists. By and large, the idea of frigid liquor is not only peculiar to them, but superfluous. Tits on a bull.
I hasten to add that I'm no purist. My vodka's in my freezer. And my bulls have tits.
My vodka parameters: I
My vodka parameters: I currently prefer Belvedere, which seems to strike the right balance. Don't overshake, which results in ice chips that ruin everything (or you can make sure you're filtering them out). Don't refrigerate either -- that thickens the vodka somewhat and just doesn't seem to work as well as shaking carefully with ice. Shaking aerates the vodka somewhat, "lightening" it.
For flavorings I generally use fresh-squeezed juices, and not too much of them. I don't like dirty, but I'll toss an olive in vodka solo.
I've tried the pickle/vodka combination, and I think it pretty much tastes like ass. ;)
Johno's filtering trick is something I've just gotta try. Never thought of that!
Luksosowa : good stuff. Beats
Luksosowa : good stuff. Beats paying an arm and a leg for what evil product marketers called "premium" vodka. Usually I can't taste the difference after the first glass.
Speaking of the first glass. Frozen, straight in shots. As my dad would say, "Best way."
Though, I'm still fancy to Luga Nova White Queen from the Ukraine. I had it at the Russia House in DC and I found it at a place downtown near the MCI Center.
I am even further out of it
I am even further out of it than I suspected...I still make martinis with gin. Rather have a gin & tonic, though, anyway. ;-)
As mapgirl says, vodka is for shooting.
Ken, you are a poor misguided
Ken, you are a poor misguided soul. Gin tastes like lighter fluid and no amount of 7-Up, Sprite or lime wedges will make that liquor palatable. I've tried Tanq 10, Bombay, etc. All of it sucks. I'd rather drink bleach.
I've been told that Malacca Gin is a whole 'nother story though. Your thoughts?
Actually, mapgirl, Tanqueray
Actually, mapgirl, Tanqueray 1839 Malacca is the best I've found. Is there another Malacca? If so, I need to try it.
I prefer budweiser, me.
I prefer budweiser, me.
Thank you, Gully Foyle. ;-)
Thank you, Gully Foyle. ;-)
B, I used to have respect for
B, I used to have respect for you.
*shakes head*
Ken, you are my new hero.
Ken, you are my new hero.
J, one reason I prefer budweiser is the damage I can inflict on my unsuspecting vic... I mean friends. Budweiser is a sneaky drink. It, and its cheaper cousins can do a lot in a very short time. As you know.
The last drink I had was a budweiser. On a hot day, the goodness of a ice cold Bud cannot be underestimated.
But given the choice between a Bud and a snifter of Louis XIV or a glass of a 24 year scotch, I'll not be choosing the Bud.