Sunday, November 4, 2007

Improvising a Drink: The Process

I stared across the array of vodkae before me. It had been far too long since I played with an original drink, so I carefully perused the large variety of options. Finally, I looked at ginger and almond. We had made very few drinks with those two, so I challenged myself. What could I do with these?

My brain wrapped around the possibilities. I had a wide variety of ways I could play with these two. Finally, I settled on adding apple to the mix, but still, I thought it needed something.

And then I had a moment of "that might work."

I poured one shot apple, one shot ginger and one shot almond over ice into a rocks glass, then topped it off with sour mix. A quick pour into the shaker and then back into the glass... and it was time for the moment of truth.

Hmmm. This tasted like sour mix, with a hint of apple around the edges. Despite my hopes, this drink just wasn't right.

I pondered some more, once again letting my eyes glance over the options. There just didn't seem to be a proper mixer to go with these three. So I decided I'd make a "martini," with one part of each. As I poured each of the liquors into the shaker, my mind had another thought, "Let's add some spice to this."

To my dismay, our experiments cabinet was devoid of both jalapeƱo and habanero vodkae. The only item that I could come up with that would give it a bit of spice was cinnamon. So I added one part cinnamon as well.

That was a mistake. The cinnamon overwhelmed the "martini." I could find a hint of apple and some ginger around the edges, but the flavor was overwhelmingly cinnamon. Again, it just wasn't right.

Finally, I went back to my original thought, one part apple, one part almond and one part ginger, shaken and poured into a cold martini glass. This was an interesting drink. At first sip, the flavor of the drink is fairly neutral. Soon, the ginger becomes the dominant flavor in this one. You taste a slight hint of the apple, but the almond is almost non-existent. It's not bad. I don't think I could drink it on a regular basis or even more than one in an evening, but of my three attempts, this was the one I actually finished.

This post started as an attempt to document a process of coming up with a cocktail based on two vodkae to begin with, sort of an "Iron Bartender" type of challenge to myself, if you will. And then inspiration flashed, rather than me attempting to come up with a drink from ingredients of my own choosing, I thought it might be fun to have the audience of the blog come and play along. So, my friends, I will give you a list of ingredients. Anyone who wants to pick two can do so and tell me which two in the comments. After a reasonable period of time, I will tally up the voting and the two vodkae with the most votes will be the next subjects of my "drink challenge." The choices I give you tonight are:

  • Orange
  • Watermelon
  • Apple
  • Black Tea/Lemon
  • Cinnamon
  • Pop Rocks

8 comments:

Will "scifantasy" Frank said...

You've done cinnamon and apple already, so that's out.

I'd like to know if something sane can be constructed from cinnamon and orange, though.

Unknown said...

I would say Black Tea/Lemon as a definte first choice. The other is split between orange and watermelon. Hum...

Orange. Or, if you are mixing them together, cinnamon and Black Tea.

Good Luck and Happy Drinking!

Anonymous said...

Watermelon & Pop Rocks!


For myself, I'd mix the Black Tea & Orange, and add just a splash of Cinnamon, because my favorite tea is Orange Spice.

Scott said...

Black Tea/Lemon and Orange all the way.

Unknown said...

Heh. Black tea and anything citrus isn't much of a challenge. Id say... Watermelon and Cinnamon ;)

Heather said...

I wonder if you could duplicate cinnamon hearts if you mixed Pop Rocks and Cinnamon... You need that sweet, candy finish and that hard, spicy cinnamon bite. Could work...

Lucas said...

Watermelon.
Pop Rocks.

Go to it.

Janet Mayfire said...

Orange and black tea should be a winner, I think.