Results of the Big Experiment (finally!)

Sorry about the delay in posting these results; we know many of you have been waiting with bated breath! It's been a very long week for the Mad Scienticians, for a number of reasons. Not the least of these reasons is our preparations for Shore Leave. That's right, the Scienticians are making the trek up to Baltimore this weekend to geek out, so if you're in the area, come look for us! We'll be bringing several of our infusions to share with friends, fans and complete strangers.

To review, the Big Experiment with which we celebrated six months of Infusions of Grandeur involved four separate apple vodka infusions, each using a slightly different methodology. All four infusions were run for two weeks. Below, you can see the finished infusions, labeled with the corresponding methodology.



A. Apple replaced every three days, with a spoonful of sugar at the beginning.
B. Apple replaced every three days, without sugar.
C. Same apple for two weeks, with a spoonful of sugar.
D. Same apple for two weeks, without sugar.

Take note that method C is the same method we used in our original experiment, six months prior.

To ensure a true double-blind test, we discarded the apple wedges from each infusion, and stored the meanings of the letter labels elsewhere. We then gave the infusions to our laboratory assistant Amy, who could not identify the infusions. She served us samples in random order, taking note of the order for later identification.



Our reviews are listed here in the order we sampled them, not in the order they appear above.

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Infusion One: Same apple for two weeks, without sugar. (Jar D)

Wayland described this vodka as "alright. I don't think this is as good as the original. It has two stages: apple followed by vodka. The back end is very vodka-tasting, while the front end is sweet and appley."

My reaction: "This shot is mildly harsh, but it's not prohibitive. It has a sweetness that supports the flavor, which is strong on the front end. The flavor doesn't scream apple, but it's appley enough."

Notice that both of us described a sweetness to this vodka, though no sugar was added. Interesting!

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Infusion Two: Apple replaced every three days, with a spoonful of sugar at the beginning. (Jar A)

After tasting this infusion, I wrote that "the flavor is brief, with no vodka taste. It tastes very much of apples, with a strong sweetness, but it also has a slightly sour/bitter component that makes this vodka slightly unpleasant. It's not the gut reaction I got from our debut batch, but I wouldn't drink this recreationally."

Wayland's thoughts were much more favorable. "I like that a lot. It's apples. If I didn't know this was vodka, I would think I was drinking apple juice. This could actually be pretty dangerous. I can see drinking this straight from the bottle until your body realized you had drank entirely too much."

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Infusion Three: Apple replaced every three days, without sugar. (Jar B)

The results of this infusion, compared with the previous one, show pretty thoroughly how sugar can affect an infusion.

Wayland described this one as "very smooth, like the last one, with no vodka burn. It did have a hint of sourness to it that the last one didn't have. Analyzing it, I think I liked the previous one better, although this one might have a more 'authentic' apple flavor to it. I think that brief snippet of sourness detracts from the drink as a whole."

I wrote that "this one tastes much like the previous vodka, but less so. Less sweet, less appley, but also less sour and bitter. Unfortunately, the former flavors have been reduced enough that the latter are still dominant. Thoroughly underwhelming."

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Infusion Four: Same apple for two weeks, with a spoonful of sugar. (Jar C)

Again, this infusion uses the same methodology as our debut batch of apple vodka.

I still didn't like it. "Oof. This sucks. I'm pretty sure this is the original version. It has little apple flavor, and is quite sour. It has a vodka burn, but no vodka taste."

I challenge anyone who says that the phrase "Oof, this sucks" has no place in a respectable scientific article to taste this vodka under controlled circumstances and say it again.

After trying the alternatives, Wayland seemed to finally be swayed to my point of view on this vodka. "Wow! This has the tartness of the last vodka plus the burn of the first. By far the worst of the batch. It's like you took a drop of apple juice and a splash of sour mix, and added them to several ounces of vodka. Definitely not the method to use."

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With the results in, we rated the vodkae as follows, with 1 being our favorite:

	Brendan:	Wayland:
A. Replace apples, with sugar:	2	1
B. Replace apples, no sugar:	3	2
C. Same apples, with sugar:	4	4
D. Same apples, no sugar:	1	3

This resulted in a heated debate between the two Mad Scienticians about which would be hailed as the winning method. We argued not only about which one was best, but about the fundamental tastes of the vodkae. Eventually, I was convinced to do a repeat test of methods A and D, mainly because I found it hard to believe that my favorite of the four had included the same apples for two weeks.

I poured myself a small sample of batches A and D. There was no scientific control involved in this retest; I knew exactly what I was drinking. Upon tasting these vodkae for the second time, I decided that my initial reviews of each had somehow been flawed. In fact, I was amused by the realization that if I reviewed them again, I would have given the same reviews in the reverse order. (No, I did not switch the shots; I was quite careful about that, and only slightly buzzed.)



The revised rating table is as follows:

	Brendan:	Wayland:
A. Replace apples, with sugar:	1	1
B. Replace apples, no sugar:	3	2
C. Same apples, with sugar:	4	4
D. Same apples, no sugar:	2	3

The winning methodology is to replace the apples every three days throughout the infusion, and to add a spoonful of sugar at the beginning.

The Big Experiment: a four-way apple evaluation

When we realized that the six-month anniversary of Infusions of Grandeur was approaching, we thought long and hard about how to commemorate it. We came up with a few off-the-wall infusions, but decided that the best way to celebrate the occasion was to finally solve the greatest mystery of the project's history: how to really get apple-infused vodka right. And it is appropriate that we do so, because apple vodka was one of our very first experiments.



We have created two batches of apple vodka previously, with mixed results. The original experiment, featured in our debut entry, involved a wedged apple and a spoonful of sugar in a non-refrigerated jar. Wayland enjoyed this batch, as did The Ferrett and his fellow tasters, but I was dissatisfied with it; I felt it tasted like apples that had been left in the open air for too long. So, we eventually created a second batch, tweaking our methodology. We suspected that leaving it at room temperature was a factor, so we infused the second batch in the refrigerator, but we did not use sugar this time. I liked the second batch better, though it was still not all I hoped it would be, and Wayland preferred the first batch.

A while back, we received a comment from one of our readers, suggesting that we replace the apples periodically during the infusion. This should keep the apples at their freshest for as long as is needed for the infusion (both previous batches infused for two weeks). We have decided to put this method to the test. But to merely try a new method is not enough for this experiment; no, this time we are cross-testing four different methods, which will culminate in a scientific double-blind taste test.



To prepare for this experiment, we pre-filtered four bottles of Mad Scientician™ baseline vodka, washed four Granny Smith apples and prepared four science jars. Each batch will be infused using a different methodology, as follows:

• Same apple for two weeks, with a spoonful of sugar.
  
• Same apple for two weeks, without sugar.
  
• Apple replaced every three days, with a spoonful of sugar each time.
  
• Apple replaced every three days, without sugar.

All four will be refrigerated during the infusion. There are other possibilities we could have included, such as peeling the apple wedges, but we decided that this experiment has enough variables as it is.



The experiment began as I cut each apple into eighths, slicing away the core section of each wedge and discarding it.



Once each apple was sliced and loaded into the science jars, we added the vodka. It seems that these apples are slightly larger than the ones we have used previously (perhaps due to the season), because each bottle of vodka had just a little bit left over after topping off the jars (and spilling some onto the counter in the process).



Wayland added a spoonful of sugar to two of the jars, taking care to remember which was which.



Once the infusions were underway, we labeled each jar with a simple letter, storing the descriptions separately. This will allow for the double-blind test at the conclusion of the experiment.



Then all four jars were stored in the refrigerator. We will run this experiment for two weeks, just like the previous apple infusions. If scheduling conflicts do not prevent it (and that's a big "if"), we hope to present our results on the Fourth of July.