Results of cantaloupe vodka; first tasting of almond

Yesterday, we conducted tests of our cantaloupe and almond vodka experiments. I also debuted my newest shotglass, from North Carolina State University, to celebrate my impending graduation!

The cantaloupe vodka has been infusing for about three weeks at this point. I tried it first:



And it was so smooth, it put me right to sleep! Or I may just be exhausted from exams, though my personal hypothesis is that I simply blinked at the wrong moment. The point, however, is that this vodka is pretty tasty. It's got a slight, late vodka burn, but otherwise a nice, slightly sweet cantaloupe taste.



Wayland's reaction was much the same. "It's got a vodka taste on the back end, but otherwise very smooth. The cantaloupe taste is strong on the front end."

We're calling this one a success. Next comes the hard part, figuring out what kind of drink to put it in; but that will have to wait until another post.

We also tested the ongoing almond experiment, simply as a benchmark; after a mere week, we had no expectation that it would be ready. Since the vodka contained a swirling abundance of almond dust, we filtered the sample through a paper towel, then chilled it in a shaker before drinking.



It was Wayland's turn to take the first shot, and as expected, it left much to be desired.



"There's only a touch of almond in there," Wayland said, "but not much vodka taste either. It definitely needs more time."



I could barely even taste the touch of almond Wayland noted, but it was in there, hiding just out of reach. I was surprised at how smooth the vodka had become, despite the lack of taste.

We learned from this tasting that the infusion will likely take much longer at this rate. This, combined with the suggestions from our readers that crushed almonds would have been a better option than whole, inspired us to give the experiment a little push along the way. I reached into the jar using a detached beater from an electric mixer, and crushed the almonds as much as my limited leverage would allow.

Hopefully, this will speed up the process a bit, though it will still take time. We'll try it again in another week and see where it is.

Testing the cantaloupe and grape vodkas

Ack! Last Tuesday, we promised we would subject the grape vodka experiment to its final test that night. Well, we dropped the ball, and didn't get around to it until this weekend. Today we have preliminary results for our cantaloupe vodka, as well as the grape vodka's final disposition.

The cantaloupe vodka hasn't visibly changed much. The fruit appears to have puffed up slightly, but not nearly to the extent found in our pineapple vodka experiment. The vodka itself is slightly cloudy but uncolored.



After pouring the shots, I made sure to clear them of bad juju. (And solid bits of cantaloupe.)



Since we had a photographer at our disposal, the Mad Scienticians sampled the vodka together:



The verdict: as we suspected, this infusion is going take longer than a week. It's further along than either of us expected, and has the potential to be quite tasty, but it needs more time.

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The grape, on the other hand, has exhausted our patience. After the previous test, we decided that the next sampling would be the last, determining whether the grape vodka was destined for the bottle or for the drain. When it came time for this test, the appearance of the browning grapes themselves did not inspire a great deal of hope.



True to our word, however, we poured two shots and tasted them.



"Neutral all the way back," Wayland commented. As before, the vodka has only a hint of grape taste. It's not bad, but there's really nothing to this vodka.

We decided to keep it, but only as a backup to our unflavored baseline vodka (which we rarely use anymore). As such, we won't be posting any grape vodka cocktails. However, we may reevaluate our methodology and try a different grape experiment in the future.

This week's vodka infusion: cantaloupe

The Mad Scienticians are experimenting with cantaloupe-infused vodka this week. Though I am unsure of what this vodka will go well with, I am excited about this experiment; cantaloupe is my favorite fruit of all time.



To create this infusion, we cut half a cantaloupe into wedges, each wedge comprising one-eighth of the fruit. Then we gutted the seeds from each wedge, sliced the wedges into chunks, and cut the rind off each chunk.



We only used three of these wedges; I ate the fourth, and am saving the other half for Saturday's breakfast. Yum.



We suspect that this will require a long infusion, but we will test it in a week and see how far it gets.

Tonight, we will be subjecting our grape vodka to its final test, for better or for worse. Stay tuned for the results!