Results of chocolate and coconut vodkas

Two of our most long-awaited vodka infusion experiments are finally complete! Our coconut vodka took over a month to infuse; the chocolate took less than a week once started, but we spent at least as long as the coconut just deliberating over how we ought to do it. Nevertheless, both infusions were quite successful.

We debuted the chocolate vodka for its first tasting on Saturday night, at our Saint Patrick's Day party. The pieces of chocolate had not fully dissolved, but their appearance had changed little over the last couple of days; we believe that the vodka had reached a critical point of saturation, and that the chocolate was unlikely to dissolve entirely. The edges and vertices of the pieces had separated, and though the Lindt logos had dissolved away, a few pieces still had lines on them from the design imprinting.



As I lined up three sample shots, I licked some chocolate vodka from my fingers. Yummy!



The Mad Scienticians and visitor Matt tasted the vodka, and all approved, though the bitterness of the 85% cocoa hits pretty hard. It's tasty, but I believe it should be mixed with something sweet.



"Pretty decent," Wayland said. "It's got a strong chocolate taste, but it fades quickly, leaving vodka."

Since we were already slightly drunk from the green punch when we took this sample, we tasted it again on Tuesday. We happily confirmed the conclusions we reached on Saturday. We then bottled the vodka and I tasted a piece of the chocolate. It tasted much like it did before it soaked in vodka for a week; tasty, but slightly bitter and not very sweet. There was little absorption; only the slick taste of vodka on the surface.

Much like our caramel vodka, the chocolate vodka is a suspension, not a true infusion. Given time, a small layer of chocolate sediment settles to the bottom of the bottle, though the effect is not as extreme as with the caramel. The vodka will have to be shaken before each use.

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Tuesday night also saw the end of the coconut vodka infusion, which ran for a record-shattering 35 days. Last week, when we sampled it for the second time, we considered bottling it then; though the taste was still primarily vodka, the coconut had finally made a significant appearance. We ultimately decided to give it just a little longer, and now we're glad we did.



The vodka kick is still there, but it's diminished a great deal since last week. I had thought about adding a second spoonful of sugar after the last tasting, but it turns out we didn't need it; the first spoonful set the coconut in further with time.



Yes, Wayland, for the thirtieth freaking time, we see your shot glass. It's clever.

"The vodka's pretty smooth," Wayland said. "It's neutral when you drink it, but leaves the taste of coconut behind."

As one might expect, the coconut didn't add much color to the vodka, other than a slightly foggy appearance.

Coconut status (again), and a few remakes

Monday night, on the one month anniversary (!) of the coconut vodka experiment, we sampled the vodka yet again. We also completed three other infusions of previous flavors (apple, orange, and strawberry), to replenish our supply.



We were nearly ready to give up on the coconut infusion; when we first tasted it two weeks ago, there was hardly any coconut taste, and we did not expect it to be much better this time. We were pleasantly surprised.



"It smells more like coconut now," Wayland said. "It still has a strong vodka flavor, but it does taste like coconut."

I tasted it next, without fully preparing myself for how vodka-y it still is.



The vodka still kicks at full strength. The coconut vodka is still not as strong as I would like, but it's definitely stronger than it was two weeks ago. It seems that the sugar we added after the first sampling had a significant effect.

I am hoping that another week will make it more strongly flavored, though Wayland believes it has reached its limit. We're giving it until next week, just to be safe, but after that we're calling it done whether it's changed or not.

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The best thing about making a new flavor of vodka each week is that we always have a well-stocked bar. Though we don't drink it nearly as fast as we make it, we have gone through a good few bottles of vodka since launching in December. We've been restocking most of our infusions as we run out, but haven't mentioned this much in the blog (with the exception of the horrendous Strawberry Mark II). We've decided to start logging these remakes here, though none will get full write-ups unless we make major changes to the process.

Batch three of the strawberry vodka is a return to form. We created it the same way we made the highly successful first batch, except that we let this one run longer: nine days, instead of the original four. (This should not in any way indicate that we forgot about it. No sirree.) As a result, this batch is tarter and more pronounced in flavor than the first batch. We think it will be even better in drinks because of the stronger flavor.

The apple vodka, though we have not quite finished off the first batch, is one we have been wanting to repeat for quite some time. The first batch has been met with a mixed reception; Wayland enjoys it, as did The Ferrett and his entourage, though I have never liked it -- to me, it tastes like apples that have been sliced and then left out too long. I have long felt that the problem was flawed methodology; being one of our first infusions, we did it in a non-airtight jar, and without refrigeration. With these potential flaws corrected, we decided to make a second attempt. We also neglected to use sugar in this infusion, unlike the first.

Wayland said that this batch has a stronger vodka taste than the original. He believes that the lack of sugar made a difference for the negative. I decided that this batch is better than the first; it doesn't have the "off" taste, though it does have a slight bitterness that could have grown into that effect. I agree that sugar would have probably improved this infusion. That said, the bitterness will probably be diluted in a mixed drink, and I look forward to trying it.

Finally, we bottled and sampled our second batch of orange vodka. We altered our original procedure by zesting the orange with a cheese grater, as we learned to do during our lime vodka experiment. The zesting process doesn't seem to have had much of an effect on the flavor; it's very good, but basically the same as the first batch. Of course, we could only confirm this if some of the original batch was left to do a side-by-side taste test. We may arrange such a test in the future, to determine whether to continue zesting our citrus infusions or not.

Coconut vodka status update

A few days ago, we tasted the ongoing coconut vodka infusion for the first time. We entered this experiment blindly, not knowing how long it would take, but we suspected that it would be a while. We consider these suspicions confirmed.

As you can see, some of the coconut particulates give the vodka a swirling white appearance, but for the most part the vodka still looks like vodka.



Wayland tried the first sample and was underwhelmed.



"You get a hint of the coconut flavor," he said, "but overall a pretty bland experience right now."

I sampled the vodka next.



I have to concur with Wayland; you can almost taste the coconut, but at this point -- two weeks into the infusion -- it still tastes mostly like vodka. We added a spoonful of sugar, hoping it will help set the infusion, and will continue to sample it periodically.

Cuckoo for coconut vodka

The Mad Scienticians went down to the wire coming up with an infusion flavor this week, due to a very busy weekend. Ultimately, we wound up going to the store and looking for something on the fly; we came up with several ideas which we may use in the future, but for this week, we decided to roll with coconut. Two of our recent successful cocktails have involved coconut rum, and we want to see if we can produce a vodka equivalent; furthermore, it ought to compliment the pineapple vodka in progress, which is nearly complete.

We purchased an "easy-open" coconut, which proved to be a misnomer. It didn't help that our laboratory is uncharacteristically lacking in immediately accessible tools. We found two stray screwdrivers (the tool, not the drink) and used the handle of one as a hammer and the other as a chisel.

First, we poked one of the coconut's eyes out (nyuk nyuk) and drained out the milk. We were surprised that the coconut milk was clear; we expected it to be... milkier.





Once drained, we attempted to crack the coconut open. Years of research and millions of dollars have gone into modifying the coconut genome to grow an "easy-open" groove on the shell. Unfortunately, this groove only gives you a place to stick a tool with reduced slippage, and does not weaken the shell to any discernable degree. When working with substandard tools, as we were, the coconut will not budge.



Now I wish I had watched that Tom Hanks movie.



After five minutes of tapping, I realized that I had other tools in the trunk of my car, including a hammer. Once we started using the hammer to drive the screwdriver, we began making progress, albeit slowly.



Soon, Wayland had had enough of proper procedure. He chugged some VIT-RX and snapped the coconut open like a large, fibrous-shelled egg.



Qapla'! The coconut has been defeated, providing its meaty goodness as a condition of surrender.



Wayland picks out a small piece of coconut and tastes it.



Yikes! This isn't what coconut is supposed to taste like. It's not really bad, but it's certainly not the flavor that The Establishment has convinced us we would find within. After all the effort we've just expended, the coconut mocks us.

Perhaps the flavor is in the milk, then? I decide to find out.



Blech. Coconut milk is sour. We're starting to get an idea of why Hanks went crazy and started talking to sporting goods.

We forge ahead regardless, scooping out chunks of coconut meat for the infusion.



We'll give this a week or two, testing it periodically. If it does turn out sour, we'll try adding some sugar later on, and see if that helps. In the meantime, we're hoping that the coconut flavor we know and love will escape from the oddly-flavored fruit which imprisons it.