When Citrus Attacks: Lime vodka infusion results

After five days of infusion, the lime vodka experiment was ready to be tested. We debuted the vodka at a party at our laboratory on Saturday night. Our loyal comrades Matt and Jason, who some readers may remember from our New Year's Eve party, agreed to forgive that experience and assist us once again. We took care to perform the test early in the evening this time, to minimize (but not eliminate) intoxication bias.

First, Wayland and I carefully strained four shots' worth of vodka through a coffee filter. Though we sometimes skip this step in the initial test, it was absolutely essential in this case, due to the loose lime zest present in the vodka.





The four shots strained, poured and distributed, we made a brief toast to fallen comrades.



With that, we tipped the shots back and drank them.



The initial taste is very sour, hence Wayland's reaction. "It captured the flavor well, he said. "But the sourness was overwhelming."

Once the sourness abated, I found the taste to be quite nice. There's hardly any vodka taste at all; it's much like taking a bite out of an actual lime. The sourness makes it inadvisable as a straight shot, unless you really like sour things, but I think it will make an excellent mixer.

"Very, very limey," Jason described it. "It needs to be added to something sweet to cut the sour."

We did not make a cocktail using the lime-infused vodka that night, but we will experiment with it during the week and post an example later. Also, we will begin our next experiment tonight, and post its introduction tomorrow.

This week's experiment: Lime infused vodka

Today, we are introducing our latest experiment, lime vodka. Tomorrow, we will post the results of our mint-infused vodka experiment, and the first sampling of the coconut vodka.

First, however, we must report an unfortunate occurrence involving Wayland's lab coat. During an attempt to create a squid-infused vodka, Wayland was wrestling with a live squid in order to subdue it. Unfortunately, despite the superhuman strength he attained by questionably legal means during our coconut experiment, Wayland lost the struggle, due to the squid's defensive use of ink spray. As a result, Wayland's coat became permanently stained with squid ink.



After this embarrassing incident, we decided to base our next experiment on something that could not fight back -- or so we thought.

On the suggestion of several of our readers after our orange vodka infusion, we invested in a basic citrus zester. This was our first attempt at using the zester. Alas, it did not go well. There's a saying in the military, "You have to be at least 10% smarter than the piece of equipment you're working with." It seems that, despite my scientifical background, I didn't meet this qualification.



The zester simply slipped right off of the lime, leaving shallow grooves but not separating any usable zest. In the process, I nearly zested my index finger instead. Yowie!

It was at this point that Wayland had a brainstorm. We already have a piece of lab equipment that is much more effective than this dinky zester. He reached into the cupboard and pulled out the cheese grater.



This led to a much easier, faster and less painful zesting process. We zested two limes, each yielding a reasonable amount of zest.



We then sliced the remainder of the fruits, separating the pith and keeping the "meat" of the limes.



You can tell a lot about both of us by the way we went about this process. I carefully cut around the meat, attempting to cut away all of the pith without losing any pulp. The process was not entirely successful, and frankly, a pain in the ass.



Wayland, on the other hand, cut off the edges of each slice in four strokes, leaving a square slice and sacrificing some of the fruit, but finishing much more quickly and easily.



Finally, we discarded the pith, and tossed the zest, fruit, and filtered vodka into a jar. The loose zest provides a nifty snowglobe effect, simulating the green snow that will fall during the coming nuclear winter.



SHAKE, SNOWGLOBE! SNOW FOR MY ENTERTAINMENT!



We plan on letting the lime infuse for 4-5 days, about the same amount of time as the orange vodka.