INDIGENOUS VODKA: A Storm of Apples, the Manzana Tempestad

PINKY MIXOLOGY’S APPLEJACK-OFF 2014:
Tuthilltown Spirits Indigenous Fresh-Pressed Apple Vodka

Remember when we mentioned that Indigenous Apple Vodka from Tuthilltown Spirits might go well with Sidral Mundet apple soda? Well we went and did that. We decided to mimic the style of the well-known tactic of (soda + lime) + booze = good.  We will be using Indigenous Vodka and Sidral Mundet (which is Mexican apple soda).  Sidral Mundet is imported, but it's not that hard to find in the U.S.  If your local stores don't have it, try your local Mexican take-out shops and taco places.  Chances are in the soda case there might be some.













Like many drinks, a small amount of lime juice is the make-it-or-break-it factor between good and terrible.  So don't forget this part, and it should go without saying that this needs to come from an actual lime and not a glass bottle of something.





How do we know this?  It's written on the actual Sidral Mundet label.  "Carbonated Water, Sugar, Contains less than 1% of: Apple Juice Concentrate, Artificial Flavors, Citric Acid and Malic Acid,  Sodium Hexametaphosphate and Potassium Sorbate (to protect taste), and Caramel Color."   So this isn't Martinelli's by any means.   So on the scale of "bad-for-you-ness" just think of it as the same level as a rum & coke poured from the soda gun of some local bar or something.  Actually, using Martinelli's might be pretty cool, so go buy some Indigenous Vodka and Martinelli's and try it out.








Yeah... same photo. 

A good ratio to maintain no matter what size glass you use, is to fill half with a combination of ice, vodka, and lime juice, and then the other half with apple soda. The earlier strong pungency of Indigenous Vodka we mentioned simply melts away leaving a great nose and flashy peacock tail of all that the tastes of apples have to offer.  When combined with the citrus of the lime, it cuts the sweetness of the apple soda to a nice medium, and makes this a great drink for easy drinking or just refreshing yourself on a hot day.  Screw the gin and tonic, go with the Dark n Stormy inspired name of Manzana Tempestad. Maybe just Manzana Tempest or just El Manzana ...?  This does have vodka in it, so maybe we can branch off from Moscow Mule.  Something like  Mexican Mule, (nah, that would be Tequila with lime and Ginger Beer) or Manzana Mule...? (ooo that's nice).   Someone come up with a name for this!


Again, we'd like to thank Tuthilltown Spirits (we can now spell that right without checking... sweet) for providing this bottle of Indigenous Vodka for our use in our Applejack-off 2014, and you can see more later this year when we use it (and others) in an upcoming episode. 

APPLEJACK-OFF 2014: An Apple by Any Other Name

While Applejack is unique and somewhat rare, there exist many an apple inspired libation worthy of consumption. No not the green jolly-rancher concoctions that end in the suffix “-tini” but actual distilled spirits made from apples.

Here we have Half Moon Orchard Gin, and Indigenous Vodka from Tuthilltown Spirits. Not exactly an easy name... Tu-thill-town ...right? (Watch the video on youtube).  Anyway, it’s right here in the great state of New York, and we are a big fan of their Baby Bourbon, their Rye Whiskey, and their un-aged Corn-Water (we call it corn-water anyway). Unlike other un-aged white whiskeys, the one from Tuthilltown ...toothlytown, toon-town... whatever, the one from these guys is un-comparable. It is actually smooth.  No we’re serious, check it out.

But that’s not why we’re here. We’re here because of apples.   ...So what can they do with apples that's not Applejack?  Let's find out:

















To be honest, we didn't know what to expect, but the yin-yang of the vodka we just think is a bit off.   It brought good stuff to the table, but for ever 1 part of good it brought 1 part of kinda "meh" to it as well.  This was tested under extremely  harsh conditions though.  Neat at room temp, and then in a dry martini.  These are very unforgiving tasting environments for any clear spirit, and they deliberately leave a wide open door for any qualities (good or bad) to be exposed.  I'm sure they've already tried every number of distillations and ratios of apples to other sugars in the fermentation, but in our honest opinion, it just seems a bit off.  But that's doesn't mean it's bad.  There are some combinations that we see working well, like a fizz made with Sidral Mundet. 

*Additional:  We actually did make a Sidral Mundet fizz and it turned out great.  See it here.  ...We're still working on a name for it.









We were totally expecting weirdness from an apple-distilled Gin.  Would you mix Gin with apple anything?  No probably not, so why would this be good?   Because it FUCKING IS.  Any harshness that the Vodka carried is nicely muted by the infusion of the herbal ingredients used in Half Moon Orchard Gin.  This is a very good Gin because it strays from the path but it doesn't suck as a gin itself.  We could easily see this in any gin cocktail, except maybe the Yankee Rose (the rose-water is fragile and this might apple it out of the way).  Is that making sense, we're not sure...  We only had the one drink since we're dead-set on saving this for its own episode, yeah that's how good this stuff is.   It was a very nice surprise and like we said, not in a bad way.  






Next up is another Applejack Label.

Manhattan

The Manhattan. Nothing says roaring 20's like this rye whiskey based glass full of awesome. Invented over a century ago in the 18whoknowswhatsit's, it splendor in a glass. Despite its injection into the douche-bag universe of wanna-be Mad Men idiot hipsters, and being the last vestige of a few old racist grandparents out there who still listen to The Rat Pack on am radio, this is still a drink that should be ok to be seen in public with. But on the occasion that you wish to have 1 (or 7) at home, and hopefully share them with friends, here is how to make sure you pull it off correctly.



Time for grown up drinking boys and girls.





Recommended Rye Whiskeys include Manhattan Rye from Tuthilltown Spirits (pictured above), also (ri)1 rye which has been taken over by Jim Beam, and if you're on a budget there's the slightly less expensive Bulleit and the even cheaper Wild Turkey which is probably the most widely available.



What you see is 2 shot glasses full with a little bit of overflow. Normally you'd keep the glass chilled, but to avoid condensation which would block the view here, so we're gonna not do that. Remember kids; Don't do what Donny Don't does.



Now it goes without saying that a cheap vermouth like Cinzano, or Martini & Rossi is more or less gonna ruin this. Dolin is the standard go-to for a good Manhattan. Although Punt e Mes is not really a "true" rosso Vermouth and thus the end result is not a "true" Manhattan, it's actually our preferred additive here at Pinky Mixology when making these (it's even awesome by itself). So don't get that wrong, according to our personal tastes, we love nothing better than Punt e Mes, but we are making a true Manhattan here, so we'll be using a true vermouth.  We're not gonna say which one because we don't want to get anyone in trouble.



The problem is that good Vermouth costs a bit more and usually doesn't come in a small bottle.  We understand that not everyone out there is going to be prepared to have so much vermouth around.  So you can be stuck with a high quality bottle of Vermouth which you've opened and now the rest of it is fast on its way to getting old and going bad (yes it is very possible for Vermouth to go bad, but you can use this opportunity to turn yourself into a Vermouth fan). The cheap crap comes in small bottles... but it's cheap crap more suited for cooking shrimp than drinking. So if you know a bar-tender at a place that has a high turnover of the good stuff, then maybe they'll pour some off for you to-go. (Or you can get some out by ordering a glass of it and sneaking it out in a sports bottle or something).





You NEVER shake a Manhattan. If you are someplace and they do this, then just get up and leave immediately. You never shake any drink with clear ingredients and this goes for martinis too (though you can slosh them a bit harder than a Manhattan). There's a reason that 007 had to stipulate "shaken, not stirred" in the movies, and that's because no one in their right mind who knew what they were doing would ever ask for that (it was a way for a spy to identify himself to his handler w/o telling the whole room who he was).



Seriously, I don't know why they put these cherries in there. I never eat them, but they instantly identify what you're drinking.



That's not photoshop, that's actually the color of how it looks.  Cool right?

Seriously, the only thing that's gonna happen if you fill a cocktail glass to the very top is that some of the drink will spill, stemmed glass or not, just leave a little room. You can go make another if you're that desperate for more booze.

The Manhattan.

Next time:
Yo mama.