I haven’t spent much time covering vodka cocktails as yet. Some of my fellow cocktail enthusiasts are vehemently opposed to vodka and while I can’t say I fall in to that category, I will say I don’t find myself reaching for it particularly often. Which is particularly odd when you consider that I have a lot of vodka in my collection. Fifteen bottles at my last count.
My problem with regard to vodka in cocktails is that vodka rarely brings much to the party. A good vodka is typically characterized by it’s abject lack of flavor. There are people that will claim you can pick up subtle flavors, and I wouldn’t disagree with that, but overall the goal is to make a spirit that is so smooth it’s nearly undetectable.
That doesn’t give us a ton to work with in the way of flavor blending. If you have a spirit that brings nothing then your other ingredients have to bear the weight of the cocktail as a whole. In the case of the Cosmopolitan this fell on the cranberry juice, cointreau and lime juice. This week we’re going to explore another vodka cocktail that has gained considerable popularity, the Lemon Drop.
Lemon Drop (Joy of Mixology)
2 oz Citrus Vodka 1 oz Lemon Juice 1/2 oz Simple Syrup Lemon Wedge for Garnish
1) Combine ingredient in a shaker with ice 2) Shake until well chilled 3) Strain in to a chilled cocktail glass
One thing this cocktail, like the Cosmo, has going for it is the use of citrus vodka. Although, my concern is that, with this amount of lemon juice the citrus vodka may not make much difference. Like I did with the Cosmo I’ll be sure to try it with citrus vodka and regular and let you know my thoughts.
This cocktail comes at the perfect time for me. My parents recently went out of town for a few weeks and asked that I clean out their fridge and take anything that I’d eat. One of the many things I ended up with was enough citrus fruit to make a ton of cocktails. Specifically there was a whole bag of lemons to be had and have them I do. In fact, the picture you see above is from my citrus drawer in my fridge circa last night. Going to be a good week.