Kiwi

11.22.09 Kiwi (half size)

1/2 cup sliced kiwi, 1/2 t sugar and 12.5 oz Svedka vodka. We packed the kiwi in the cup pretty tightly so we ended up using just over 1.5 kiwis.

12.20.09 Slow progress

Almost a month later, and the flavor is still pretty weak. We should have switched out the fruit sooner but we were busy. We removed the kiwi and replaced it with 2 sliced kiwi (just over 3/4 cup) and added 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

12.31.09 Is it good?

E: there is a distinct kiwi aftertaste, not much vodka burn, but the beginning taste is unpleasant. L: This tastes bad at the beginning, doesn't burn and fades into something acceptable, but not good.

In an attempt to fix this up, we took some vodka out to taste/experiment with. E mixed in some sugar which made it taste better. He then added a bit of salt, which L thought made it taste like a margarita.

2.21.10 Done! And surprisingly good.

Filtered. L: the flavor improved. The kiwi after taste is pretty good. This definitely is not for drinking straight. E: "Actually it's not that bad. Took for $*%!ing ever, but it's not that bad. I could deal with that." We're surprised that this one improved so much.

Mango

11.22.09 Mango (one half size and two test sizes)


We had intended to do a full size mango infusion, but as we were about to put it together, E got the idea that we should try the infusion with salt, instead of sugar. L did not take well to this, so we agreed to do some tests.

Mango - control: 1/2 c sliced mango and 12.5 oz Svedka vodka.

Mango - sugar: 1/4 c sliced mango, 1/4 t sugar and 6.25 oz Svedka vodka.

Mango - salt: 1/4 c sliced mango, 1/4 t salt and 6.25 oz Svedka vodka.

12.20.09 More mango

Replaced the Mango in all sample sizes. Added 6.25 oz of Svedka to the salt version since it was too salty. Yuck!

12.31.09 Taste tests

Mango w/ salt.

Lissa says: This was absolutely disgusting! Apparently I did the unhappy bunny dance when I tried this, before running to the sink to spit it out. E's reaction was more calm. The flavor was still too salty, even after trying to dilute it by adding another 6.25 oz of vodka. It might make a good margarita. L thinks that it won't even be good for that. This version of the mango infusion is clearer than the other two. We decided that is an absolute failure.

Mango w/ sugar.

E: slightly less disgusting, due to not being so salty. L agrees, but still does not like it.

Mango - control.

This one was the most cloudy and it was a deeper yellow in color than the other two. We also both agree that it was less disgusting than its salt and sugar siblings. L: it would be just ok, except that it has a funky aftertaste. E: this would go best in some sort of margarita mix.

2.21.10. The results are in!

Filtered all 3.

The salted one was awful! Just too much salt. We pitched it. This is the first one that we've poured down the sink. In the future, salt could be useful but we need to use a lot, lot less.

Sugar, Control. Tasted pretty much the same. We both thought they were ok. Probably not worth doing a mango infusion again, or would have to have a 3rd round of mangoes put in.

Almond

11.22.09 Almond (half size)

1/2 cup chopped Almonds and 12.5 oz Fris vodka. We chose Fris because we thought the almond flavor would be too subtle and may be overtaken by the stronger flavor in the Svedka vodka.

12.31.09

We've tasted this one a couple times since it was started. The flavor is finally coming along nicely. It has a very distinct almond taste at the beginning, but leaves quite a burn at the end. We're going to let this one go longer, in hopes of losing more of the burn.

2.21.10 After 3 months - Done for now.

Filtered the vodka finally. The almond 'skins' were faded and the interior was discolored to a light brown. On top of the vodka was a fine sheen of almond oil. E: the flavor is very light and still has lots of vodka burn. Tastes like almond, but the almond flavor would be lost if it was mixed with anything. L agrees. We'd like to do a second round of infusion on this one.

Recipe

750 ml vodka

1 cup chopped almonds

Infusion time: 3 months.

This would be improved by adding another 1 cup of almonds and infusing again.

Vodka notes

Quantity Scalings

750 ml = 1 bottle = 25 oz

375 ml = 1/2 bottle = 12.5 oz

187.5 ml = 1/4 bottle = 6.25 oz

Barton

08.27.09

750 ml $8

We decided to try something new, and filter a cheap vodka to see if it could be improved. We were inspired to try this because of the success it had for the Mad Scientists.

E: Not as bad as I thought it would be, but I'm the hangover would be nasty
L: Has a funky taste at the beginning, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but a definite burn at the end.

Barton, 4x filtered in the Brita
E: more watered down, the flavor wasn't as strong. The difference between filtered and unfiltered wasn't that big, but it did make it a little bit smoother
L: Filtering improved it, lessened the funky flavor at the beginning.

At one of our vodka tasting parties, a guest told us that Mythbusters covered this in an episode. Here's the Mythbusters episode summary (under Vodka Myths III, Top Shelf Filtration)

Boru

08.01.09

Pretty smooth vodka with the usual burn. Decent flavor from initial tasting but nothing exciting.

Chopin

08.29.09

Potato Vodka

L: I like it. It has a bit of flavor and minimal burn.

E: The burn is not too bad. A lot of flavor and a little bit of sweetness to it. I like it. The vodka flavor is one of the best ones I've had yet.

This is our new contender against Fris, to be our default vodka.

Exclusiv

08.02.09

750 ml $??

L: weird taste at the start but a mild burn. (retaste of Fris: slight sweet flavor at beginning mild burn.)

E: Smooth. Didn't taste the flavor at the beginning, but had just done a cinnamon vodka shot. Thought it was pretty good.

Fris

07.06.09

750mL $??, 1.75L $22

4x distilled with an extra use of frozen distilled process.

Smooth with a clean finish.

E: Less burn and smoother than Pinnacle. Has a unique taste - not necessarily great. Even though I like the sweeter beginning of Pinnacle, I prefer Fris because it's smoother.

L: Smoother than Pinnacle. Not nearly as much of a burn, much more mild. Definitely has a taste to it.

Ketel One

08.29.09

Wheat vodka

L: This has more burn than Chopin.

E: More burn and I don't like the flavor as much as Chopin.

Opulent

5x distilled, crafted in America, grain (corn)
02.06.10
E: It's really sweet. Not a bad burn. I'd buy it and infuse with it, esp fruits since it already adds its own natural sweetness. 
L: almost tastes like citrus, sort of sweet. mild burn. (more than Fris).
Conclusion: We like this one and will add it to our top picks list. Fris & Chopin are still better, E says this has a bit of a dirty ending. As the flavor is strong, we would have to be careful to to infuse this with the correct ingredients (e.g. ginger or fruit). This would be bad to infuse with nuts or something with a subtle flavor.

Pinnacle

07.18.09

750 ml $13

Unknown amount of times distilled.

Sweet beginning but more harsh than Fris.

The guy at the liquor store said it's made by the people who do Grey Goose, and it's Grey Goose's little brother.

E: sweet beginning, but of an aftertaste then it burns and burns. I like the sweeter beginning.

L: not too bad. I can tolerate it. It does have a lingering burn.

Platinum

07.06.09

750 ml $??

7x distilled

Midgrade vodka that was pleasant but a bit more harsh vs. Fris.

Silver 


02.06.10 
Triple-distilled. American grain.  
E: not a heavy burn,but the after taste is not good.  
L: bad taste at beginning, light burn at end but bad taste lightens and persists.

Skyy

08.29.09

Wheat vodka

E: Don't like it. It's bitter.

L: Sweet. Minimal burn, definitely less burn than Ketel One. Out of the ones we've tried today, I still like Chopin the best.

Smirnoff

07.18.09

750ml $15

3x distilled

Very harsh vodka.

Stawski Potato

02.06.10
L: slight flavor, but not a bad one. minimal burn, but still more burn than Fris
E: "ew, oh god that was bad". Medium burn, bad flavor - muddley bitter. He tried it again, and said, "That's like drinking Smirnoff" pounded on the table while pointing at me. "And you can quote me on that, but include the pounding and the pointing of the finger."

Svedka


02.06.10
$20/1.75L 5x distilled.  
E: pretty strong burn at the beginning. Not too bad.  
L: sweet, heavy burn at end.
Fris (try for comparison). E: smoother beginning burn at end. Less sweet. Slightly less burn than Svedka. L: smoother, slight burn at end. More flavor neutral (not as sweet) E says if we're looking for a sweeter vodka, then Svedka would be a better buy.

Tenure

08.27.09

$14/750ml, but we had a $5 off coupon.
E: Leaves a warm glow all the way down, and not in the good way
L: Strong taste at beginning, strong burn through out. I hate to say it, but the cheap Barton vodka, unfiltered, tasted better than this. Never again.
Now I know why it had that coupon.

Tenure, twice filtered

E: Better, cut the burn in half.

L: Still strong flavor, but improved. Less burn, but not half as much. Likely could be improved with additional filtering.

We don't want to bother with additional filtering.

UV 

02.06.10

(4x distitlled)

E: "Oh, my god, that's worse than smirnoff, that's disgusting" that's bottom shelf vodka. (L: your'e just enjoying being emphatic now) I am damn right.

L: Bad flavor, bad burn. The flavor traveled up and invaded my nasal cavity, ew.

Vikingfjord 

02.06.10
(5x distilled, potato vodka)
$20 (on sale) for 1.75 L
E: strong burn in beginning. Fades into a sweet starch. 
L: strong flavor at first, E thinks I should call it "lip curling bad flavor" from the expression on my face. Quite the burn which lingers for a while then fades.
Conculsion: we disagree about the quality. E likes it, L doesn't. However we agree that is is not as good as either Fris or Chopin.

Skittles

08.27.09 Skittles: Five test sizes

We used 50 skittles for 6.25 oz vodka (1/4 of 750ml bottle). We separated the skittles into their colors. We bought at 14 oz bag of skittles, and had plenty left over for all the colors...except for green, which only had 45 skittles for some reason. Poor green. :( We'll shake these up multiple times in the next day and then filter, as we want to have them ready for our vodka tasting party - Philly edition which takes place tomorrow night.

08.28.09 Filtering & Tasting

We filtered this using the mesh coffee filter and it was a pain! The skittles, when fully "dissolved," leave a gross white greasy residue (think crisco) in the filter. These each had to be filtered at least 3 times to get out the gunk. Even then, not all of it is able to be filtered and it eventually settles into a layer.

These are very pretty little infusions. They definitely taste like skittles and the individual flavors can be told apart. They're pretty good.

12.31.09 Skittle color decay

Somewhere along the way, L noticed that there were 4 red skittle vodkas in the liquor cabinet at E's house, when we had only made 2. Strange. Upon closer inspection, we found that the purple skittle vodka had decayed into red. Now the only way to tell red and purple apart is to taste test.

Caramel

07.18.09 Caramel test size - the easy way

We purchased small containers to small batch tests so we can scale it later.

2 cubes of Kraft caramel. 6.25 oz Fris vodka (1/4 bottle). Shaken vigorously. (Mad Scientists used 8 cubes for 750 ml vodka.)

07.19.09 Taste Test

Here's the caramel infusion before the two cubes are fully dissolved:

12 hours later the two caramel cubes are dissolved. Taste test.

L: moderate caramel flavor, all vodka at the end.

E: agrees.

Added one more cube of caramel.

~24 hours after the original infusion, we tasted the 3 caramel cube version and declared it to be done.

Tastes sweet and caramel at the beginning but still has vodka burn at the end.

08.16.09 Tweaking the infusion

We still had a lot of the test size left, and Emilio was unhappy with it. So we added one more cube of caramel.

Recipe - the inferior version

750 ml vodka

12+ cubes of Kraft caramel

Approximately 12 hours 'infusion' time, with occasional vigorous shaking to mix




12.12.09 Caramel - the right way

L's friend Anne is a frequent cat-sitter, and L said she'd make her a vodka as a thank you gift. Anne requested caramel, but made by caramelizing sugar. L & E tried to make the caramel. We had no idea what we were doing. E found a helpful website: How to Make the Perfect Caramel We followed the instructions there and, given that L is a klutz, E made her wear full protective gear, apron and oven mitts (see pic). In an attempt to get "just past" the point where it starts to smoke, we left the first batch on for ~10 seconds too long. The caramel burned. It was clear it had burned so we threw it out right away.

The next time we had better success. We were experimenting with 12.5 oz vodka, and we used 1/2 c sugar. We got the caramel quite dark, and the vodka had a nice rich, almost buttery taste. L thought there was a hint of burnt caramel flavor. E declared that one a success. The best part about the caramel is how cool it looks when it is poured into the vodka, it bubbles up and forms solid structures within the vodka.

Note: Later that week, E decided that he could taste a teeny bit of burnt caramel flavor in that vodka, so L doctored it up ad added another 1/2c of caramel, which helped. 

The caramel solidifies within minutes, but before that it's still hot, so if you're going to taste test, be careful!






A few days later, L moved onto making the version for Anne. This was 750 ml Fris with 1 cup sugar. After several rounds of taste testing, the final formula that Anne and L determined was 2c caramelized sugar for 750 ml vodka. The caramel does add volume but not the full volume. The hard carmel can be shaken when poured into the vodka, but in general it will dissolve within 8 hours, if left unshaken.

Our caramel making tips: We really like the website linked above. However, for our purposes, we say the caramel is done the instance it shows any sign of smoking. We find the flavor just fine, and are significantly less likely to run the risk of burning it. 

Here's what the finished Caramel vodka looks like:

Recipe

750 ml vodka
2 cups caramelized sugar