Results of cinnamon, apple, and coffee experiments

Thanks to all who participated in Name That Vodka! Congratulations to yDNA, Irys, and Arthur (who replied on our LiveJournal feed) for correctly guessing which infusion was which. To review, here are the bottled vodkas:



The infusions are flavored as follows:

A. Caramel
B. Cinnamon
C. Coffee
D. Apple

Yes, the coffee vodka attained that dark of a color from just a single day of infusion! After all, coffee beans are pretty much designed to infuse with liquid of some sort. Here's how it looked before it was bottled:



It was quite interesting to see how some beans floated on the surface, while others became saturated with vodka and sank. Earlier in the day, a few even floated halfway between the top and bottom. The pre-bottled apple and cinnamon infusions looked about the same as they did last week, so we are not going to post photos of them at this time.

We bottled the coffee vodka by straining it through (what else?) a coffee filter, while the apple vodka was strained through cheesecloth. We didn't bother straining the cinnamon; we merely picked out the cinnamon sticks.

Now, since you are certainly eager to know how the experiments worked out, let's move on. The cinnamon, apple, and coffee vodkas were sampled at our New Year's Eve party, and we were able to draft some of our guests to assist us in evaluating the results.

First, we sampled the cinnamon vodka. Matt and Jason joined the mad scienticians in a shot:



The cinnamon vodka was approved by all. The vodka attained a strong cinnamon flavor, resulting in a somewhat spicy shot. We believe that this vodka will work very well in cocktails, as well as in shots combined with Jagermeister to form kicked-up Golden Hunters. Since we had punch this night, however, such drinks were not attempted.

The results of the apple and coffee vodkas, on the other hand, were somewhat mixed. Please consider, however, that these samples were taken after several cups of punch, as well as a few batches of homemade onion rings and chicken wings. We have since determined that these are less than ideal circumstances for testing our experiments.

The same four of us sampled the apple vodka. In the background, Jason's wife Denise looks on in bemusement as she drinks something non-alcoholic.



Wayland and Matt gave their approval to this vodka. Jason and I begged to differ.



Oh, the things I do in the name of science!

I gave myself about ten minutes before attempting the coffee vodka. Jason bowed out of this test, but Matt persevered.



I cannot remember Matt's opinion of this infusion. Honestly, there were other things on my mind. As you can see from the following photo, Wayland favored this infusion as well; I, on the other hand, can be seen in the corner getting a glass of water. Immediately afterwards, I ran to the restroom to empty my stomach.



Though Wayland gave his approval to all of the experiments, he acknowledged the harshness of the coffee vodka. Personally, I cannot recommend either the apple or coffee vodkas as a shooting drink under any circumstances. However, given the inherent instability of my stomach as a result of the night's festivities, I am willing to try them again in other settings.

Through the course of this week, we will continue to test these infusions under more realistic circumstances: as cocktail ingredients.