cocktail notes

lotta cocktail cats round the blogosphere have a disdain for vodka on account of its neutrality. for example, the rad jeffrey morganthaler says that vodka is “a boring liquor for boring people”.

and that’s how this article starts. but then concludes with a notion i’ve been chewing on lately:

Consider the sublime RTR Classics on the menu at the Russian Tea Room, where vodka is often used, as in the Gorki, to soften and lengthen the potent flavor of spirits like Bénédictine.

i, too, find that swapping out some of the gin or rum with vodka sometimes makes a drink smoother and well-rounded. but maybe this speaks to my greenness. maybe if i were a hardcore cocktail nerd i wouldn’t find, as i so often do, that bartenders are indiscriminate and graceless with bitters, luxardo maraschino, campari, and gin, sometimes.

(i was also reminded of this last night, watching quantum of solace: bond’s martini is made with both gin and vodka. that was a great scene, btw…the old bond, if you asked what he drank, would say ‘martini, shaken, not stirred’. the new bond has no idea! instead he looks to the bartender who doesn’t answer ‘martini’ but rather ‘3 measures of gordon’s dry gin, 1 measure of vodka, 1/2 measure kina lillet–which is not vermouth–shaken until ice cold, and garnished with a long, thin lemon peel’. we’re definitely not in the 70s any more…thank fucking god.)