Ginger Lemon

1 part ginger infused vodka
1 part mint infused vodka
2 parts lemonade

This cocktail not to be confused with Lemon Ginger.

Lemon Ginger

1 part lemon infused vodka
1 part fennel infused vodka
2 parts ginger ale

This cocktail not to be confused with Ginger Lemon.

Caramel Apple Cocktail

2 parts caramel vodka
1 part lemon infused vodka
2 parts apple cider

Okay I haven't actually tried this yet, but don;t see how it could possibly go wrong.

Apple Pie Cocktail

1 part Cinnamon infused vodka
1 part Caramel vodka
1 part Lemon infused vodka
3 parts apple cider



If I do say so myself, I make a mean apple pie. When people insist on me giving them the recipe, I generally leave out the secret ingredient, which is the juice of one lemon squeezed over the apples after they are peeled and sliced. The lemon juice makes the apples more tart and keeps them from turning brown.

I do not generally put vodka in my apple pie. Whiskey is better. But for the purposes of this cocktail, the lemon-infused vodka does the same thing that the lemon juice does in the pie. Most apple cider from the store is too sweet, and the lemon vodka brings back the tart flavor that brings this drink together. And the caramel vodka suggests tha flavor of the sugar that turns brown on the edge of the pie pan.

Works well with sweet or hard cider.

Zollschlager

1 part Ginger infused vodka
1 part Cinnamon infused vodka
1 part Caramel vodka
1 part Fennel infused vodka
1 part Mint infused vodka
1 part Lemon infused vodka
1 part Cola

As soon as you smell the fennel infused vodka you understand the potential. The other flavors add some nice depth. I am sure we could come up with additional flavors that would continue to improve matters. The cola is not entirely necessary but adds color and a bit of sweetness.

The first thing you will note when you try this stuff is that - well - it doesn't hurt. This maybe a disappointment if you appreciate the suffering that comes along with drinking Jag shot after Jag shot. I will concede that I experienced a moment of disappointment myself. But the combination of flavors soon left me wondering what all of that suffering was worth.

Sticky Floor

1 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Honey
Ginger
2 oz Vodka

Mix equal amounts honey and lemon juice. Add some ginger if you like. Combine two ounces of this mixture with two ounces of vodka. Shake and serve up.

Lemonade

4 lemons, sliced

1 cup sugar

2 quarts water

Slice lemons as thin as you can and put into a bowl.

Put sugar over lemons and stir with a wooden spoon.

Allow lemons and sugar to sit for a few minutes

Stir/mash with the wooden spoon until all sugar is dissolved.

Add water, stir.

Strain and serve cold.

Notes: Adding ginger is nice. Make pink lemonade with grenadine or some maraschino cherry juice. Straining out the lemon slices keeps the lemonade from becoming bitter.

In my memory it was my grandfather who made the lemonade for the family picnic on the last Sunday of June each year. I can imagine my grandfather in his bib overalls, sitting in the side yard slicing the lemons into a five-gallon Red Wing crock and covering them with sugar. He stirred the lemons around with some sort of paddle and soon the sugar dissolved as if by magic into a light yellow syrup. The water came right from the garden hose and was topped with ice chipped from a big block of ice delivered by the iceman.

But I can't possibly remember that. I never saw my grandfather make lemonade and I never saw ice delivered by an iceman. And my grandfather was probably expected to wear something less casual than overalls at the family picnic. And yet that's the way I remember it.

I surely remember the lemonade. It was scooped out of the crock with a tin ladle. It was cold and not too sweet and tasted of the minerals in the local water. It was the lemonade to which all other lemonade must be compared.

Lemon Infused Vodka

Test Batch:

375 ml vodka

zest of three lemons

1 tsp sugar

It was Halloween when I went over to Zipp's Liquors to buy vodka for this experiment. The nice lady who helped me was wearing a "Got Milk?" t-shirt and had a milk moustache painted on her upper lip. A bit outdated, and I didn't get it when I first saw her behind the counter because I just saw the white upper lip and not the t-shirt. I wondered if this was some waxing procedure gone awry.

Her associate was a young man wearing a sexy nurse outfit. He looked like a genetic mashup of Kurt Cobain and Courtney love. Also outdated, but Halloween gruesome to be sure.

I mentioned the experiment and the nice lady told me that she and her husband had also tried lemon-infused vodka. She told me they had used too much pith (too much of the white art of the rind under the zest. Luckily my friend Rory gave me a great zester for my birthday and so this was no problem.

Telsche warned me against letting the lemon zest infuse for more than a week.