Cocktail of the Week - Rain Drop

I had to do my own thing for a cocktail "party" this week, as my friend Michael was away on a family trip and my wife Gabrielle was too busy. I had picked up a couple of "premium" vodkas during the week - Tito's Handmade Vodka (an annoying, Flash-only site) and Rain Vodka (site under construction), so I decided to try and make something with one of them. I didn't like the recipes on the Tito's web site, so I tried the one that came with the Rain vodka:

Rain Drop

• 3 oz. RAIN vodka
• 2 oz Blue Curacao
• 2 tsp superfine (or bar) sugar
• 1/2 a lemon (sic) and its juice

One problem with vodka is that pretty much any mix will completely overpower nearly tasteless vodka. And Blue Curacao, to be honest, is a pretty dreadful cocktail mix. I'm sure there's probably a "premium" brand that actually tastes like the orange liqueur it is supposed to be, but all you ever find in the stores are the bottom shelf brands like Leroux, Mr. Boston and Arrow (the one I have). And its really overpowering and artificial tasting, so I'm not sure why I did this. I did see, after a Google search, an interesting sounding premium brand called Newport Blue Curacau that sounds like they might even make it with real ingredients, but unfortunately I don't see a distributor anwywhere in New England. I'll have to continue my search for a better tasting Curacau.

But it sure does look purty, as long as you don't actually taste it. It tastes okay at the start, but as Gabrielle said, the finish is awful, due to the artificial taste of the Blue Curacau. For my second attempt, I added more lemon juice and only enough Curacau to give it the cool blue look, and it was much more palatable. And yes, the recipe did say "1/2 a lemon", so I threw the lemon right into the cocktail shaker. I don't see why not, and it worked out fine.

I suppose I probably should have just made a vodka martini. I'm not a big fan of vodka martinis, much preferring to use Bombay Sapphire (another damned Flash page) and just the barest hint of Noilly Prat dry vermouth. But that might be the only way, besides as a shooter, that you can actually taste vodka. I did find an interesting looking site with lots of cool martini accessories, Swank Martini Company. You can see my favorite martini glass in the picture. It's got a big bowl, easy to handle, fits nicely into the door shelf of most freezers and has a nice heft to it. And, most importantly, it is clear. Colored martini glasses don't make much sense to me, as you either want to see the crystal clear perfection of a great martini or you want to see the neat color of your latest cocktail creation. But I'll have to check this site out for other cocktail glasses.

For entertainment, I watched Sideways. It was a fun movie even if, like most Alexander Payne movies, there were very few likable characters. But it was an enjoyable couple of hours anyway, despite having our dog Spenser curled up next to me. His close encounter of the skunk kind the other night has left him with a nose-curdling smell, despite it not being a direct hit and him getting a full groomer's treatment.