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Drink Mon Feb 16 2009
Cinnamon Infuses Vodka with Cinnamon
I love cinnamon. No really. I try to find interesting things to do with it. I'm totally biased, I know. But I love it. So when reading recently about different infused vodkas I got to thinking about the best way to infuse vodka with cinnamon. Using powder seemed like it would create an awful texture in the final drink, but I worried that the sticks wouldn't release enough flavor.
I had no reason to worry. Vodka, as I learned, is incredibly easy to infuse. All I did was take this inexpensive bottle of vodka, throw in a handful of cinnamon sticks (of course I got really good ones from The Spice House) and I let it sit on a counter for a couple of weeks. I think it only needed a week, but I wanted to make sure I had enough time to redo it if necessary. But I didn't need to.
Once it was infused I set about trying cool ways to use it. It tastes fantastic with Coke (which makes me think homemade vanilla or cherry vodka may be in my future as well), superb with spicy ginger beer, great with ginger ale and a dash of grenadine or bitters. It also matched well with chocolate liqueur (and a splash of milk), Irish cream, hot cocoa (or coffee if you're into it), and might even be tasty drizzled over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. I feel like so much more could have been done with it if I'd really gotten creative with the mixing of spirits. I think I'll be doing it again and experimenting further.
— Cinnamon Cooper / Comments (7)
adam / February 16, 2009 11:00 PM
I can vouch for that cinnamon-infused vodka. It was spicy but not overpowering, and perfect for winter.
What about trying coriander or horseradish, like they do at Russian Tea Time? Both seriously good, although I bet the horseradish will need filtering, even if you're using the straight root. I volunteer for taste testing.