The beverage industry has been saying that flavored vodka is dead for years. Yet there they sit on liquor shelves and discount racks across the country. A glut of bottles without a home, gathering dust while hip young guys with mustaches hit the bourbon aisle and baby boomers spend their retirement money on liquor that connotes some level of class and sophistication.
What once seemed like an unstoppable force in the alcohol industry since Absolut introduced the first flavor, Peppar, in 1986, has become something to roll your eyes at. In came the party girl flavors like whipped cream and birthday cake, but at the height of flavored vodka mania in 2012, 122 of 171 new vodka products were flavored. That led to flavors that relied on shock value, but those have become less and less common. And good riddance. Does anyone really want to drink salmon vodka?
As for the more reasonable vodka flavors, we can only hope they’re here to stay. These five VinePair cocktails are built around five of the best flavored vodkas out there. Enjoy.
Pear Pie Sparkler
Ingredients:
1.5 ounces of SKYY Infusions Bartlett Pear
Half a lime
.75 ounces of simple syrup
Tonic
Cinnamon
Sugar
Instructions:
Rim a serving glass with cinnamon and sugar. Add the SKYY vodka, the juice from half a lime, and simple syrup to a glass with ice. Stir. Pour into serving glass and top with tonic.
Cucumber Bloody Mary
Ingredients:
2 ounces of Prairie Vodka Cucumber
5 ounces of tomato juice
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 an ounce of Worcestershire sauce
Pepper
Salt
Garnish
Instructions:
Add everything into a serving glass over ice. Stir. Garnish as extravagantly as you wish and add pepper and salt to taste.
Salty Deep Eddy
Ingredients:
1.5 ounces of Deep Eddy Ruby Red
.75 ounces of simple syrup
Juice from half a lime
Sea Salt
Tonic
Instructions:
Rim a serving glass with sea salt. Stir everything but the tonic over ice. Pour into a serving glass over ice and top with tonic.
Stoli Vanilla Coke
Ingredients:
2 ounces of Stoli Vanilla
Juice from half a lime
Cola
Instructions:
Add everything into a highball glass with ice and stir. Garnish with a lime wedge.
Oranje Creamsicle
Ingredients:
1.5 ounces of Ketel One Oranje
.75 ounces of simple syrup
1 egg
Dash of vanilla
1 ounce of orange juice
Orange
Instructions:
Add the vodka, vanilla, simple syrup, and orange juice into a shaker. Put in the egg white. Dry shake for 15 seconds, then add ice and shake for another 15 seconds. Remove the ice and dry shake again. Pour into a serving glass and garnish with orange.
