Wodka Vodka
The Sex on the Beach can be recognized as the Unicorn of the cocktail world. We think it exists, but no one has actually ever seen it, at least not since 1985. This past summer the New Orleans mixologist-con “Tales of the Cocktail” actually got together to literally bury and put the poor cocktail to rest.
However, challenger-vodka-brand Wódka is taking an opposing view. Wódka has resurrected the Sex on the Beach with a public shrine in the form of a Times Square billboard heralding the disparaged cocktail.
The brand has also revived two other iconic cocktail for the era, the Greyhound and the Black Russian, also now seen looming above major cityscapes. Enjoy unironically!
Sex on the Beach
This is a slightly revisionist view of the cocktail, removing some of the cloying elements like Peach Schnapps and orange juice in favor of fresher ingredients like grapefruit and peach nectar.
2 oz. Wódka vodka
2 oz. Peach nectar
1 oz. grapefruit juice
1 oz. cranberry juice
Combine all ingredients into a shaker with a lot of ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass. Garnish with a thin, flat slice of grapefruit as a topper.
Black Russian
Popularized by Greta Garbo in the 1930s movie Ninotchka, the Black Russian registers as digestif with a similar taste to Italian amari. Simple and elegant.
1 ½ oz Wódka
¾ oz coffee liqueur
Build Wódka and roughly half as much coffee liqueur over a rocks glass over ice.
Greyhound
Just plain cool. Cocktail junkies equate this to “spiked juice;” urban legend traces its origin back to the American Bar in London in the 1930’s.
2 oz. Wódka
4 oz. Grapefruit juice
Combine vodka, grapefruite juice and ice in a collins glass. Stir well.
You can also salt the rim to create a “Salty Dog” and easily add another option to your personal drink menu.
About Wódka
Panache Imports recently launched a new, yet old name in vodka: Wódka, which draws its Cold War look from the no-frills vodka of Poland that has been produced at Polmos Bialystock distillery in Eastern Poland for generations.
A relic from Poland’s communist era: the original 1920s bottle bore a slightly tattered label that simply read “Wódka,” the Polish word for ” vodka.”
Wódka is a crystalline, triple-filtered, Lux-grade spirit that displays subtle flavors of rye with a touch of minerality. It adds a unique twist to martinis and other vodka cocktails by complementing the added ingredients instead of masking them, or vice versa.
The pricing is a throwback as well: $8.99 for a 750 ml, half the price of lesser-grade name-brands.
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