Chemicalpink's homebrew

Skittles Vodka - tasting

2009-05-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Note: This post was back dated to the day of the tasting.

I had some friends over, so it seemed like a perfect time to use them as my ~~victims~~ test subjects for Skittles vodka tasting (sorry Tiffani!). Now I get to try and decipher my drunken notes. I'm going to go in order of least favorite to most favorite, based on the opinions of the 5 people there that night. (Well, there was a clear favorite, and a clear least favorite. Everything else was about even in popularity.)

The lemon was no one's favorite. One person thought it tasted the strongest by far, while two people felt it smelled like hand sanitizer, but they could hardly taste the vodka. It had a standard artificial lemon flavor. And Kira would like you all to know that lemon is her least favorite Skittle.

The grape smelled like watered down Dimetapp, and according to one opinion, tasted like Dimetapp when it got to be room temperature. To the majority of the ladies, it tasted like Smarties (the American ones, sorry Canadians) - and not just the purple Smarties, but like a mouthful or them, or Pixy Stix, but less sweet. Another gentleman's opinion was that it tasted like Jägermeister.

The orange smelled like Tang, according to Kira, and had a slight vanilla flavor straight from the freezer (which dissipated when the drink warmed up some). Had almost an orange sherbet taste when cold. It was definitely better colder, as it tasted like Delsym spiked with vodka when warm. Would be GREAT to try it with a vanilla vodka.

The strawberry had a bit much vodka flavor, but tasted just like if you had a mouthful of Skittles and took a shot of vodka. Once it got warm, it smelled just like a strawberry Skittle. This is another I'd like to try with vanilla vodka.

The lime was, by far, everyone's favorite, taking a place in the top 3 flavors of 4 out of 5 of my victims. It smelled like lime jell-o, or just your standard artificial lime flavor. Kira would like me to note that it was the color of Slimer. It tasted exactly like a lime popsicle, which means that MC Frontalot will be getting a flask of this next time he's down in Austin.

Overall, none of the vodkas were as sweet as expected, and the vodka was perhaps a bit too strong in many, if not all, flavors. They seemed a bit syrup-y straight from the freezer, but it did not affect the mouth-feel of any of them, and they were less syrup-y as they got warm.

And then I had an additional five shots of Skittles Vodka after already sampling them. The headache was KILLER the next morning.

Hard Apple cider

2009-05-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

Note: I backdated this post to the day of the tasting

Apologies for the horrible darkness of the above picture - lighting in my apartment is bad, and Photoshop would just mean I'd have to put off posting this that much longer.

My friend Kira and I tasted this, and it seemed a bit... sour, or off. Not sour like lemon-y or tangy, but sour like... fermented apples. Which I understand is what it is. I'm opting to let it sit for a while longer and trying it then. (It doesn't help that my siphon and hose got ruined in the Great Disposal Debacle of 2009.)

Skittles Vodka - finshed

2009-04-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, they're finished (and have been for a while), but I haven't tried them yet. I have two people that have tried the Cherry flavor. One said it was like cough syrup, the other said it was like cherry Skittles. It's still super syrup-y, not sure if I should filter them again, or just live with syrup-y booze. Perhaps I will try them today, and take photos.

Skittles Vodka - midway

2009-04-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

Looking pretty good, and smells JUST like skittles. It's a bitch to strain through the coffee filter, though - Jared bought the wrong kind. Tasting party later tonight or tomorrow.

Pictures and review to follow.

Skittles Vodka - the beginning

2009-04-03T12:53:00.001-07:00

Skittles have been added to vodka. Now for the alcohol to eat away all the solid bits of candy...

Skittles Vodka

2009-04-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

Stopping by Spec's, HEB, and possibly The Container Store today after looking at houses to get the makings for Skittles infused vodka. Doesn't take too long to make, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to strat it tonight, it depends on how much room I have in the kitchen (my kingdom for a big kitchen!).

Planning on using Svedka (I prefer Stoli, but Svedka is almost as good, and cheaper) unless something good is on sale.

Hard Apple cider

2009-03-14T18:45:00.001-07:00

Well, here goes take three for hard apple cider. I used Central Market organic apple juice, 2 cups white sugar, and 1 teaspoon champagne yeast.

My goal for this one is to at least get the yeast content right, I can always work on the sugar (more sugar = higher alcohol content) later on.

About this blog...

2009-03-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

So, I've been attempting to make hard ciders. However, I've thus far made two batches of undrinkable hard apple cider (far too yeasty and sour), and I can't remember what I changed about them.

For the record, I'm using the method of cider-making using a gallon jug and an airlock.

So I started a blog to keep track of how much I added of what to each batch, and I can follow up with how I liked it. Once I get a basic formula I like down, I can start playing with it some.

If there's a recipe on here that sounds good to you, feel free to try it, and let me know how you like it.