One night we went to the The Capital Grille for dinner. This, my friends, is where we discovered Pineapple Infused Vodka. It is also the place where our dinner bill came to over $500 for the four of us. It was worth it. We knew going in that we had no limits. I ordered lobster, we had lobster mac & cheese as a side.... a bottle of good wine. Everything was amazing. However let me back up.
We arrived and sat in the bar as we waited for our table. The four of us were trying to decide on a martini when the bartender (bartendress if it's a girl?) suggested their house infused pineapple vodka and while I love fresh pineapple I'm not really a fan of pineapple flavored things (including drinks) so we all politely declined and ordered cosmopolitans. As we were nearly finished with our cosmos the bartender (smart girl) decided to pour the four of us as well as another couple at the bar a sample of the Pineapple Vodka. Amid our conversation we all casually took a sip and I swear to god every single one of us (including the the other couple) all stopped and with surprised looks exclaimed OMG! this stuff is amazing! We all then bombarded the bartender with questions "what exactly is this? How is it made? Can I have a full one now please?" it was that good. I can't even explain it's just amazing it's got a very fresh sweetness not sugary sweet like pineapple juice or sweetened cocktails just fresh fresh fresh and yummy and fresh... and oh so dangerous! It's easy for one to forget that it's straight vodka since it lacks any evidence of the taste of vodka.
There's no secret recipe for this stuff. Just a few simple steps and voila! I had never heard of this before but after deciding (before we even got back to California) that we were going to try our hand and making our own I naturally googled it and apparently I live in the dark ages because it's a "thing" a thing that lots of people know about!
First thing we did was head to Costco and bought a bunch of pineapple
and Vodka. We used Skyy vodka you don't have to use this but you don't want to use super cheap vodka. A lot of restaurants use Stolichnaya vodka which is where the term Stoli Doli came from. Oh you also don't need to make this much. We thought you could store it for a long time and you can't. 2 weeks-ish is about it in the fridge. No worries though we just had our friends over and that took care of things.
Then we headed over to CostPlus World Market and picked up these jars and flasks. They also have these online at The Container Store. Then we needed a bigger jar so I picked this one up from Target.
NOTE: make sure that any jar you use has a seal to make it somewhat airtight.
Cut your pineapple in to bricks.
stack like bricks around the edges of the jar leaving the middle open.
Fill with vodka making sure that pineapple is completely covered and not exposed to air. Now put someplace that has no direct sunlight and let it sit for 10 days. This is the magic number. If you let it sit less than that it's not as good. If you let it go much longer it is also not as good.
On the 10th night strain the vodka (we used a mesh type strainer) and either fill the flask type bottles like we bought or just pour it back in to the original vodka bottles. We has made so much we ending up pouring most of it back in to the Skyy bottles. Store in the fridge. I'm thinking for Christmas I'll make a big batch and pour some into the flask bottles (which I think were only around $4.99) make a label with our names and give as gifts to our friends.
All you do is fill a shaker with ice and pour in the vodka, shake and pour into martini glasses. Just try it I promise you it's worth it. There is no taste of vodka (believe me, even the THOUGHT of doing a shot of straight vodka makes me gag). We later had an impromptu cocktail party and invited some friends over to try it and I swear every single person had the same reaction we did. First there's not too much enthusiasm when Pineapple Vodka is mentioned (I think it makes people think of the fake flavored vodkas. yuck) Then they try it and it's "OMG! this is good? what did you say is in it? how did you make it?"
WARNING: THIS IS STRAIGHT VODKA. I REPEAT. THIS. IS . STRAIGHT. VODKA. DO NOT KEEP SPLASHING INTO YOUR GLASS. JUST BECAUSE IT'S SO FRESH AND YOU CAN'T TASTE THE ALCOHOL DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD HAVE 3 GLASSES OF IT.
Not that any of you smart people would do that. Not that we did that. Ahem. hoooo noooo. not us. I mean how clueless would you have to be not to think about the fact that you are drinking hard alcohol when it's hot out and it tastes so refreshing. pffff 'cause if you did that you might be a little off balance when you get up to go to the bathroom and you might bump in to the wall just a little bit on your way back outside which might make you then realize that this stuff needs to be consumed sparingly. I mean it's just a thought.... not like I would know or anything.
So go forth and make yourself some. Then come back here and tell me about it or tell me your experiences if you have had it or made some yourself. Or just feel free to just leave a comment to say hi or that it's a little sad that I just got way to excited over alcohol. I can take it really. :)
UPDATE** I've had a couple people mention that they didn't have success with their batch. I think there are a couple of reasons for this so here are some tips:
1. It must be 10 days! (most of the time) I have known a few that tried to rush it for a party and I swear even just 1 day can make a difference. Taste test towards the end (see tip 4 below)
2. make sure than your jar is airtight...the onces I bought have rubber seals so I know I'm good.
3. Don't store in direct sunlight. I just put it in my front room....it's not a dark room by any means but there is no direct sunlight hitting the jar.
4. Taste it....you don't want to be opening it so that you limit the air but when I get to day 8 I usually take out a test sample once a day. You'll know when its ready! If you take out a shot and it very vodka-ey it's not ready and then one day you'll taste it and go OMG this is GOOD! :)
