Winston's Diary

The blueberry drop recipe gets its own post, because, as J points out in the comments below, this is really the most important thing discussed in my post below.

Basically, it's just a variation on a lemon drop. The trick is to find good blueberry juice. We've been using a brand called Wyman's that we picked up at CostCo--two 64 ounce bottles for six bucks, which is a damned sight cheaper than Knudsen's juices.

If you can't find Wyman's, then check the ingredients label. It's never 100% blueberry juice, of course, but the level of blueberry taste varies greatly. I've found that if apple juice is listed too high on the ingredients, the taste of apple has a drastic effect on the taste of blueberry. In the Wyman's, the ingredients are blueberry juice, grape juice, and then apple juice.

Anything that doesn't have blueberry juice as the first ingredient will likely not have a strong blueberry flavor.

That said, the drink is simple. 3 ounces of vodka (we've been using Svedka lately--Wine and Spirits gave it a 93, and you can pick up a 1.75 liter bottle for under $20). One ounce of blueberry juice, and one ounce of simple syrup (which is simply equal parts water and sugar dissolved over a low heat--make a couple of cups worth and store in the refridgerator, as it's excellent for iced coffee drinks). Shake well with ice. If you use a blender, please don't tell me about it, as I can't really be friends with people who make drinks in a blender.

You can adjust as your taste dictates. I usually do 4 ounces of vodka, 1 1/2 ounces of blueberry juice, and 1/2 ounce of simple syrup.

I also created one variant, which is to pour the 4 ounce version into a tall glass and fill with club soda--basically a vodka collins with blueberry juice instead of lemon juice.

When blueberries come into season again, I'm going to make a batch of blueberry liqueur and see how that mixes with the vodka. I made some cranberry liqueur a couple of summers ago, and I've been using that instead of cranberry juice in Cosmos for a little extra kick.

Anyway, I think you could use any fruit juice as a variant in this recipe. A company called Pom has marketed a series of pomegranate juices and pomegranate juice blends. These might be interesting. I also used freshly squeezed grapefruit juice to make a grapefruit drop. That one was tricky--I had to add a lot of grapefruit juice to get the flavor correct, and of course it needed more syrup to offset the bitterness of the grapefruit. Next time I may try some grapefruit infused vodka, and see how that works.

Hmm. Maybe I should start a bartending blog. This was so much more enjoyable to discuss than literature and politics . . .