The Sochi Olympics are in full swing. That means we can find creative ways to drink and call it “research” as long as it’s related to the event. I thought it would be fun to explore infusions with vodka to align with the games. I’m using both Russian inspired flavors and the dominate spirit (historically) in Russia, vodka.  Infusions are a common and easy way to get flavors into your cocktails without a ton of effort. You can use water, oil or alcohol and each have different results. Alcohol is a great medium because it picks up flavors that water or oil won’t. Vodka or neutral grain spirits have little other flavors to content with the infusion so they are ideal but any alcohol will work. Special thanks to the DIY Olympic medals on loan from LishDorset.com.

I have a special fondness for Russian Standard. My friend Thom is a fluent speaker and has taken a number of trips to Russia. 11 or so years ago, I asked if he would bring a bottle back of what the locals drank. Russian Standard is what I received. He took this glass bottle on a number of trains, planes and automobiles to bring it back. This made it that much more special. It was like I had a personal importer. We enjoyed that bottle only to find a few years later it was being imported to the US. Not a bad thing (since I was all out) but it lost a little mystery. I grabbed a bottle from Holiday Market along with the supplies for the infusion.

I did my best to align with the Olympic ring colors. My selections were as follows:

• Blue Ring: Blueberries – Russians love berries.
• Yellow Ring: Lemon – This makes it into a number of recipes both sweet and savory which is like most cuisines.
• Black Ring: Darjeeling Tea – If you have been to either Russian Tea Time or Russian Tea Room, you know how much they like tea and especially Darjeeling
• Green Ring: Dill – It’s on everything. Ask Buzzfeed.
• Red Ring: Beets – How can you forget beets? Love me some good borscht.

I infused each flavor for 24 hours. When doing an infusion, timing is critical. This time period was ideal for some flavors but not for others. Each infusion had 1 cup of vodka to about 1/6th to 1/4th pint mason jar of flavoring.

If I had to judge my results on 1 to 10, I would get it a 7 or “meh plus”. Let’s explore each one.

• Blueberries: For this infusion I used whole blueberries and crushed them slightly. The resulting infusion was a wonderful berry smell and reminds me of summer. While I can’t discern it’s blueberries by smell alone, it is very pleasant.  That being said the color is in fact not blue but instead magenta. I had that fear and know that blue is a tricky color to keep. I debated blue potatoes but know those lose their color too. The taste did not disappoint. It has a stunning fruit flavor with slight taste of blueberry. I would drink this alone as well as  in a cocktail. The length of infusion was good but I could have gone longer easily.
• Lemon: Lemon peels with no pith was the base of this test. We are basically doing a limoncello base.  The smell gets you as soon as you open the jar. It is powerful and pleasing to the nose. The smell is bright but not in a medicinal way. The color is a vibrant transparent yellow and grabbed a lot of color from the peels. Upon tasting, the vodka flavor is present with a mellow lemon undertone that is clean and fresh. This was my favorite infusion. Longer infusions wouldn’t hurt here and likely would have produced an even stronger hue of yellow.
• Tea: Black is not often a tasty flavor. Charred meat looks good but char alone tastes like charcoal. I thought tea would work and settled upon 2 tablespoons of loose Darjeeling. By far and away the best smell of the infusions, it picked up all the floral notes of tea and them some. I would have imagined I was sitting on the porch drinking in the summer from smell alone. The color, while not black, was a dark coffee brown. This is where the train stopped, crashed and exploded. The taste was extra gross and bitter. If sadness had a taste, it would be this. By altering the length of the infusion, I’m sure I can fix this. I would try increments of 10 minutes until I find the flavor it like.
• Dill: One big sprig of dill was enough to make a powerful bouquet of herby delight in this infusion. I love dill (my Ukrainian blood) and this brought me back to grandma’s cooking. It wasn’t as strong the lemon but still a success. The color was weak. You could tell it was green but it was light. This goes same with the taste too. It was just a hint of dill and might work in a bloody marry but I fear it would get overshadowed. It might be fun with a mellow Ginger-ale and lemon for a variation of a Moscow mule. I think longer infusion time would be helpful here. Maybe a week.
• Beets: Half a fresh chopped beet is all you need for the darkest infusion you will ever see. This viscous and earthy concoction would be a vampire’s delight. It turned out to be the darkest and most opaque of all the experiments. On top of that the color was blood red. I’ve done this infusion before for events and I love the result. The flavor is intense, sweet and full of beetiness. Try mixing with carrot juice and a bit of simple syrup then ice in a Collin’s glass for a tall tasty cooler drink. You could have done a shorter infusion here. Probably 3-6 hours.

Now you are ready for some Olympic action. Even if your college days taught you the only way to drink vodka is shots, these infusions would change your mind. I had no problem sipping any of them (except the tea) and found them refreshing. Pair these with some Sprinkles Olympic Cupcakes and you have a great prime-time snack.

Let me know if you experiment with infusions. Friends have had great luck with coffee, cherries and herbs. You can really infuse anything. Results might not be great but that is how you learn.

Budmo!