Vodka Tonic

New Amsterdam is the standard cocktail gin here at Casa de Benito. It has an excellent citrus note, good balance, and a respectable quality-price ratio. It's a curious sideline in the Gallo portfolio, but I was honestly impressed with the product when I first tried it. Recently the vodka showed up around here, and I decided to give it a whirl.

New Amsterdam Vodka
Modesto, California
$22/1.5L, 40% abv.
Distilled from "midwestern grains". The vodka is smooth with just a little bite on the finish. Aromatically there's just a touch of wheat, though when blended in cocktails it serves as a solid neutral spirit. Highly recommended as a good standard bar vodka, and I will always love the art deco design of the bottle.

After sampling it straight, I decided to make a vodka tonic.

Vodka Tonic
1 part Vodka
1 part Tonic Water

Stir with ice, strain into glass.

Really? Do I need to have a recipe here? I admit that this is low-grade supermarket tonic water, but while I love the bitter sting of quinine, I dislike the heavy sweetness of even the good organic blends. Diet tonic water is a weird product, because it tastes sweeter than the HFCS stuff but has a disagreeable chalky element. However, this cocktail is one of the classics, and even with a basic tonic water, it made for a quick and refreshing cocktail on a Saturday afternoon. The lemon peel curl is optional but, in my opinion, always appreciated.