The Potent Parvenu

playboy's food & drink editor

Vodka, according to the ads, will leave you breathless. This pitch makes a particular appeal to those executives who sometimes return to the office right after an important business lunch with a breath strong enough to carry freight. The advertising claim is indeed correct. Vodka will leave you breathless.

It will also, if you drink enough of it, leave you speechless and motionless.

Vodka is a drink for people who hate liquor. Hence, its recent zoom to popularity in this country. Americans love to get high, but an appalling percentage of them don't give a damn for the taste of booze. In fact, many Americans actively dislike it.

Vodka is simply pure grain neutral spirits distilled in the same manner as gin. While gin, however, is redistilled with juniper berries to give it its characteristic flavor, vodka is processed through charcoal to remove as much flavor as possible. The secret of good vodka seems to be not in the original distillation but in the charcoal process which occurs afterward. The kind of wood from which the charcoal was made, such as hickory, oak or cherry, determines the tone and clarity of the final product. Some distillers filter their vodka through as many as nine different columns of charcoal.

Fortunately, while America's vodka appetite has vaulted higher and higher, the sales of gin haven't dropped at all. As a matter of fact the gin output jumped in 1955 about two million gallons over 1954. Apparently there are still a sufficient number of drinkers who want their Martinis to taste of honest juniper juice and who know that a Tom Collins was originally a drink made with English Old Tom gin and no other substitute.

Playboy, frankly, loves the man-sized flavor of strong waters (as any true bon vivant should) but as an up-to-the-minute handbook for the urban male, we have a duty to perform: namely, to pass along a few tips on how to make vodka -- that tasteless tipple -- tasty.

Actually, like any other food or drink that passes over the back of the tongue, vodka isn't completely tasteless. If, for testing purposes, you were to sip in succession three or four prominent brands of American vodka at room temperature, you would detect certain definite minor differences in flavor. The true vodka virtuoso, needless to say, doesn't permit even this fraction of a sensation to affect his taste buds.

In Finnish restaurants, for instance, one drinks vodka straight, as an apertif. When the Finnish bartender reaches for the vodka, he brings out a bottle robed in a thick blanket of ice. The ice was formed by placing the bottle of vodka in a can of water, freezing the water and then removing the can. The Finn pours the biting cold vodka into glasses which have been pre-iced The extreme cold helps to nip any residual flavor which might have remained in the liquor. The drink is taken bottoms up. While the Finn is swallowing the vodka with one hand, his other hand is reaching for a plate of plump herring fillets, bright with oil. Then, if by accident a slight wisp of alcoholic flavor lingers in his mouth, it's at once obliterated by the intense flavor of the herring. The correct Finn repeats the step two more times. After the second draft of vodka, he may eat some thinly sliced smoked salmon. After the third, he may munch a slice of hot sausage on rye bread. Then slowly the quiet Finn begins to feel the presence of the Northern Lights rising in the sky and his taciturn nature turns into a wonderful slow ecstacy.

There are now about 100 different brands of vodka on sale in American liquor stores. When you buy a bottle of vodka, the salesman will ask you if you want 80 proof or 100 proof. These are the main categories, but there are a number of variations from these low and high powered models. Nikoff brand vodka is bottled at 90 proof on the theory that a good average strength vodka will provide an all purpose liquor suitable for straight or mixed versions. Imported Borzoi Wolfhound vodka manufactured in England is put up at 91.5 proof. Kord. also imported, is 100 proof. The most potent domestic vodka is Cavalier brand, a hefty 103 proof specimen.

For those who like vodka but still want some semblance of flavor, there are lemon flavored and peppermint flavored vodkas although they are small stars in the constellation. Perhaps the most distinctive of all flavored vodkas is the imported Zubrovka from Czechoslavakia. Its flavor is developed by steeping vodka in Buffalo grass which is grown only in Poland. In each bottle of Zubrovka there is a blade of Buffalo grass.

Even a colored vodka has now entered the tourney. Golden Yar vodka originally made in Holland but now distilled in this country is bottled at 86 proof.

Between the imported and domestic varieties of vodka there are no earth-shaking differences. A special citation, however, should be given to the Finland House vodka bottled and shipped by the Republic of Finland. It's dry and silky smooth, with a stunning 101.8 proof. For cold straight pre-dinner drinking, it provides the most happy kind of exhilaration.

Vodka drinks fall into several main categories. First of all, there are the drinks in which vodka takes the place of gin, whiskey or other liquor. For those drinkers who may dislike the flavor (concluded on page 80)Potent Parvenu(continued from page 39) of a particular liquor but who nevertheless like the liquor mixtures, vodka is a natural. To make a vodka Martini, for instance, you merely combine three or four parts of vodka to one part of dry vermouth, twirl with ice and then strain into a cocktail glass. A vodka and tonic is simply a jigger of vodka poured into a seven-ounce glass to which is added the juice of a half lime plus the squeezed lime, ice and quinine water. A vodka fizz is a jigger of vodka, the juice of a half lime plus the squeezed lime, ice and carbonated water -- all in a small highball glass. In the same manner you may serve vodka on the rocks, a vodka and ginger ale highball or any other accepted recipe that appeals to you.

The Screwdriver is one of the representatives of the second class of vodka combinations -- the vodka and fruit juice mixtures. To make a Screwdriver you merely combine vodka, orange juice and ice in a tall glass -- in almost any proportion that suits your taste. If you use freshly squeezed orange juice, the drink will have more integrity than if you use frozen orange juice or canned orange juice. If the fresh oranges are the new crop oranges such as the Florida oranges in the fall or the "new" California navels, you may want some added sugar with the drink. Almost any other fruit juice harmonizes delightfully with vodka -- cider, apple juice, grapefruit juice, grape juice, pineapple juice, loganberry juice or even cranberry juice. The fruit juice combinations with vodka will be made more lively by adding a few drops -- not more -- of fresh lemon juice. All of the fruit juice compounds should be really frosty cold with the ice jangling in the thin highball glasses.

Vodka is, of course, most renowned as a combination with tomato juice called the Bloody Mary. And this is the third category of vodka mixed drinks; i.e., the drinks that originated with vodka alone and for which vodka is famed. Playboy presents herewith several social lubricants, all made with vodka, all compounded, tested and given the complete works in Playboy's own experimental bar.

[recipe_title]Beer Buster[/recipe_title]

For those who like to key up with beer rather than with cocktails before dinner, for football fans hoarse from cheering, for men who like a long cold drink with their bubbling hot Welsh Rabbit and for all cheese connoisseurs, the Beer Buster, Playboy's own creation, is especially recommended.

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ounces of 100 proof vodka[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Ice cold beer[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 dashes of tabasco sauce[/drinkRecipe]

Use a 12-ounce glass or oversize beer mug for the above ingredients. Beer, glasses and vodka must be ice cold. Pour the vodka, beer and tabasco sauce into the glass. Stir lightly. For a smaller size drink use a 1-ounce shot of vodka, an 8-ounce glass of beer and 1 dash of tabasco sauce.

[recipe_title]Bloody Mary[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ounces of vodka[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]6 ounces of tomato juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Juice of 1/2 lemon[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 dash salt[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 dash pepper[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 dash tabasco sauce[/drinkRecipe]

Put all the above ingredients in a cocktail shaker with coarsely cracked ice. Shake well. Pour unstrained into a large highball glass, or strain and pour into a small highball glass.

[recipe_title]Moscow Mule[/recipe_title]

This is a cousin of the Horse's Neck, a ginger ale drink which includes a long spiral of lemon peel. The lemon should be cut with a paring knife in the same manner that an apple is pared, leaving the lemon peel in one piece if possible.

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ounces of vodka[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Ice cold ginger beer[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Long spiral of lemon peel, at least 3 inches long[/drinkRecipe]

Put two or three large ice cubes into a tall glass. Add the lemon peel and the vodka. Fill the glass with ginger beer. Stir lightly.

[recipe_title]Kummel Car[/recipe_title]

This is the Slavic version of the Side Car.

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ounces of vodka[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 ounce of kummel[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 ounce of lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Lemon peel, small piece[/drinkRecipe]

Put the vodka, kummel and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously, at least 100 times. Pour into a pre-chilled cocktail glass. Twist the lemon peel over the drink and drop the peel into the glass.

[recipe_title]Vodka Fruit Sauces[/recipe_title]

Brandied fruits and fruits in rum have long been luscious accompaniments for ice cream desserts. In Playboy's recent vodka tryouts, the liquor was found to harmonize beautifully with black cherries and frozen strawberries.

To make the strawberry mixture, thaw one 10-ounce can or package of sliced, sweetened strawberries. Add 1-1/2 ounces of vodka. Let the mixture stand one hour to ripen before serving. Spoon over vanilla or strawberry ice cream.

Vodka and black cherries are combined as follows. Drain a No. 2 can of black pitted cherries (not the red sour pie cherries). Drain well to remove as much cherry juice as possible. Combine the cherries with three ounces of vodka. Let the mixture stand at least 5 or 6 hours in the refrigerator. Place the cherries and vodka in a saucepan and heat until the liquor bubbles. Remove from the fire. Add another jigger of vodka. Light the liquid with a match. Let the blue flames play around the fruit for a few seconds, and then spoon the hot cherries over vanilla ice cream. The fine flavor of the ice cream and cherries won't be damaged a bit by the vodka.