The concept to create vodka infused with espresso was an apparent one for Glass Vodka founding proprietor Ian MacNeil. “Initially, I’m a espresso geek,” he tells me over the telephone from his workplace at Glass Vodka Seattle distillery.

A protracted-time lover of all issues espresso, with a weak point for each espresso and French press-style drinks, Ian turned much more enthralled with the artwork of coffee-making when his good friend gifted him a espresso roaster in 2003. “I realized that there’s an enormous distinction between espresso that you just’ve roasted your self and drink inside three days and low that’s roasted commercially,” he explains. He likens it to a sun-ripened tomato eaten off of the vine versus a tomato bought within the grocery retailer.

The espresso MacNeil selected
for Glass’s Kona Vodka is the Hapuna Kehai mix, comprised of beans grown
underneath the Hawaiian solar at a single property on
the Massive Island that are hand-roasted in small batches by Seven Espresso Roasters
in Ballard, Washington.

Like all good issues, MacNeil’s
approach for making coffee-infused vodka developed over time, and concerned
a lot trial and error. His experimentation started in 2014, when he poured complete
recent Hapuna Kihei espresso beans into a mix of vodka and water and allow them to
steep for 2 weeks in a chrome steel barrel, stirring them each few days.

“Chemically  it was a gradual extraction of all the taste and colours from the beans,” MacNeil explains. Subsequent, he put that combination right into a charred oak barrel, and left it for one more 5 to 10 days. “The charred oak barrel imparts this vanilla caramel type of toasted notice to the product, and it makes you assume that it’s going to be candy, but it surely’s not…So once you style the vodka you get this clean espresso after which it finishes like vodka, ” he continues.

Over time MacNeil’s preliminary
approach proved to be labor-intensive and costly, so the entrepreneur
developed a brand new vodka recipe utilizing cold-brew espresso. Vodka is generally
“proofed” by including water to it earlier than it’s offered, however utilizing chilly brew espresso
means the espresso taste is “injected” into the vodka together with the water.

Subsequent, MacNeil barrel ages the vodka
for ten days, leading to a wealthy, dark-colored coffee-flavored vodka that’s
not candy however does have candy and caramel notes.

MacNeil says the vodka will get rave
evaluate from individuals who love espresso, together with himself, who enjoys Glass Kona Vodka neat. Glass Kona Vodka
additionally makes an attractive White Russian. The crème de la crème, although, is The
Hummer, a creamy, chilly, espresso flavored blended drink that MacNeil makes a
large batch of to serve company at his household’s Whistler chalet after a day on
the slopes.

Right here’s
Ian MacNeil’s private Hummer recipe:

Components

¼ gallon of your favorite vanilla
ice cream

½ a bottle
of Glass Kona Vodka

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

3 tbsp. of your favorite chocolate
syrup

A handful of ice

1 cup of milk

Cocoa powder

Technique

Add all components to a blender
and mix till clean. Pour into martini glasses and mud with cocoa
powder. Get pleasure from!

Glass Kona Vodka is
at the moment being featured in Glass Vodka’s Valentine’s Present Field, which
features a pot of chocolate ganache, two Champagne flutes and two gold spoons,
amongst different goodies. It’s obtainable for buy in-store or on-line.