Potent potables

Last weekend, before I started my new job, I went into a frenzy of infusing so that I could lay up a good stock of cocktail ingredients with which to toast surviving my first week. (It was also part of my resolution no. 8 for 2010, anyway.) Yes, like so many others in the world, in times of stress and trouble, I turn to home-infused booze:


On the far left, we have homemade maraschino cherries. Funny story: when I was at the liquor store, another woman was standing by me in front of the liqueurs section. We were both anxiously scanning the shelves when she said, "You'd think they'd have a smaller bottle of maraschino, right?" Yup--it turns out that we were both planning on making maraschino cherries and didn't want, like, a half-gallon of Luxardo. Now I have to figure out what to do with the remaining 4/5ths of the bottle. Aviations, anyone?

Next, we have something I'm really, really excited about: oat-and-honey vodka, a concoction conceived by the geniuses at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. I'll be ready to strain in tomorrow or early next week, and I'm already regretting not making a much larger batch. It smells heavenly, and the milky gold color is just gorgeous. (For the insanely perceptive, yes, I used steel-cut oats instead of rolled. That's all I had in my cupboard! I hope my fancy creamed honey--made by, ahem, Spanish nuns--redeems it.)


Next, we have the beginnings of some sunshine bitters, made with vodka, cardamom pods, and soon-to-be-added saffron threads, which will turn the whole thing a deep orange-red. Eventually, I'll transfer it into some amber glass bottles with dropper tops. I'm not quite sure how we'll use it, but fear not, we'll find a way.

And lastly, some classic pepper vodka, with which I know exactly what we'll do: Bloody Marys for a July 4th brunch. (Hopefully my fridge pickles will be ready by tomorrow, too--yum!) I only hope that there will be enough to go around, as one pint of vodka seems woefully short for six.


And lest you think my fridge and pantry are only stocked at 40-proof and above, we also have enough cold-brewed ice coffee, iced hibiscus tea, and iced chamomile (with fistfuls of lemon thyme) to set up shop on our stoop.

Which isn't a bad idea, actually. Wouldn't you buy from my lemonade/oat-and-honey vodka stand?