So I got out of work early yesterday, and me and a couple buddies headed out to Jasper White’s Summer Shack, my company’s local watering hole, for a few drinks. Our bartender Christine showed us a new bottle they had just gotten in that morning, Absolut Boston.
Apparently Absolut Vodka is making special vodka blends, with one city a year (I guess LA and New Orleans were chosen previously). This year it would appear Boston is the city of choice, and being the townie that I am, I decided immediately that I should invent some drinks with a Boston theme. After all, my wife may be the cook in the family, but I strive to be the mixologist, or maybe just the drunk, but I digress.
Now Absolute Boston is pretty interesting. It’s a vodka infused with Black Tea and Elderflower, which has a taste similar to blue or blackberries. Now, being Boston themed I understand exactly why they’d choose black tea, but elderflower? Strange. Either way, after a little bit of experimentation and feedback from Dan and Doug, my panel of tasters, I came up with my masterpiece:
Boston Tea Party
1.5 – 2 shots Absolut Boston
Unsweetened Iced Tea
Splash of Simple Syrup
Serve in a pint glass, garnish with Lemon
Let me tell you, this is a fantastic drink on a hot summer day. It was a little difficult to conceive of something that would go well with the elderflower, but I think we did it in spades. Of course, this was after trying it out with iced tea and lemonade, which wasn’t so great, but like Julia Child says, the joy of cooking drinking is that you can get plastered doing it… Is that it?
But I digress, once I had come up with my masterpiece everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. Dan suggested that there should be a drink with Absolut Boston and Kahlua, so we tried one with equal parts Kahlua, Absolut Boston and Cola. It was pretty good, but wasn’t quite what we were looking for. After some deliberation, we came up with something that works, substituting Bailey’s Irish Creme for the Kahlua, and viola, our second masterpiece. A great name is required for a great drink, so we present to you:
The Muddy Charles
1 Part Absolut Boston
1 Part Bailey’s Irish Creme
1 Part Cola
Serve in a rocks glass over ice
The drink has the texture we were looking for, but was slightly light in color in comparison to the Charles, but you can’t win ‘em all. I threw out the idea that a swirl of chocolate syrup on top might be the way to go, but I leave that to your discretion, dear reader.
We were feeling pretty good by this time, but I felt that to cap off the afternoon we must achieve the trifecta, not to mention that Doug had continually been saying that there needed to be a drink called The Red Line.
After some deliberation, I took it upon myself to try to nail it down, and while some feel it is still unrefined, I believe that I have a winner:
The Red Line
1 Shot Absolut Boston
Splash of Grenedine
Serve in a Shot Glass with a Maraschino Cherry at the bottom
It was pretty smooth, with a slight bite at the end, which is fitting given it’s namesake. Unfortunately I was the only one to try this drink, so I don’t know what other people’s feelings on it are, but if you try it, please let me know your thoughts!
While we were inventing these drinks, Christine took a Boston Tea Party for her manager to try, and he enjoyed it alot. So much, in fact, that Absolut Boston is going to be the Drink Special of the Month at the Summer Shack in Cambridge, so if you find yourself in the area, get down there and have a Boston Tea Party!
Also, if anyone from Absolut is reading this, I’d love to be the recipient of a case of Absolut Boston.
Feel free to use my drink recipes as you will!
