Premium vodka: a mixologist’s best friend
We caught up with Absolut Vodka Global Brand Ambassador Rico Dynan, who explains why vodka’s nuanced characteristics make for amazing cocktails and why the spicy-flavoured trend that Absolut is tapping into with the release of Absolut TABASCO, is here to stay.
Why is vodka such a versatile spirit for cocktails?
People say vodka is great for cocktails because it is a blank canvas or a neutral ingredient, but I don’t agree. For me, vodka is a team player in cocktails.
If you look at the science, ethanol is a flavour conductor, making other ingredients more flavourful. So, a quality vodka helps blend and carry flavours forward, amplifying what you put into the drink. That’s why I always tell people: if you mix a really good vodka with good orange juice, it will make it taste more orangey. If you mix it with poor orange juice, you’ll taste how bad it is.
A premium vodka, like Absolut, amplifies the flavours you put into it. Unlike rum or other spirits, vodka takes centre stage. It is more nuanced and can be unforgiving, but get it right, and wow, you’ll have delicious cocktails!
Vodka is a team player when it comes to cocktails – it amplifies flavours.
How has vodka’s role in cocktails evolved over the past 20 or 30 years?
Vodka’s heyday was in the 1980s and ’90s, when marketing exploded and drinks like Sex on the Beach and other playful creations reflected the culture of the time. In the early 2000s and 2010s, vodka was still king, but with the resurgence of speakeasy bars and a renewed interest in Prohibition-era cocktails in the mid-2010s.
Vodka began to be shunned and was often labelled a ‘flavourless gin’. Now, however, because people want to mix nostalgia and have more fun – vodka is a wonderfully playful ingredient!
Do flavoured vodkas play a significant role in cocktails?
When Absolut launched ‘Peppar’ and ‘Citron’ in the 1980s, they blew bartenders’ minds. Toby Cecchini, the bartender who created the Cosmopolitan using Absolut Citron, once said, “We were like, no way, dude, the flavour is inside the vodka. This is madness!” Their launches led people to experiment and make their own flavoured vodkas with everything from Skittles to Starburst sweets.
And I think we are going to see a new wave of flavoured vodkas playing a part in modern-day cocktails. Bars like Katana Kitten in New York are already paving the way with creative uses of flavoured vodkas such as Absolut Lime in its popular Melon-Lime Soda highball.
Can you explain the trend for spicy cocktails?
The growing trend has been shaped by two cocktails as well as the growing influence of women enjoying these drinks. The first major cocktail to lead this trend was the Dirty Martini, a catalyst for savoury drinks, followed by the Spicy Margherita, which originated in California in the early 2000s and is now popular in bars all over the world.
Flavours such as jalapeno, habanero, chipotle, Tabasco pepper, gochujang, Thai chilli, bird’s eye chilli, and mustard all pair well with vodka, making spicy flavours very versatile for vodka cocktails.
Is the spicy cocktail trend here to stay?
Even if another trend comes along, spicy cocktails will remain in a bar’s repertoire – they will be around forever. It’s like steak and chips; they will always be on the menu, even if they are not the most popular dish. The same will be true for spicy cocktails.
It’s like steak and chips; spicy cocktails will remain in a bar’s repertoire – they will be around forever.
What is the biggest challenge in creating flavoured vodkas?
It’s all about balance and achieving a true-to-fruit flavour. It’s also crucial to choose the right flavour profile, whether tart, floral, sweet, or another style. Take Absolut Citron. If you bite into a lemon, it’s tart and sour. But that doesn’t happen with Citron – it’s nottart like lemon juice; instead, its profile is floral and aromatic, resembling lemon zest or lemonade rather than the fruit itself.
Similarly, Absolut Raspberry doesn’t taste like fresh raspberries but instead it tastes like a raspberry coulis, because real raspberries are much more tart, whereas Absolut Raspberry isn’t. You just need to find the right angle and balance.
What were the challenges in creating Absolut TABASCO?
We had to ensure the vodka tasted like TABASCO Sauce, not just that it was hot. TABASCO Sauce, as a flavour, has so much depth that it’s often overlooked as a hot sauce in its own right. Its complexity comes from depth, fermentation and ageing, so we prioritised capturing that in the vodka.
We couldn’t simply add capsicum to vodka; capturing the full flavour of TABASCO Sauce, including its fermentation, salt, vinegar and heat, was essential.
Its unique fermentation and oak barrel ageing process gives it fruity, citrus, funky, umami, woody and smoky notes. So, we couldn’t simply add capsicum to vodka; capturing the full flavour of TABASCO Sauce, including its fermentation, salt, vinegar and heat, was essential.
How did you create the flavour of Absolut TABASCO?
When they make TABASCO Sauce, they start with chilli peppers, which are pounded into a mash, mixed with salt and then placed in a barrel. This barrel is covered in salt and stored in a warm warehouse in Louisiana, a place as hot as the gates of hell, where it is kept for three whole years. Once ready, they pop the barrel open, scrape off the salt and transfer the mash into a large vat. It then blends with white vinegar for about two weeks. After straining it, the remaining liquid becomes the Tabasco hot sauce.
The leftover solid, which is known as the ‘Process Blend’ is the by-product we use to create an essence that gives Absolut TABASCO its authentic flavour.
How does the Absolut Tabasco taste compare to TABASCO Sauce?
When we held a tasting for Christian Brown, a fifth-generation family member of McIlhenny Company (which makes Tabasco), he took one sniff and said it smelled exactly like the mash warehouses where Tabasco ages for three years. As soon as he said that, I was like “yeah, we nailed it”.
And I think most people who have tasted it since, especially those with a professional background, have gone, “Wow, it smells and tastes just like Tabasco”. What’s more, all the characteristics of Absolut Vodka are in there as well. It’s a perfect blend.
Most people who have tasted it since, especially those with a professional background, have gone, ‘Wow, it smells and tastes just like Tabasco’.
Where does Absolut Tabasco rank among flavoured vodkas for you?
I’m obviously biased because I helped create it, but Absolut TABASCO is currently my number one flavoured vodka. Before my favourite was Absolut Peppar, which is now a close second for me.
It’s funny because I am always being asked what the difference is between Absolut TABASCO and Absolut Peppar. It’s a very simple answer. They are very different. One is the flavour of a three-year-old fermented hot sauce from Louisiana and the other is the flavour of cracked black peppercorns!
