YEEHA!
How odd it is when thing in life start to link up. Yesterday, in conversation with two of my guests on Latest TV News Texas came up. You may well ask why so here it is. In conversation with Tamara Larder and Mardi Roberts from Ridgeview Wines, makers of brilliant sparkling Sussex wines, the subject turned to their global presence and then to Texas. Tangentially I remarked that 34 year ago,when I first moved to Brighton best selling author and friend Peter James introduced me to Butler’s Wine Cellar and to a rather surprising Texan Chardonnay.
You may well be wondering where I am going with this and to be honest I am not surprised, so here it is.
A few weeks back I was sent a bottle of vodka. Now I am not a vodka fan or in any sense a vodka drinker. Over the years I have been both mystified and disappointed by most offerings of the Russian national tipple. I opened the packaging and there it was, a bottle of Texan pot distilled vodka. It was 10am in the morning so I put it to one side, even I have limits and standards.
Later that day I was at a low ebb and decided that a spot of tasting was in order. Now as far as I have been concerned, with a few exceptions, vodka and tasting seemed like a tautology, can you use the two words in once sentence – or paragraph even. Well now my mind has been changed.I employed my usual tasting techniques, first the nose, well that was a surprise, it has a nose, there is a rich nasal experience that goes way beyond the expected hit of spirit. This was supported by my first taste, that of the neat spirit. Was this really vodka, I mean this drink has flavour. My next test is to add a splash of water, decent water of course. The addition of a splash unlocks more flavour in the same way it does with whiskey and with gin. Well with water this becomes a very tasty tot.
Of course vodka is used in so many cocktails but all too often only there to add the booze kick to a soft drink or fruit juice based beverage and if that is your thing then use something less impressive, why waste this in cola or tonic where its subtlety may be lost. I however paired it up with some delicately ginger and lime flavoured soda to great effect and rather amusingly created a Texan mule, Yeeha indeed!
So finally on to the name, Tito, and one more coincidence. In my twenties I designed book covers and amongst them a biography of Tito. On the back of the book was a painted portrait of Il Duce himself, an image that my colleagues thought was my doppeltgänger.
So maybe I look like Tito, but I have certainly been converted to vodka by this delightful hand crafted and pot still distilled delight.
titosvodka.com
