Those leaves outside my window are changing. The rotation of Spring jackets have moved from the far left in the closet to front & center for their Autumnal reawakening. Suddenly those shorts seem passé and I'm no longer keeping the AC on blast during my workout sessions. As the Fall rears its moodily colorful, crisper more harvest-like head, up-ahead ushers the seasonal usuals like Halloween, Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving, but let's be honest. Those days don't get me through the influx of inter-office seasonal coughs, sneezes and colds. Further, those days certainly don't get me through the pandemic-like flu-shot announcements much less the upcoming ideas of holiday shopping leading to post-holiday debt. That's predominantly why since 2009 there has been a National Vodka Day.
That crisp spirit that remains colorless and odorless until it's imbibed, then becomes full of color and festivity is being officially paid homage to on October 4th. While this Thursday will not trump the frightful revelry of Halloween, the honor & salute of Veteran's Day or the gluttonous camaraderie of Thanksgiving, what it will do is remind you that there's a good ol' spirit to make the emotions of Fall that less annoying.
So to start off my lead in to National Vodka Day is Seagram's Extra Smooth Vodka. This vodka lives up to its name by being distilled five times to create a very clean taste that is free from the medicinal muddiness of some vodkas. The finest pure American grain is used for this vodka which, together with the distilling process, creates a rather fresh and classic tasting spirit. You can experience the clean crispness at first sip and even get a faint lingering note of sweet after it clears the palette. This makes Seagram's Extra Smooth Vodka a great standalone on the rocks or an excellent base for a cocktail that won't add any unnecessary notes to the palette other than the purity of the spirit with the flavors of the additional mixology ingredients.
Seagram's Extra Smooth Vodka can make a perfect vodka neat, vodka & soda or vodka & cran but I chose to revisit one of my faves with it, a dirty martini. Check out the recipe for a Martini Noir below:
Martini Noir
2 ounces Seagram's Extra Smooth Vodka
1/2 tsp Dry Vermouth
1/4 ounce Kalamata Olive Juice ( use 1/2 - 3/4 ounces of you want it very dirty)
Combine the vodka, dry vermouth and olive juice to a shaker with ice. Shake it up then strain into a martini glass and garnish with about 3 kalamata olives on a cocktail skewer (5 if you like the drink dirtier I do). Normally you just bob and stab the olives but I took a tad of artistic licensing with mine.
This was such a nice dirty martini. The brininess of the kalamata juice is a saltier and earthier and a nice balance to fragrant vermouth and the smoothness of the vodka.
So you've now been briefed of an unofficial holiday that'll get you through the sometimes depressing start of Fall all the way to the rustling in of Halloween. Seagrams Extra Smooth Vodka is available now at your finer wine and spirit retailers and as always please remember to enjoy responsibly.
