What to do with my new batch of crabapple vodka

[Nyleve Baar]

When life gives you crabapples...and you don't want to make jelly...you make crabapple vodka! Basically just cut crabapples in half and steeped in vodka - probably nearly a month now. It smells delicious. Almost spicy - which is weird because the only thing in it is crabapples and vodka. I'd love some ideas for cocktails for next week's Canadian Thanksgiving. People?

[FoodMan]

How does it taste? My first hunch is to use it instead of apple brandy or Calvados in any cocktail recipe that asks for those. Things that should go good with it I would think include lemon, maple, cinnamon, orange bitters/zest, rum, apple vinegar syrup,...

[Lisa Shock]

I'd try to do as little as possible to it to preserve the unique flavor. At first, I'd just make a highball with some simple syrup and soda water and explore the flavor. (taste it, then add bitters and see how that works) Then, consider adding lemon juice, see how that goes, and then move on to more complex ingredients.

[Nyleve Baar]

My thought too. It seems a shame to drown it in a stronger flavour but not sure it has enough oomph to stand up on its own.

 

[SLB]

I'm thinking a bone-dry martini with a twist.  If you want to sweeten it a little bit you could do a sugar rim (I usually use something like panela or whichever one of those cane products I have lying around, crumbled up in advance for, um, just this purpose . . . )

 

[And I realize that a sugar-rim may be way too crude for many of the folks here, but, um, I do 'em here at home all the time.  Because me, I like an eeny-teeny sweet followed by a serious SPIRIT-FORWARD wallop.]