Round 1: Infused Whiskey

My fa-vo-rite baaaaars do it. (Ahem, The Shakedown and Knee High Stocking Company.) Beeeeeees do it. Even educated fleeeeeeas do it! Let's do it! Let's put stuff in whiskey!

PAX Prime is just around the corner, and for those of us in Seattle within the video game community, that means that it's time to start entertaining the notion of entertaining some house guests, in fancier-than-usual style. Puttin' on the Ritz, and all that jazz.

So.

I am attempting to infuse whiskey with non-whiskey flavors, to see what will happen. Because it's soooooooooo fashionable.

Tonight's contenders INCLUDE!

Pickling spice
I'm actively rooting for this one. It smells better than it sounds.

Cloves
Already proven popular by pros, but I'm not overly confident. I may still steep it for too long, or select the wrong clove-to-booze ratio.

Penzeys Dried Orange Peel
Effin' SMART! I have no doubts or worries about this decision, apart from the nonspecific dread that I've learned to pair with this kind of blind optimism. But otherwise? Chipper.

Peet's Irish Breakfast Tea
All the bars anymore already have an Earl Grey infused whiskey, so going for another strong black tea seems like a solid choice. However, I am worried about steeping time here, because I prefer to steep black teas in water for about 3.5 minutes. If I want especially strong tea, I normally add more leaves instead of adding more steeping time, because an overlong steep creates a bitterness that I don't much like. This tea is just sitting in the fridge, in some whiskey overnight. I have my concerns.

Herbes de Provence
I... ah... erm... impulsivity is a perfectly normal symptom of ADHD, and curiosity just HAPPENS to be a necessary component of any fine scientific mind. Which is to say that I'm painfully curious about this one, and I know that I'll still drink it later, even if it sucks. And it very likely will suck. And that's okay.

And there you have it! Everything gets to steep overnight in the fridge, and I'll see what happens in the morning.

I regret not having any vanilla beans to work with, but I've added them to the shopping list.

And not to get further off-topic, but look what else I found when searching YouTube for clips from All That Jazz. That's something else, isn't it? Look at them go!