Sunset Cocktail (From Beyond): Shatner’s Gremlin on Twilight Zone Day
1 1/2 oz Bellion Vodka
3/4 oz Maurin Quina
1/2 oz Key Lime Juice
1/4 oz Mansinthe Absinthe
Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled Cocktail glass. Garnish with a Key Lime Wheel.
Happy Twilight Zone Day (and yes, I did kinda purposely skip Star Wars day on the 4th as there was already a few zillion SW posts clogging the arteries of the internets and I had nothing new to add.) There are a couple of Twilight Zone drinks out there, but they seem to be tiki cocktails or godsforsaken frozen drinks. So, I figured I’d try a hand at making something new…
Whenever the Twilight Zone comes up, whether it’s the old TV show or the 80’s movie, the most iconic image is, of course, the gremlin on the wing of the airplane of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and either William Shatner’s career best performance from the show in 1963 or John Lithgow’s near career best performance from the Twilight Zone Movie movie from 1983 (he’ll never beat his Dr. Emilio Lizardo). Since he was the first and I’m old enough to have seen the TV episode before the remake when the movie came out (though not old enough to have seen the episode when it originally aired) I named this drink for The Shatner.
The Maurin Quina takes the stage here thanks to the lack of flavor from the Vodka but it may have turned out better with Lemon juice (and maybe a little less than a half ounce). I used the Limes because to get through all of them I had before they went bad. As a whole the flavor profile worked but, to me, it did end up a bit saccharine aftertaste. That could be the Mansinthe/Maurin Quina combo or the fault of the odd Vodka with their vague “NTX Technology” which does add a bit of sweetening..
I never mix much with Vodka, it always seems like a weak way to introduce alcohol to a drink for people who don’t like alcohol. Don’t get me wrong, I like a nice, clean Vodka all on its own, but unless you’re drinking it straight (especially from an ice bar) or making a classic Moscow Mule or Cosmopolitan, it’s too often used as a shortcut/cop-out that adds ABV to whatever the fuck liquid, sugar and/or food coloring people have lying around.
This particular Vodka touts its NTX Technology as a super scientific, liver saving infusion of biotechnical science that they really can’t seem to explain much of the science of on their site as it must be far too sciency to understand. I admit, there was a pretty girl in the liquor store dolling out shots and somehow I ended up taking the bottle home but, if I’ve learned nothing else from the hi-fi industry and religion, I’ve learned that when something tells you how much better it will make your life without any explanation how, it’s probably bullshit or Brawndo. At least it tastes quite good, wasn’t expensive and doesn’t claim to regrow bald spots or increase the size of my penis. All in all, it’s a solid Vodka.
