When it comes to drinking liquor straight, I'm a scotch and bourbon man. Rum from time to time. I've never really been one for drinking straight vodka, preferring it as an ingredient in a mixed drink. But every now and then, along comes something that forces a man who enjoys the finer things in life (though can't actually afford to experience them) to reassess his preconceptions and make a bold shift toward a new paradigm of living. For me and my relationship with vodka, that moment came when I picked up my first bottle of vodka from California's Charbay micro-distillery. It was the flavoring that first attracted my attention -- blood orange -- and the fact that it was flavored entirely by fresh fruit rather than infused with artificial syrups. From blood orange, I moved on to Key lime, and both of those flavors have been covered here previously.

When assessing which Charbay bottle should be next to delight my palette (for by now, I had plenty of confidence that there wasn't going to be anything coming from them that would disappoint me), the obvious choice -- too obvious, in fact -- was red raspberry, though I'd had a couple people -- including one of our commenters here -- suggest that I should try the green tea vodka. It seemed a little off-the-wall, and I was hesitant thanks to a recent incident involving my sister swearing to me that this tomato wine she had was really good. I should have known never to trust someone who drinks an extra-dirty martini. But then, sometimes you have to live like the said of my old pair of Vans sneaks tell you to live: off the wall. So Charbay Green Tea vodka it was.

Still, even with the decision made, I started thinking about cocktails I could make with it before I was thinking of just drinking it straight. The suggestion of sake was made, but I really have to be in the right mood for sake, otherwise I simply don't care for it. During a recent dinner at Asiate in the swanky Mandarin Oriental Hotel, I remembered seeing a cocktail ont heir menu that used a green tea vodka, but thanks to half a bottle of wine at dinner and a bottle of champagne afterward, I wasn't doing real well with recalling what the list of ingredients had included. Was there a lemongrass ginger cordial involved somehow?

No, best to place my faith in Charbay and simply drink the vodka straight. So I did. And, once again, it was a wise, wise decision.

Their Green Tea vodka boasts a strikingly similar flavor to regular green tea -- not green tea flavoring, but the actual tea. It's herbal, with a hint of bitterness, and it goes down easy but manages to leave a lingering, burning trail the whole way down. Absolutely wonderful. The aftertaste, again, is one of tea rather than the alcohol, just as the aroma is of leaves and Jasmine. If it wasn't for the burn, you could heat this up and put it in a tea pot, and no one would be the wiser. Well, until they were a few cups in, anyway. Charbay master distiller Miles Karakasevic spent five years perfecting the vodka, which is made from a blend of four different types of green tea leaves. His dedication is, as always, much to the benefit of the rest of the world.

You could dream up some pretty good cocktails with this vodka as the base -- especially given the trend in Asian fusion mixing -- but all things considered, it almost seems a shame to even bother. Rarely have I encountered a vodka that is so relaxing, warm, and enjoyable to drink straight, in a martini or a highball glass. Iced with a squeeze of lemon works well, too, but even that seems almost too much like tampering with perfection. Green Tea Vodka -- it's like drinking a glass full of You Only live Twice, which is probably a really weird compliment to give. But Bond and Ian Fleming would enjoy the vodka.

This is one of those things I'm going to buy as a gift for people, then end up keeping for myself.

Labels: Drink