Your own easy, fresh mixologist cocktails: The Tastemaker (with recipes)

Most people don’t want to get out — or even buy — a mortar and pestle for muddling flavors into drinks. Let’s face it: it’s even annoying when someone else is doing it at a bar! First of all, your drink takes too damned long to make. Then, you pay through the nose for that flavor infusion. Plus, if you’ve had anything like the weather I’ve had lately, you don’t even want to go out! Last night, in that regard, I killed two birds with one stone: I looked at the weird Super Wolf Blood Moon and let my little dog mark the snow in one shot. Then, I went inside and made myself a drink.

The Tastemaker is an ingenious infuser/shaker/strainer all in one. I was happy to be hosted try it!

I advise that you take a few minutes to play with the parts, so you get an idea of how things twist on and off, lock and unlock. You take it apart to stick it in the dishwasher. It’s made of Tritan plastic, which I am so happy to have learned the name of — they look and feel like glass and I also have some gorgeous picnic wine glasses made out of the same material.

You can infuse your creation right on a bottle (or canning jar, what-have-you) or on the stand. Make sure the bottom is locked until you need it. They say you can infuse in as little as 5 minutes, but as you can see in their recipes, they usually recommend 15. Add flavor to vodka, whisky, gin, rum, tequila, rum, etc. You can infuse fruits, veggies, syrups, peppers, olives, herbs, even candy!

I made myself a sort of Old-Fashioned mix: bourbon with some leftover pieces of honeybell orange, a bit of its peel for “bitters”, plus a splash of grenadine. It was cute and colorful, easy and flavorful! This really beats standing around, making a bunch of individual cocktails for friends. Mint Juleps — come Kentucky Derby time — will be a breeze, thanks to my garden mint!

THE RUMBA

Ingredients:

• White rum or Mezcal
• 2 Tbs. cacao powder
• Warm orange peel from 1/2 orange
• 1 Twix candy bar cut in 4
• 2 Tbs. maple syrup

Recipe: Place non-alcohol into Tastemaker and fill with one of the recommended alcohols. Shake to mix ingredients and let infuse for 15 min. Serve on the rocks, with cream or pour over vanilla ice cream. Garnish with graham cracker.

THE C-SWEET

Ingredients:

• Tequila, Mezcal or gin
• 1-2 orange slices cut in 4
• 5 grated baby carrots
• 1-2 Tbs. honey or ginger syrup
• Optional: 2 pinches of fresh grated ginger

Recipe:

Place orange slices and fresh ginger into Tastemaker and muddle (I say, if you feel like it!). Add other ingredients and fill with one of the recommended alcohols. Shake to mix ingredients and let infuse for 15 min. Serve on the rocks with a dash of ginger ale. Garnish with a small red radish on a toothpick.

CANDIED VODKA

Ingredients:

• Vodka
• Your favorite fruity candy (works best with sugary and highly flavored candy like Skittles, Starburst, Nerds, etc.)

Recipe:

Place your favorite candy into the Tastemaker and fill with vodka. Shake to mix and let infuse for 15 minutes. Serve on the rocks or chill in the freezer and serve as shots.