A Different Kind of Infusion

Tea: Chrysanthemum

Music: The Beatles, "Penny Lane"

Time: Night

Last month -- I forget the day -- I went into the back yard and picked a double handful of mulberries from the tree there. I rinsed them, let them dry and then packed them into a clean jar.

Then I filled the jar with Most Wanted vodka, which I like because (a) it's made near Atchison, Kansas, and (b) it's good. I put the jar in a cool place in the basement and let it sit -- until this evening.

I strained the liquid in the jar -- now a deep, clear rose color -- into a freshly washed and dried bottle, which I then corked and put in the freezer. (Yes, I popped the cork every now and then to let air into the bottle. I wanted to be able to get the cork out once the bottle was cold.)

A few hours later, I put a shot glass into the freezer long enough to frost up. Then I filled it with a shot of the infused vodka, went outside and took a sniff.

The fruit was there, noticeably. Next step: down the hatch, Russian style.

Vodka can be oily at room temperature. There wasn't a hint of any oiliness here, though -- just a quick taste of fresh straw, followed by the mulberry note (rounding on the tongue and the roof of the mouth) and a sweet, grassy aftertaste.

As first efforts at infusing go, it might not have been a home run. But I'll call it a solid base hit -- and I'm already making plans for what's left. I've never muddled before -- but as with infusing, there's a first time for everything.