The biggest surprise was that it was in a frozen Vodkarita form that tasted like a margarita even without tequila.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nVodka, to me, will always carry the faint spiritual residue of college, when a poor man’s cocktail meant Kool-Aid powder dumped into a suspicious lime green plastic bucket, topped off with water, then aggressively baptized with the cheapest handle anyone could legally purchase. If you ever suffered through a $10 bottle of Burnett’s in a flavor that tasted like nail polish remover’s evil twin, you know exactly what I mean.<\/p>\n
So when I heard “Tabasco vodka,” my first reaction was not “yes, please, shots all around,”<\/em> so much as “oh no, I can already taste the nostalgia and regret chilling in my esophagus.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\nRelated Story<\/span>But what I will say is I am<\/em> a heat lover. I never miss an opportunity to tell people I’ve successfully conquered the Hot Ones<\/em> challenge. I want that tingly kick, that slow-building burn, that little lingering sting that makes you feel like you made a choice you might regret but are still willing to stand by it. Spicy margaritas are basically my brunch order of record. Tomato juice, on the other hand, is not something I seek out unless it\u2019s involved in pasta sauce. And yet, I still found myself in Ahus, Sweden, at the Absolut factory, getting an early taste of Absolut Tabasco in multiple forms: brunch drinks, cocktails, and the straight-up, no-hiding version. <\/p>\n\nIronically enough, the first thing put into my hand was a Bloody Mary, which is funny because, as I mentioned, I traditionally do not favor Bloody Marys. Tomato juice? Who does she think she is? I’ve always wanted to be that person; it never stuck. But the Absolut Tabasco version genuinely surprised me. The spice kind of had some manners\u2014and tomato juice, sincerest apologies\u2014and the heat showed up without bulldozing everything else in the glass. <\/p>\n
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Sean Abrams<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Sean Abrams<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBut the real taste test happened upon returning stateside. A bottle showed up at my door in a “heatproof” glass box that glows a bright red like a prop in a low-budget sci-fi film. So I did what any responsible adult would do: I decided to taste it again from the comfort of home, without the distraction of jet lag or a Swedish itinerary.<\/p>\n
Neat, it’s Tabasco through and through. You get that peppery heat and the vinegar tang right away, but it doesn\u2019t taste like someone dumped hot sauce into vodka and called it innovation. There’s a warmth that builds inside (that I still feel almost 20 minutes later as I write this) and lingers on your lips. It’s spicy, which is what I want, and you can fully grasp what it would do if used in a cocktail.<\/p>\n
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Sean Abrams<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Sean Abrams<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAnd honestly, that’s where it shines. I tried it across a few drinks, but the standout from the trip still holds: the frozen Vodkarita. Described as incorporating citrus with a “fresh margarita twist,” it gave full summer-on-the-beach energy, and as a tequila girl, I don’t say that lightly. If you hadn\u2019t told me there was no tequila in it, I wouldn’t have guessed. <\/p>\n
If you’re the kind of person who wants vodka to actually taste like something, and you\u2019re already a fan of heat, this is going to make sense for you. If you’re vodka-shy because of your own “bathtub punch” history, similar to mine, I can tell you this one isn’t here to remind you of college. If you see it and you\u2019re curious, it\u2019s not a waste of a sip\u2014and if this shows up at your brunch table in the form of a frozen Vodkarita, don’t ask questions.<\/p>\n\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n
I tried Absolut Tabasco in Sweden, then again at home after a fresh bottle arrived in a glowing, “heatproof” glass box. It has a peppery, vinegary Tabasco-style kick that builds and lingers, especially in a shot. The biggest surprise was that it was in a frozen Vodkarita form that tasted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}