Smog-tini
Every summer my family and I take a trip to the beach. I know it sounds weird since we live only a few blocks away from the shore, but just the same we go. We go because it means a week without work, a week of just hanging out and having a blast! See, about 10 years ago my mom started renting a house on the lagoon in Stinson Beach, and every summer we go for a week full of fun, and we just got back.
While we’re there we swim, the boys catch crabs (and then let them go), we paddleboard, boogie board and do plenty of lounging. But it’s not all play. There’s plenty of cooking as well. Since we stay at a house right on the lagoon we come prepared to party. There’s beer, wine, lamb, chicken and plenty of fresh produce. And there’s a grill. So we’ll make great dinners every night. There are two meals that are standard while we’re at the beach: my father’s leg of lamb on the grill and a trip to Hog Island Oyster Company for a ton of raw oysters.
It’s that trip that excites me the most. We get about 60 oysters and then we bring them back to the lagoon and shuck and eat them all. Most we enjoy raw but we grill some, too. It’s so much fun to shuck those oysters and slurp them down, I look forward to it every year.
What does all this oyster and beach talk have to do with cocktails? Well, you need something to drink while you’re shucking and slurping and nothing goes better with oysters than a little vodka… especially if that vodka is served up in a martini glass. But as I’m sure you all know, as with any drink, a cocktail is all about what kind of liquor you use. I happen to love Hangar 1 and since I was visiting Northern California, I thought it’d be the perfect time to visit the distillery and get some of their awesome vodka.
The distillery is beautiful. It sits on the edge of Alameda inside an old airplane hangar. There the magic happens. That’s where head distiller, Caley Shoemaker, uses what she knows from her science and whiskey backgrounds to create a delicious, organic vodka from Northern California wine grapes. But she doesn’t just make plain vodka. Hangar 1 also makes several flavored vodkas including their Budda’s Hand Citron, Mandarin Blossom and the scrumptious Rosé. While all their flavors are amazing, their Fog Point is spectacular.
The Fog Point is made with just two ingredients: real San Francisco fog and wine grapes from one specific vineyard. It tastes amazing. It’s so good in fact, you want to drink it straight. And at 150 dollars a bottle, this is not a vodka you want to mix… with anything. So, that leaves drinking it neat, on the rocks or in a martini. Hubs loves vodka martinis. I love them, too. But I like mine dirty. So, I got to thinking… What if I added just a little olive juice? Just enough to get the olive flavor but not ruin the crisp, sweet deliciousness of the Fog Point. I called it a Smog-tini because the olive juice makes the martini dirty and what is dirty fog? Why it’s smog. That and I live in Los Angeles, where unfortunately we get way too much smog on a regular basis. So, it’s kind of a Nor Cal meets So Cal drink. One I love and intend to enjoy several times over the summer… now I just need to find some fresh oysters.
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 ounces Hangar 1 Fog Point vodka
- 1/2 ounce dry vermouth
- 1/2 ounce olive juice
Instructions
- Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled.
- Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with an olive or two. Serve immediately.
