I'm cuckoo for Ketel One

After a semi-productive day yesterday, I was invited out for a polite cocktail with my friend Cheeky Monkey. Having completed the two week booze restriction of the South Beach Diet that I recently started again, and realizing that I hadn't been out in what seemed like a month of Sundays, I accepted and headed to our usual watering hole.

Thursdays at this particular establishment feature a drink special of Long Island Ice Teas served in huge Mason jars for $3. As a former (and probably future) bartender, I hate making this drink; it ranks up there with a Ramos Fizz as a pain in the ass. Not that it's a complicated concoction, it's simply a time consuming drink to prepare, especially if you're working a busy bar. Watching the boys make them last night I determined that my opinion is my own personal issue, as they slung LIIT's right and left with speed (not precision--when you're dumping that much liquor in a drink and topping it with coke and sour mix, there's really no need to worry about proportion).

While I appreciate the need for value when you decide to get your drink on, I steered clear of the bucket 'o booze and enjoyed a couple of my standard libations: the Ketel One and soda. It's a crisp, refreshing cocktail that never fails to satisfy.

I've always been a vodka man. Through years of trial and error I've learned that whiskey makes me angry, scotch makes me cry and tequila opens me up to do all sorts of things that a person shouldn't do (at least not in public). For seasoned hopheads, vodka may be considered the gateway liquor of youth that leads the palate to more refined appreciation of single-malts and vintage agaves, but for my money, vodka's always been the liquor of choice.

In my younger days I was an Absolut kind of guy until moving to California where I stumbled upon Stolichnaya. Stoli is a delicious Russian vodka and I consumed scores of Stoli madras while holding up walls in various saloons around San Francisco. The flavor of Stoli was smoother than Absolut, and allowed me to indulge in fantasies of keeping up with Patsy Stone and Edina Monsoon, two characters I adore who consumed Stoli by the case. I spent many years indulging in the bliss of Stoli cocktails until a fateful day (the particulars of which escape me now) when I tried Ketel One.

Ah, Ketel. I was in love from the first libation. Ketel One is a Dutch vodka that has one of the cleanest tastes in the market. It's smooth and mixes perfectly with club soda, as well as standing on its own in a bone-dry martini. Once I found Ketel I never looked back unless I found myself at some watering hole or unfortunate cocktail soiree where they had no good booze on the bar. In addition to the taste (and I will debate anyone who claims that vodka is a flavorless liquor), the occasional night of overindulgence in Ketel can be quickly remedied by a glass or two of water.

Ketel is one the higher end of price points in the liquor realm (this is a blog about luxury and pleasure, remember), but in my mind it's worth the price. Life is too short to drink cheap liquor and date bad kissers, so if you're up for some good hootch, pay the extra dollar and enjoy a quality cocktail. Your brain and liver will thank you for it in the morning.