Tailgate Central: Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka

Tailgate Central had a couple of bye weeks while I moved cross-country, but it's back and we're dispensing with the whole "food" thing and focusing on a fascinating (and relatively new) invention: Firefly sweet-tea-flavored vodka. Some weeks ago my friend Charlsie mentioned this stuff to me. I was instantly intrigued. It combines two of my favorite things: sweet tea and getting toasted a nice, relaxing drink.

The basics: Firefly Vodka is an actual, honest-to-goodness, 70 Proof liquor (they have a Muscadine-flavored version that's actually 80 proof). I bought a bottle with my own hard-earned dollars (unfortunately, no favors from the folks at Firefly) and -- in the name of science -- I've made myself a number of drinks with it. Do you see the kind of mess I endure for you all? Recipes and review below the fold.

The recipe card from the website lists a decent number of ideas for the stuff, I tried it three ways.

On the rocks
To say that you couldn't taste the alcohol drinking it this way would be a damn lie. Good luck finding anything 70 proof that doesn't taste like alcohol (and if you find something like that, please send it my way). That said, it has a thick flavor which is, not surprisingly, reminiscent of actual sweet tea. You do end up with all the warmth of an on-the-rocks beverage, though, and the bite of the liquor actually balances the sweet pretty well. You will know that you are not drinking sweet tea, however, so if that's the goal, please move along.

Firefly & Water
The back of the bottle lists, as a serving recommendation, a 50/50 vodka-to-water split, with a twist of lime. I started with my on the rocks drink and added progressively more water until I got to (roughly) 50/50 and my personal preference is somewhere around 1/3 water, 2/3 vodka. Once you get past that, it really starts tasting dangerously like virgin sweet tea. Even at 50/50 you can still taste the alcohol, but I'm not sure if you'd know that's what it was if you weren't looking for it -- it's that subtle. No, I'm not kidding.

"The John Daly"
Aptly-named for the bad-boy of golf, this liquored-up version of the Arnold Palmer is really pretty incredible. I think I ended up with a mixture a little bit more dilute than 50/50, but it was absolutely fantastic. I would probably go a little bit stronger next time, as the sweet tea got a bit lost in the lemonade, but all-in-all this is a great option for tea-and-lemonade die-hards. Obviously this drink will vary based on the quality of the lemonade you use, but it provides a light, refreshing Saturday-afternooon-on-the-porch style drink with quite a punch to it.

Now, glowing review aside, let me say this: be careful. If you're used to just sucking down sweet-tea by the gallon and you're not paying attention, you can wind up a bit trashed in a bit of a hurry. Please enjoy responsibly and all that jazz.

Firefly Vodka is distilled here in the good ol' U.S.A. at a distillery in South Carolina and is becoming more widely available all the time. You'll have to check for places near you that carry it, but there are links and phone numbers on the site to help you out.

Everyone I know who has tried this stuff enjoys it differently -- if you have a favorite recipe, feel free to share with the class.