With a discovery straight from the obscure alcohol-as-health-care file, longtime Weekly food contributor and all-around top tastebuddy Jeanne Howard turned me on to Devotion, a new vodka produced in Northern California and being poured in local watering holes as I type.It's an 80 proof, triple-distilled vodka with one paradigm-cracking difference: It contains a proprietary infusion of casein, a a protein precipitated from milk and very popular with body-builders and other fitness-minded people. It can be found as a pure supplement in many nutritional stores.
The spirit is the atypical love child of founder Drew Adelman's two passions: nightlife and fitness.
Their idea: “If you're going to be bad, be good!” Hmmm.
The good news is that it was created in San Francisco, original home of the martini, is produced and bottled in San Jose (localvores rejoice) and doing well on taste scorecards. "This vodka has a huge smoothness to it," one reviewer writes, "a medium bodied thickness almost mimicking that of a reposado tequila with a finish that reminds me of Saké."I like the historic (and poetic) context Howard provides: "From Russian czars to the modern bars of Monterey County, vodka is a blank slate for all of our cocktail hopes and dreams. Though vodka is adored for what it lacks—color, flavor, aroma, hangover-causing congeners, telltale scent on breath—it has been infused with every imaginable kind of edible: fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, roots, flowers, vitamins, sweeteners, vanilla, chocolate. It would seem that nothing new could be added to vodka." Until now.
Check out the Devotion website here. Try the spirit at Piatti Ristorante & Bar in Carmel; The Running Iron in Carmel Valley; The Sandbar, El Palomar, Alfredo's in Monterey; Embassy Suites or American Legion Post in Seaside; Old Town Bar & Grill in Salinas.
I'd love to stick around and tell you more, but I gotta go "work out."
