DIY Vodka

Drinking in America readers, we’d like to introduce you to Dishwasher Vodka.

Dishwasher vodka is the average person’s answer to buying expensive flavored vodka. With dishwasher vodka, you buy a bottle of cheap vodka and add your favorite candy. You should decant one third of the bottle before you add the candy, and after you’re done, screw the top on tightly and wrap it in saran wrap to prevent leaking. Shake it up, place it in your empty dishwasher (with no soap) and then set it to the hottest wash your machine can handle. Once it’s all done, shake it up, let it cool and if there’s any weird candy residue left, just strain it out. It is literally a train wreck – you’re horrified, yet you can’t stop reading.

We haven’t even had a chance to try this yet, but it seems like a lot of people have, so we wanted to share the details with you. The best collection of recipes we found were from Claudia Connell at the UK’s Daily Mail Online. She experimented with a ton of different candies – some turned out well, some didn’t. Here are a couple of the flavors she tried out that seemed to hit the mark:

Skittles: Connell said this vodka is “sweet and zingy with a great kick.” If you throw the entire Skittles rainbow into the bottle, it will come out as a dull, orange color, so she recommends choosing one color for a nice vivid shade – green and yellow apparently work well.

Werther’s Originals: These aren’t your grandpa’s candy anymore – they are your vodka’s new best friend. Buy the original hard toffee and break it up into smaller pieces before you put it in the bottle. Connell said they dissolved better than any other candy and they make the vodka creamy, full of caramel flavor and on top of that, it smells really good.

The only chocolate she tried was After Eights, but she didn’t totally sell us on the flavor. We’d like to see more people experimenting with chocolate so that we can reap the benefits of drinking it. Maybe a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup flavor? We’ll have to play around with this, but the idea itself is awesome and provides a lot more instant gratification than slowly infusing vodka at home.

Thoughts on Dishwasher Vodka: is it insane, or does it actually work? If we have any adventurous DIA-fans at home, share your recipes here.