Vodka may not seem the most
obviously useful ingredient in the cocktail
cupboard, in the sense that it is typically
just a neutral, coulourless spirit that at most
can only add a further shot of alcohol to a
mixed drink. However, many of the modern cocktails
are based on the principle of blending a range
of different, often exotic fruit flavours over
an alcohol base that doesn’t interfere
with the taste of them. If there are surprisingly
few vodka cocktails from the classic era, that
is because vodka wasn’t then generally
commercially available.