William Elliott, a managing partner at Brooklyn's Maison Premiere, shares his newfound interest in vodka Martinis spurred by a specific wheat vodka called Truman. This spirit, crafted by Hans Reisetbauer, inspired Elliott to create a cocktail named Kangaroo to honor its quality. With a mix involving Rockey's Botanical Liqueur and bianco vermouth, the Kangaroo aims for flavor depth, contrasting the often bland vodka Martini. The cocktail's name, a nod to a historical context, reflects how bartenders adapted post-World War II to new preferences.
I probably spent the last 20-plus years not particularly interested in vodka Martinis, for many reasons... but in truth, that changed with one specific vodka.
It's just a really, really beautiful distillate, and beautiful on its own... I thought that gifting it its own name is a nice thing to do.
It's got flavor in a way that a lot of vodka Martinis feel kind of hollow... but, of course, it's really just a vodka Martini, at its core.
The name seems to have been a World War II-era blip... in the wake of war-related trade interruptions, U.S. bartenders began to embrace alternatives.
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