Toast to good luck in the new year with recipes from Black Eyed Distilling Co. that use vodka handcrafted from black-eyed peas.
If Texas is anything, it’s bold. And that’s the perfect word to describe BLK EYE Vodka, made from Texas-grown non-GMO black-eyed peas and corn. It’s the first vodka brand to be produced from black-eyed peas and was done so as a gamble to save a failing crop out in Muleshoe, Texas, says co-owner J. Todd Gregory, who comes from farming stock himself. That farming included a small patch of black-eyed peas.
Perhaps there was a fair amount of luck or just plain or ingenuity. We like to think it was a little of both, but with the distillation of BLK EYE Vodka, BlackEyed Distilling Co., co-owned by Gregory and Scott Billings (another farm boy, who doubles as a distiller) and now based out of Fort Worth, Texas, has struck gold. BLK EYE won Best Traditional Vodka & Double Gold Medal at the 2017 Global Spirit Awards and a gold medal for Best Domestic Vodka at 2017’s The Fifty Best Awards.
We mention the nods because like us, you likely winced at the idea of a vodka produced from black-eyed peas. There is no need for concern. BLK EYE Vodka is a smooth sipper equally exquisite neat as it is in a cocktail. Taste for yourself with these recipes, courtesy J. Todd Gregory, the luckiest way to ring in 2018.
BLK EYE Mule
1¼ ounces BLK EYE Vodka
¾ ounce grapefruit juice
4 dashes lime juice
2 dashes peach bitters
Ginger beer
Lime wheel, for garnish
Place all ingredients (except ginger beer) into a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into glass. Top with ginger beer and garnish with lime wheel.
BLK EYE Dog
1¼ ounces BLK EYE Vodka
4 dashes lime juice
Grapefruit juice
Lime wheel, for garnish
Place all ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a salt-rimmed glass. Top with grapefruit juice and garnish with lime wheel.
BLK EYE Bulldog
1¼ ounces BLK EYE Vodka
1¼ ounces root beer
1¼ ounces coffee
Half-and-half
In a pre-chilled glass filled with ice, mix vodka, root beer, and coffee. Top with a splash of half-and-half.
For more information on BLK EYE Vodka and where to find it, visit the distillery’s website.
