Shoot the Rainbow BY MAGGIE STEWART
My housemates and I were
planning a party, and we decided
that an excellent drinking game
would involve shooting all the
colors of the rainbow. And thus,
Skittles Vodka was born.
YOU WILL NEED:
» Five 750ml bottles of good-quality vodka
or 1 large bottle and 5 empty jars
» 2lbs (900g) of Skittles candy
» Cheesecloth or paper towels
» Strainer
» Mixers (optional)
1. Sort and count the Skittles.
Sort the Skittles into bowls by color. You need
180g of each color, and since Skittles are
about 1.125g each, that’s 160 Skittles. You
can add more Skittles for more flavor.
We found that medium-quality vodka ended
up tasting like medicine (particularly the cherry
flavor), so use a better- or high-quality vodka.
We used one 750ml bottle for each flavor.
2. Create the potion.
Pour out and reserve
1 of the vodka from
each bottle. Drop the Skittles by color into
each bottle, then top off with the reserved
vodka. (Enjoy the leftovers at your leisure.)
Alternatively, put the Skittles into 5 separate
jars and pour equal amounts of vodka into
them. Give each bottle a good shake and set
them aside overnight to dissolve the candy.
Photography by Ed Troxell and Sam Murphy (final shot)
3. Filter out the candy residue.
Besides sugar and flavoring, Skittles contain
some lovely filler. This is the white stuff that
ends up floating on top. It’s pretty horrible, so
it needs to be filtered out. We filtered the liquid
through several layers of paper towels pushed
down into a strainer. It takes a while, and the
stuff left behind is pretty gross, but it’s worth it.
4. Enjoy straight or with mixers.
I liked the green flavor best — it was the closest to the original Skittle flavor. Red tasted like
cough syrup. Try mixing orange with club soda
over ice for a refreshing, summery drink.
Maggie Stewart lives in the Garden State, yet totally
fails to garden. Instead she bakes, makes candy, and
fiddles with alcoholic beverages.
