Vodka

This spring, if you compare your food and drink menus, you might see a few striking similarities. Move over, mint. As the weather gets warmer, basil, dill, thyme and lavender — herbs once relegated to the kitchen — are popping up in mixed drinks at Baltimore bars and restaurants. Bartenders are taking chances by muddling basil and strawberries in a spiked lemonade, tossing dried thyme into martinis made with tomato-infused vodka and swapping the lime in gin and tonics for cucumber and dill.

Ask a native son to write a love letter to Maryland and among her many virtues, Old Bay will surely be extolled. We local folk are fiercely prideful about the quirky bits of living in our state that encompass the saying, "It's just a Maryland thing. " We relish the exclusivity of a select few oddities that make our state great. At the same time, we love introducing outsiders to our traditions and lifestyles. On the short list of items that makes a person feel home here in the Old Line State, Old Bay gives most us the greatest warm and fuzzies.

There was a time in vodka's history that its creators added flavor to cover up its rough spots. Nowadays, flavors are added to smooth vodkas to capture market share, create buzz and add a few dollars to the purchase price. An up-to-date menu of vodkas reads like one found at a juice bar. There are pear, pomegranate, pineapple, green apple, grapefruit, raspberry and lemon offerings. There are vodkas that taste or at least smell like dessert. Finally, there are the marriages made in caffeine: espresso and double-espresso vodkas.

Baltimore County police are searching for two woman who allegedly stole two bottles of vodka from a Glyndon liquor store last month. Police released images on Wednesday of two woman at The Wine Post on Railroad Avenue where one of them took two bottles of vodka off the shelf and placed them in a bag, according to a police statement. The women took off in a tan or silver Toyota Sienna van and headed toward Owings Mills Boulevard. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 410-307-2020.

Baltimore County police are searching for two woman who allegedly stole two bottles of vodka from a Glyndon liquor store last month. Police released images on Wednesday of two woman at The Wine Post on Railroad Avenue where one of them took two bottles of vodka off the shelf and placed them in a bag, according to a police statement. The women took off in a tan or silver Toyota Sienna van and headed toward Owings Mills Boulevard. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 410-307-2020.

MOSCOW -- The big, red-brick Kristall Distillery, built above artesian wells in 1901 to produce the best vodka in czarist Russia, survived the Communist Revolution, the Second World War, even Mikhail S. Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign of 1986 -- but it may not make it through Russia's rough-and-ready leap back into capitalism.Here, in the land of the world's heaviest drinkers -- who depend on vodka to mark every celebration and disappointment -- the nation's most cherished distillery is producing well below capacity and sliding toward bankruptcy.

MOSCOW -- As the ruble collapses, Muscovites have hit upon a new form of hard currency: pints of vodka."People keep vodka in stock to use as liquid currency," said Dmitri Shmidrik, 40, a clerk in a scientific laboratory. "I have more than 20 bottles at home, and I don't drink at all."The reason: A repairman will yawn if you offer 20 rubles to get the car fixed or a ceiling plugged. But if you offer a bottle of vodka, the job gets done.Hoarding by little people like Mr. Shmidrik, as well as big-time liquor speculators, has caused what many Russians call a scandalous shortage of their national drink.

Maurice Kanbar has a million-dollar idea that he thinks could clear your head and solve the sales problems of an industry: hangover-free vodka.He says people who drink his Skyy Vodka aren't likely to get hangovers because he has removed most of the impurities that he thinks causes them. He used to get bad headaches when he drank, but not since he created Skyy, he says.But now Mr. Kanbar is getting headaches from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It has launched an investigation of his hangover claims that could force him to scrap his advertising altogether.

My version of seafood cooked in a tomato-vodka sauce is quick, easy and festive. Any type of seafood can be used, but crab is particularly good in the sauce. Jumbo lump crab - large pieces of unbroken meat - is best, but backfin crab meat, which includes broken pieces, can be used. Both are usually sold in cans in the refrigerated section of the seafood department. Along with this colorful pasta dish, serve a crisp radicchio-and-romaine salad and your favorite bottled dressing. A crisp chianti would go well with the high-acid tomato sauce.

Vodka pasta sauce is hardly a novelty item in 2006, judging from the menus of many Italian restaurants and the fact that we had no trouble finding so many jars of it in supermarkets. But it is hardly a classic sauce, according to the Web site, foodtimeline.org. According to the attributions collected on this amusing and informative food site, vodka sauce showed up at the height of nouvelle cuisine - or, more accurately, nuova cucina in 1980s Italy. Vodka is not as dominant an ingredient as cream and cheese in this rich sauce, and our six tasters had trouble detecting its presence in most of the brands.

It has come to this, an almost dreaded time of year for we imbibers: having to base our beverage choices around the temperature outside. Is it really "weather appropriate" to drink an Old Fashioned when it's 103 degrees? Shall I enjoy a frothy Guinness next to the pool in a swimsuit? Call me crazy, but I say no. Still, if you don't want to take my word for it, I've got professional backup: Brendan Finnerty and Randal Etheridge, co-owners of Idle Hour in Federal Hill. Their drink - Josh's Last Call - is the answer to your overheated woes.

Lady Maryland: a cocktail with a cause, a buzz with a benefit. How could you possibly say no to drinking for charity? That alone sold me. But for those of the more skeptical palate, the refreshing Lady Maryland at Waterfront Kitchen stands alone as an easy warmer-weather sip. Waterfront Kitchen, on the water's edge of Thames Street in Fells Point, is a big believer in sustainability - from using fresh, local ingredients to helping out...

Van Gogh Vodka is introducing what it's calling one of their most innovative and unexpected flavors to date: PB&J. The press release from Van Gogh was spread thick with all kinds of tasty trivia about the beloved sandwich. It says that peanut butter was invented by a doctor in St. Louis for his toothless patients. Van Gogh's PB&J has a primarily peanut fragrance complemented by the aroma of fresh raspberries. But, the profiles reverse on the tongue. Raspberry dominates the flavor, not peanut butter.

With cocktails named African Nectar, Mayan Chocolate and The Crotchless (yes, really), hip Harbor East spot Vino Rosina wants you to know it's more than "just a wine bar. " In fact, general manager Joshua Barbour has set his sights much higher: "We've kicked [the drink menu] up a notch this year. We're rotating in homemade, seasonal vodka infusions that use fresh fruits and herbs. And customers can now taste any four infusion martinis together as a flight, for $12. " Decisions, decisions.

Vespertine: being nocturnal or nightly; a popular album by Bjork; a drink created by author Ian Fleming in his first James Bond novel, “Casino Royale”; my favorite new cocktail at The Chameleon Café in Lauraville. When it comes to mixing up a quality drink, Chameleon's general manager - and self-proclaimed cocktail nerd - Matt Weaver means serious business. The drink list, created by Weaver just eight months ago, is an impressive tribute to Prohibition-era libations with a twist, or as Weaver says, “classic cocktails with character.”  Take the Vespertine, a clever spin on the Bond martini.

When in doubt, order a martini. Vodka or gin, shaken or stirred - a martini makes a statement. It's classic, sophisticated, refined. At Saute, the popular upscale corner bar in Canton, I had the pleasant problem of choosing from the extensive selection of martinis. So in the spirit of adventure, I ordered the most intriguing of options: the Pepperoncini Martini. Salty and sassy, it has become one of my go-to drinks when in the neighborhood. Owner and bartender Terri Carey says the Pepperoncini Martini is one of her favorites as well (to drink and to make)

Montebello Brands Inc. had bottled plenty of strange and wonderful liquors at its Baltimore plants before, but none seemed stranger or more financially wonderful than "shoju," a kind of watered-down vodka that Koreans were guzzling the way Americans gulp beer.But early this month, the Korean government closed the tap on the Baltimore-bottled shoju when Korean police arrested Montebello's importers for, among other things, selling "sham shoju."Now Montebello finds itself in the middle of an international imbroglio.

VODKA IS the Russian curse. President Mikhail S. Gorbachev was so appalled by the social costs of drunkenness he launched a hugely unpopular anti-alcohol drive. Some people may have sobered up a bit. But the ultimate loser was the Soviet state. Accustomed to receiving one-third of its overall income from vodka, the government saw its revenues plummet.Under President Boris N. Yeltsin, the state lost control over such revenues altogether after the vodka manufacturers were privatized and rival companies began distilling and importing liquor.

Vodka is down, red velvet is up and did Twinings pull a New Coke with Earl Grey? > Vodka is down (or is it) -- the vanguard of expert bartenders are sneering at customers who order vodka. Is a dirty martini the worst drink ever? Toronto restaurateur Jen Agg's " Vodka is Stupid " essay started the anti-vodka campaign back in February: "If your desperation for flavor has you drinking olive brine, just drink gin. Please. " > Red Velvet is higher than gas -- TCBY announces a new red-velvet flavor.