There is beauty in a shot of tequila. Not just the tequila cruda ritual of salt-shot-lime, but the successive burst of flavors – like liquid sushi or a bento box miniature. If you count alcohol as a flavor – and there is a definite mouth-warming effect that is distinct from the traditional 4 (or “now we say 5”) flavors – you have intense salt, then alcohol, and then sour on a very short timeline. There is lingering warmth and lime for a slow tapering off or “finish.” The only problem is that it gets you wasted after a while.

I’ve given up alcohol but I still love flavors – so much so that I’ve spent a little time over the past few months discovering flavors that are easily extractable using simple kitchen technique. Oddly enough, the best (and simplest) of these seems to be alcohol extraction: Soak something in high-proof alcohol, strain it (saving liquid, of course), soaking again, strain again, combine the two extractions and allow the alcohol to evaporate. Another way is percolation: using water (or water + alcohol) in a percolator and reduce the “coffee” you’ve made over low heat. Alcohol is mostly eliminated in both methods, so it’s only a problem for absolutists. I’ve extracted cardamom, ginger, galangal (blue ginger), Saigon cinnamon, Tellicherry peppercorn, orange and lemon zest, celery and banana over the past few weeks…

Now, what am I going to do with them?

I’m thinking. You know, there is something missing in my flavor palette – I’m not bitter about it. It seems strange, when we have so few basic flavors to begin with that one of them should be arbitrarily eliminated. Bitter flavors are present in dark leafy greens, bitter melon, dark unsweetened chocolate, and coffee - but are best personified in gentian root, the basic flavor of Moxie and Angostura bitters. Other potables defined as “bitters” or “digestives” include Underberg, Campari, Cock Drops (from Cyprus – not so common but for some reason I felt compelled to include it), and Pimm’s No. 1. The alcoholic content, unfortunately, is high (44% for Angostura and Underberg) but so is the flavor and only a drop or two is required.

Some New Age types include “pungent” as a flavor, best typified by the capsaicin in chile peppers. You can feel the heat no matter where it touches you, but it is most intense in the mouth (some, who have gotten it in their eyes might argue that). It is a lingering sensation, helpful for a “finish” if it’s not too intense.

  That brings us to the infamous “tongue map” (developed by the appropriately-named Edwin G. Boring in a mistranslation) which shows various parts of the tongue sensitive to different flavors. Further research showed that the papillae are variously sensitive to all flavors and work through two basic mechanisms: A G-coupled protein receptor for sweet, bitter, and savory and ion channels for salty and sour. But even though it’s completely wrong, the tongue map has some useful information. It tells us that we taste salty and sweet very quickly and that the more complex flavors are slower to develop in the mouth. That’s useful in case you decide to use the Food Jammers’ ADSR envelope analogy to construct full-bodied (meaning most of our palette) flavors.

  ADSR stands for Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release. It’s used in music to visually describe our perception of discrete sounds. For example, the hammers in a piano produce a rapid attack followed by a quick decay, no sustain, and very gradual release. The violin makes a nice contrast. The bow is slower to bring the string up to full volume, so the attack is not as abrupt. However, the bow holds the sound at full volume so there is no decay and sustain continues as long as the violinist’s arm holds out.

There are problems with this analogy, but it does add the element of time to the basic flavors. One more analogy and we’re ready to cook or, in this case, mix: Twitter. English majors “H8” it but, like the haiku, it presents a container – in this case, 140 characters. It imposes the discipline of brevity. That’s why I’m calling this concoction a “Twitter Shot.” Here are my rules, but feel free to make up your own.

(1)            A Twitter Shot, like a whiskey shot, is one liquid ounce but has negligible alcohol content.
(2)            It has intense flavor.
(3)            It includes at least 3 of the 5 basic flavors, bitter being highly-recommended but not essential. If they all can be worked in, so much the better.
(4)            It has an abrupt attack (from salt or sweet) and a lingering, lasting finish.
(5)            NO grenadine!!! 

A “drop” is usually defined as 1/600 of an ounce, but that can vary with the viscosity of the liquid. So, using “near beer” as a benchmark (0.5% or less ABV), The first rule means that there could be 3 drops of pure alcohol or, more practically, 6 drops of 44% ABV bitters. That’s more than enough for most bitters. An eyedropper is a handy tool for adding extracts.

Finishing salts, those expensive pink and black ones with exotic names, are really cool – they will sink to the bottom and give you the salt taste at the end instead of the beginning where it would happen if dissolved.

  Here’s my first one….
1 drop capsicum oleoresin
6 drops Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters
10 drops cinnamon cassia oil
Pinch Alaea sea salt
1 ounce Elixir G ginger mix

Mix together, shoot it.

  I bet you don’t have any of those ingredients. Not to worry. If you like the concept, keep an eye out for extracts at the store. You probably do have almond, vanilla, and lemon. Cherry, orange, root beer and cinnamon are not that hard to find. It only takes a drop or two. Chilled espresso makes a great “carrier” (like the ginger mix here). Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters are easy to find and upscale groceries like Whole Foods will have a couple others. The idea is to pack as much flavor and intensity into one liquid ounce as is humanly possible. By the way, 1 drop of capsicum oleoresin is more than enough. 15 minutes later, I still feel the warmth. The ginger mix is very sweet and pungent and that sweetness is the “attack” here. The pungency of the cinnamon and ginger mix together for a nice sustain, and then there’s that slow salty warm decay.

 I also made one with straight up cold brew coffee that included pepper, cardamom, sarsaparilla, and orange bitters. It did not linger as long in the taste department, but its does give you a jolt.