Sex and the City: Tartini
Love it or hate it, Sex and the City introduced a whole new generation of drinkers, myself included, to the fabulous world of the cocktail. This is part of a series of posts trying out drinks featured on the show, and seeing how they stand up in the real world. Today, the Tartini.
The Tartini was enjoyed by Carrie and Stanford in episode 4 of season 2, whilst out at a party. Stanford describes it as cranberry vodka, which sounds a lot like a Cape Cod and a bit too boring to write a post about. However, I knew from visits to New York bars that there are alternative recipes for the Tartini, most of which follow a recipe of raspberry vodka and chambord (or another raspberry liqueur), plus lime and cranberry juice in varying amounts.
Chambord is a sweet raspberry flavoured liqueur, dating back to 1685, which is made in the Loire valley in France. It has a relatively low 16.5% alcohol content, which combined with its lack of preservatives means it must be consumed within 6 months of opening, after which the ingredients begin to separate. It comes in one of the most ostentatious bottles around, short of the bottles used for expensive Cognacs. A circular glass bottle, surrounded by gold (albeit plastic) lettering and decoration, it certainly stands out on a shelf!
Tartini
- 1½ shots raspberry vodka
- ½ shot Chambord
- ½ shot cranberry juice
- ¾ shot lime juice
- Shake all ingredients well with ice and fine strain in to a cocktail glass.
The combination of raspberry vodka and Chambord makes for a very sweet drink with a very predominant raspberry flavour. While the lime and cranberry helps rein the sweetness in and introduce some sour to the mix, it remains rather bland. The sweetness makes it popular amongst non-cocktail drinkers – some of my friends love the Tartini – but personally I find it rather lacking. There are far better ways to make use of Chambord… more on those to follow!
Posted in Chambord, Cranberry, Lime, Recipes, Sex and the City, Vodka
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July 6th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
You are a brave, brave man. Kudos for your open-mindedness. I’m a judgemental sort and roll my eyes whenever someone adds “-tini” to the end of a drink.
July 7th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
I can be the same sometimes. It does annoy me when I walk in to a bar and the menu just contains a dozen “-tini’s” full of fruit and sugar, but nothing in the way of classic cocktails. However, I came to cocktails through these kinds of drinks, so I find it interesting to revisit them now I have more knowledge about cockails.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
what`s wrong with sweet cocktail? tropical cocktail? creamy cocktail? fruit punch?
does it always have to be the classic “lets balance it (sweet&sour) out” cocktail?
December 16th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Zoka – that’s an interesting question. For me a cocktail is all about balance. A cocktail can be tropical, or creamy, or fruity, but still be balanced out. However, when a cocktail is really sweet the sugar tends to overwhelm the rest of the drink meaning that is all you taste.
A balanced cocktail will allow the flavours of all the ingredients to play out. Less sweet cocktails can be an acquired taste at first, but ultimately in my opinion they are far superior.