It’s time for a drink, Boozers. Seriously. What with hurricanes and nor’easters and presidential elections, it’s really all there is left to do. If you’re one of the many thousands of people sitting in the dark right now, well, then you’re probably not actually reading this, but we’re sure your American ingenuity will lead you to the same conclusion.
When the power’s out for days on end, you find yourself eating strange things out of cans and jars, those odd staples that sit dust-covered in the back of the cupboard. These are the days that lead people to create such delicacies as baked bean-infused vodka — a desperate cry for help that clearly should send utility workers scurrying to get those lines back up before gin bottles start being stuffed with the odds and ends leftover from last year’s holiday gift basket.
When scrounging around in our pantry, we found one of those gigantic jars of sauerkraut, which seemed just about perfect for our Power Outage Martini. This is one of those times when our motto is “Keep It Simple, Stupid”, so use whatever you have handy. Sauerkraut, however, is chock full of vitamin C and other goodies and its salty goodness makes a tasty cocktail when nature has turned against you. Drink up — Thanksgiving’s coming, and if you thought the storms were tough, then you haven’t tasted Grandma’s turkey yet.
Power Outage Martini
When the power’s out, you don’t have ice, but, luckily for the good folks in New York and New Jersey, you’ve got snow. Just plunge that cocktail shaker in a snowdrift for a few minutes and you’ve got a frosty libation ready to suck down before the next storm hits.
8 ounces gin or vodka (we prefer Catoctin Creek’s Watershed Gin or Boyd & Blair Vodka)
1/2 cup sauerkraut
Vermouth
Put the sauerkraut into a jar with the gin or vodka and let it sit for a few hours while you clean up tree branches or write nasty letters to the utility company. Then strain off 3 ounces of the liquor into a cocktail shaker. Chill it in the snow — or shake with ice, if you’re so lucky. Pour a few drops of vermouth into a chilled martini glass and swirl around to coat the inside of the glass, then pour in the gin or vodka and add a spoonful of the infused sauerkraut.
Good Booze 
I’m a big fan, really, sitting here at IWP World Headquarters, but I’m afraid you may finally have gone around the bend. I like sauerkraut and I like gin, but never the twain shall meet . . .
When you think about it, sauerkraut isn’t such a far cry from pickled onions, which people happily dunk into their martinis… and it’s better than baked beans!
I’m not actually a sauerkraut fan, but I like the idea. (and to those who think you shouldn’t put sauerkraut in a cocktail, my mother has a chocolate cake recipe that uses sauerkraut…)
Cheers!