Cookstuff

A vodka that thinks it’s liqueur

Flavored vodkas mostly end up in cocktails, but a local company named Modern Spirits prefers to think of them like wine, to be sipped on their own or paired with food. You’ll find some of its unusual vodkas at wine shops: for instance, candied ginger or grapefruit-honey. The one infused with oranges and Belgian chocolate is smooth and flavorful, and far less sweet than a liqueur. A vodka to serve with dessert, perhaps? Or maybe in a dessert cocktail. Several bars have created cocktails based on vodkas from the company -- Nobu in Malibu makes a lemon drop with the candied ginger vodka; Beechwood in Venice has a grapefruit vodka tonic; and Mi Piace in Pasadena mixes chocolate orange vodka with ice cream, whipped cream and orange soda for its O.C. malted martini.

Modern Spirits Chocolate Orange Flavored Vodka, $22 to $23 for 375 milliliters, $36 to $38 for 750 milliliters, available at Almor Liquors, L.A.; Larchmont Village Wine & Cheese, L.A.; Fireside Cellars, Santa Monica; Green Jug Fine Wine & Spirits, Woodland Hills; Vendome Liquors, Studio City; Mission Liquor Store, Pasadena; Red Carpet Wines & Spirits, Glendale; and Wally’s Wine & Spirits, West L.A.

-- Charles Perry