With so many wonderful flavored vodkas readily available, it can be easy just to mix them with a little club soda and call it a day. However, using them in delicious, handmade vodka mixed drinks tickles the taste buds even more. I recently discovered an incredible Bing cherry vodka, which has strong cherry flavor without being too sweet or too tart. The smell is vaguely reminiscent of drugstore cough syrup, but the flavor couldn’t be further from it, making it perfect for summer cocktails. I sipped a little on the rocks, and it was quite nice. The inspiration for this vodka cocktail comes from the classic Cabana Cake, a dessert with 1950s potluck appeal. The dessert is made with cherry pie filling, canned pineapple, and yellow cake mix. These vodka cocktails, however, are arguable better than the real thing.

The Cabana Cake Cocktail

• 2 oz 360 Bing Cherry vodka
• 1 1/2 oz pineapple juice
• 1/4 oz cinnamon schnapps
• 1 dash grenadine
• maraschino cherry garnish

Fill a cocktail glass with ice. Blend vodka, pineapple juice, and schnapps with ice in a cocktail shaker. Discard the ice from your cocktail glass, then pour ingredients from your shaker, straining out any ice. Add a dash of grenadine to the center of the cocktail, allowing it to sink to the bottom. Garnish with a cherry.

These vodka cocktails can also be made in larger batches. Simply save your dashes of grenadine until after each glass is poured.