"Yikes! No Amy, wait! Put down that hammer!" - Sonic the Hedgehog from Sonic and the Black Knight

Inspiration

My fellow XBartender, Imichao, approached me with an intriguing concept for a pun-based drink shot. "You've heard of the pickleback shot. Now get ready for the piko piko back shot". She then taught me how to create Kool-Lickles, an even more intriguing combo of Kool-Aid powder and pickle brine. We opted for the red one because it's the closest to Amy the Hedgehog's iconic pink, duh! Around this time, I had crafted some initial grapefruit-infused spirits as I workshopped Amy the Highball. With a piko one and a piko two, we'd created a shot as confounding as Amy's piko piko hammer itself.

The Premise

While workshopping grapefruit-infused spirits for a cocktail inspired by Amy the Hedgehog, we ended up creating two infusions, one with vodka, the other with unaged corn whiskey. Somewhere along the way, Imichao pitched the idea of chasing one of these spirits with a red-hued concoction made from pickle brine and Kool-Aid powder.

Enter: the Koolickle

I hadn’t heard of “Koolickles” before, but according to Tornadough Alli, the idea originated in the Mississippi Delta region. Naturally, we had to try it. Following the recipe on Alli’s site, we prepped our Kool-Aid pickles and set up a simple shot progression: first, a hit of the grapefruit-infused spirit, followed by a shot of the Koolickle brine.

Honestly? I was baffled, in a good way. The Kool-Aid pickles, specifically ones made with the red tropical fruit flavor powder, were surprisingly approachable. The flavor leaned tropical and fruity, with just enough pickle tartness to give it a savory edge. When chased after the mildly bitter, fruit-forward vodka or corn whiskey infusion, the combo was weirdly tasty. It had a prickly sweetness and a salt-kissed depth that went down way too easily.

So, if you find yourself making Amy the Highball and have some leftover grapefruit white dog whiskey, give this a try. It's less a traditional pairing and more of a plunge into the cocktail equivalent of Hammerspace.

Now I can’t stop thinking… what other strange-but-awesome shot combos could we whip up with our custom infusions at the XBar? 🤔

Flavor Analysis

A hit of boozy grapefruit is followed by a very sweet, savory, and tropical brine. The “red” dilly flavor soothes the resulting grapefruity bitterness.