Billy Joel and Wizards Inspired a Legendary Las Vegas Bartender to Make This Cocktail

Tony Abou-Ganim is known for bringing the flare — and often the fire — to professional bartending. Author of Vodka Distilled: The Modern Mixologist on Vodka and Vodka Cocktails, Abou-Ganim is an expert on how to bring personality to the liquor cabinets' most notoriously neutral spirit. The Rocky Mountain Wizard pairs potato vodka with slightly sweet Italian white vermouth and herbal Yellow Chartreuse. The result is a balanced cocktail with light herbaceous notes and enough sweetness to discreetly disguise just how boozy it is. 

“I was inspired by Billy Joel’s quote about musicians being akin to magicians, alchemists, sorcerers, and wizards,” says Abou-Ganim of the cocktail’s unique name. “I think distillers also do quite a bit of magic, and this cocktail salutes their ability to take ordinary things like potatoes and transform them into something entirely different and wonderful, in this case, vodka.” 

The Rocky Mountain Wizard does in fact perform a bit of magic — it combines seemingly simple spirits into a complex cocktail that is rich and refreshing. It has a backbone of bitter citrus, which is highlighted by the garnish of a thick orange peel, and an herbal sweetness from the combination of Yellow Chartreuse and white vermouth. 

Yellow Chartreuse is the lower-ABV, sweeter sibling of Green Chartreuse. While both are herbal liqueurs with proprietary recipes that have been produced by French monks from the Carthusian Order for hundreds of years, Yellow Chartreuse lends itself to cocktails due to its more gentle and subtle flavors. It has a citrusy taste with herbaceous saffron-like aromas. This cocktail is a surprisingly easy sipper given its relatively high ABV, so sip slowly — cheers!  

Frequently asked questions 

How is vodka made from potatoes?

Only 3% of vodkas worldwide are made from potatoes, due to their finicky fermentation process.  As with grain vodkas, potatoes contain a high amount of starch. The starch converts to sugar which ferments into alcohol. 

What vodkas are made from potatoes?

Potato vodkas are rarer to the market than vodkas made with grains, you can still source potato vodkas from liquor stores or online retailers. Brands like Woody Creek Disitllers, Chase, Blue Ice, and Boyd and Blair all specialize in potato vodkas. 

Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen 

Choosing the right white or blanc vermouth is key to the brilliance of this cocktail, but the category of vermouth can be intimidating to navigate. There’s more savory dry vermouth, which is pale or nearly clear in appearance, and sweet vermouth that is often reddish brown. White vermouth, though, is sweet and nearly clear in color — it complicates the basic foundations of vermouth. White vermouth, though, is a spectacular ingredient; try it in a simple highball with some club soda or in something a bit more out-there like a Caprese Martini.