Slow Drinks, Home-made Spirits, Liqueurs and Ingredients

[bunnyb.gal]

I have a Mason jar of boozy Maraschino cherries macerating at the moment. Regular black cherries (impossible to find real fresh Maraschinos here) in Maraschino liqueur - 3 weeks and yum!

Methuselah, the idea of your ginger gin is making me drool! I have to try it!

 

[Ethan Bentley]

That reminds me I must try the ginger gin I infused after reading that! I've got some Pumpkin Gin on the go at the moment.

 

[Methuselah]

Pumkin!? sounds interesting!

Does anybody here know if black bullace gin tastes as good as sloe?
My girlfriend picked some berries at the weekend , but I'm not sure they are sloe - Google suggests bullace as an alternative although it seems that the differences are marginal.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

There's only one way to find out.... Just make a small batch?

 

[Marzena]

I make home made liqueurs and flavoured vodkas regularly. The main ingredient though is 95% ethanol, which we can buy easily. Is it sold in US shops though? If yes, I would be happy to share recipies which I think would deserve to be wider known.
NB, the finished product is 50% strength at the most.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Ethanol, sounds like something that would clean out your entire system!

 

[Henry Gondorff]

Ethanol is 100% pure alcohol, not drinkable...

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Ethanol is 100% pure alcohol, not drinkable...

Burnable..? Yep!

 

[Marzena]

Russians drink pure alcohol actually, but us Poles typically do not. Pure spirit (or rather 95% as it is sold in our licensed shops) is mixed with fruit and herb infusions containing water, and in that way it becomes diluted. Using vodka as the starting ingredient results in overdiluted, watery drink without enough strength.

 

[Marzena]

However, this is a classic recipe for lemon or orange flavoured vodka that does not use pure spirit:

peel from 1 lemon or orange
1 litre vodka
2 tablespoons sugar

The peel should be very thin, without the white part
Cut the peel into very thin stripes, place in a large jar and pour vodka on top. Add sugar. Close the jar and dissolve sugar by shaking the dish. Leave for a week and then pour into bottles, filtering through cotton wool , or, coffee filter.

This is a nice, citrus drink just slightly sweetish.

 

[lolly_loisides]

^^^^^
That sounds nice Marzena.

 

[Marzena]

Happy to oblige

 

[Methuselah]

There's only one way to find out.... Just make a small batch?

Not sure if you'd consider 2 litres a small batch or not? Anyway, I'll let you know in a few months if it worked or not!
After much pottering up and down hedge-rows throughout Derbyshire, I've also got enough sloes for a considerable batch of gin.
Also found a raspberry bush when it was warm the other week, managed to pick about 6lbs so enough spare for some home made liqueur.
Now that the rain has set in, that'll probably be it for another year...

 

[Methuselah]

I make home made liqueurs and flavoured vodkas regularly. The main ingredient though is 95% ethanol, which we can buy easily. Is it sold in US shops though? If yes, I would be happy to share recipies which I think would deserve to be wider known.
NB, the finished product is 50% strength at the most.

I think you need a doctor's prescription for ethanol in this country (UK), but please post the recipes anyway - your lemon recipe is something that we already make occasionally.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

Difficult to get hold of indeed. I wonder how High-strength vodka would work? The 50% stuff.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

"Not sure if you'd consider 2 litres a small batch or not? Anyway, I'll let you know in a few months if it worked or not!
After much pottering up and down hedge-rows throughout Derbyshire, I've also got enough sloes for a considerable batch of gin.
Also found a raspberry bush when it was warm the other week, managed to pick about 6lbs so enough spare for some home made liqueur.
Now that the rain has set in, that'll probably be it for another year..."

Excellent! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

[Marzena]

Difficult to get hold of indeed. I wonder how High-strength vodka would work? The 50% stuff.

It would work to some extent, but the final strength would then be around 35% which is too watery
However, no harm in trying. This one might actually work, b/c there is not much water added:
25 dekagram dried plums (without stones)
1 litre 45% vodka
1/4 litre spiritus (the 95% stuff)
1/4 litre water

Cut plums in narow strips, put into a glass jar, pour spiritus over, seal tightly. Keep there for 4-6 weeks , shaking the bottle every few days. After that time, drain the liquid and pour it into another jar, adding the 45% vodka. Pour water on the plums remaining in the fiorst jar, steer well, and leave until the liquid is clear again (likely a few days). Then carefully drain the water and filter into the jar with vodka and spiritus. Leave to stand for a week or two.

You could use dried apricots instead of plums, but then it might be advisable to add additional flavouring, like orange peel, b/c apricots on their own may come out just a little bland.

THis is the stuff I often make as Christmas gifts to men of my acquintance. Not very sweet, but definitely with a fruity flavour, it makes a great aperitif.
Hope you enjoy it. The lemon vodka is fun too.

 

[Marzena]

Spiced Honey Vodka

His is my Father’s recipe and a great thing at parties: it literally warms up atmosphere without getting people intoxicated. Great taken warm when you have a cold too.

For a 1,5 litre finished drink you will need:

A glass of honey
1/2 litre spirytus (almost pure alcohol, 95% strength, probably can be bought in Polish shops in your country?)
½ litre water
2 cinnamon sticks, 2 vanilla pods, 5 cloves, a thin peel of 1 orange and 1 lemon.

Put honey, water and spices in a pan and warm up until the honey dissolves and the fruit peel is soft. Leave to cool. Then strain through a coffee filter, or through muslin, and mix with spirytus. Keep in the pan under tight cover for a few days. You will notice the two tend to separate, but after a day or two that will pass and they will mix well. You will also notice sediment settling at the bottom of the pan. This is a product of the protein in honey and spices interacting with alcohol, and is in fact harmless, but for aesthetic reason you will probably want to strain the liquid again. Put the strained liquid into bottles and keep tightly shut in a dark place for absolute minimum of one week, but if you can make it longer it will very much improve the flavour and develop the mild taste, without any harm to the strength.
If you want more of this cordial, just add another ½ litre of clear vodka to the mixture, it will dilute the flavour only a little, and if you wish, you may add sugar. DO NOT ADD ANY WATER.
If made with spirytus the end product will have 45% strength, the correct level for vodkas. If you start with vodka rather than spirytus, you will end up with half of that.

 

[Marzena]

Wine Punch - about 15 servings
(which I will make)
250 gram sugar3 lemons 2 oranges
200 ml arrack or rum
750 ml water
700 ml fine white wine (semi dry or semi sweet)
Rub the sugar with the peel of citrus fruit. Squeeze the fruit juice on top of the sugar cubes and add the boiling water. cover and when sugar has completely melted add the wine and arrack (rum) . Leave to stand under cover. At serving time bring the mixture to boiling point again and serve warm.

 

[Marzena]

Gentlemen’s Punch (deadly) - will make about 20 servings
½ litre brandy
¼ litre rum
¼ litre Curacao
1/8 litre arrack
1 litre hot tea
250 gram lump sugar
3 lemons
2 oranges
Mix the brandy, rum, Curacao, hot tea and arrack. Rub half of the sugar on one of oranges, then add all of the sugar and the juice of 2 lemons . Slice the remaining lemon and orange add to the drink. Bring to boil and serve in a bowl.