alcohol infusions

[hfuhruhurr]

15 minutes ago, sabre-toothed tart said:

I've made small practice batches of raspberry gin, blueberry gin and pineapple vodka.  The raspberry gin is awesome, my favourite by far. The pineapple vodka very strong, but I don't usually drink vodka so that's probably why.  The blueberry one was a bit disappointing though, are you supposed to prick the blueberries like you do with sloe berries?

 

 

Yep - blueberries need mushing

[mr gumby]

15 minutes ago, sabre-toothed tart said:

I've made small practice batches of raspberry gin, blueberry gin and pineapple vodka.  The raspberry gin is awesome, my favourite by far. The pineapple vodka very strong, but I don't usually drink vodka so that's probably why.  The blueberry one was a bit disappointing though, are you supposed to prick the blueberries like you do with sloe berries?

 

 

I'm not sure about blueberries, but I don't do that with sloes. I guess the tradition of pricking them was established long before freezers were invented. I simply freeze the sloes for a week or so before using them. The action of freezing and thawing splits the skins, helping release the flavour. I guess the same could well be true of blueberries, as they have similarly thick skins.

[sabre-toothed tart]

1 hour ago, hfuhruhurr said:

Yep - blueberries need mushing

 

54 minutes ago, mr gumby said:

I'm not sure about blueberries, but I don't do that with sloes. I guess the tradition of pricking them was established long before freezers were invented. I simply freeze the sloes for a week or so before using them. The action of freezing and thawing splits the skins, helping release the flavour. I guess the same could well be true of blueberries, as they have similarly thick skins.

Thank you both!  I'll start again and make sure the skins are split.  I'm still enjoying drinking my trial batches though, can't wait to drink them in the sunshine at Glastonbury 

[Theodore]

Summer fruit whiskey is a good one - frozen 'summer berries' mix (strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, red currants) leave in a blended whiskey , not disasterous warm! 

[Smash1984]

After some help. The Mrs really likes the Kopperberg light cans however after searching the web I don't think they do them in multi-packs and too expensive to buy enough for the festival. Does anyone know of any other light ciders that are sold in packs?

[deebeedoobee]

1 hour ago, Smash1984 said:

After some help. The Mrs really likes the Kopperberg light cans however after searching the web I don't think they do them in multi-packs and too expensive to buy enough for the festival. Does anyone know of any other light ciders that are sold in packs?

They are on special at Morrisons. 4 for £5

[Larraht]

It's a thumbs up for foamy bananas! Taste like kids banana flavour medicine - guaranteed to drink far too much of this and fall over by 2pm on Wednesday.

[IanBelfast]

Not an alcohol infusion question, but I reckon the people on this thread will know these things...

Can I use any plastic bottle for spirits or will they only work with certain types of plastic? For example is there any problem decanting vodka into a plastic coke bottle?

Just wondering in case it dissolves it or gives it a bad taste or something.

Thanks.

[Crazyfool01]

9 minutes ago, IanBelfast said:

Not an alcohol infusion question, but I reckon the people on this thread will know these things...

Can I use any plastic bottle for spirits or will they only work with certain types of plastic? For example is there any problem decanting vodka into a plastic coke bottle?

Just wondering in case it dissolves it or gives it a bad taste or something.

Thanks.

doesn't seem to ... but I'm not sure my sense of taste qualifies me to answer

[bsolxiv]

I've got loads of scotch in my cupboard that no one will ever drink. Any suggestions for infusions that might make it taste less like an alcoholic sack?

[Heartbreaker]

On 2017-5-21 at 6:08 PM, Perks said:

Just made rhubarb and custard sweets vodka. It looks awesome. But is very strong. Will need a mixer..maybe. But my gosh it's good. Lucky it's coming to festival on Thursday with me, no way it would've lasted till June.

What was the length of time to infuse / ratio of sweets to vodka for this one Perks? Have tried before and always been a more of a 'shit Tesco value vodka taste' than sweets!

Edited May 31, 2017 by Heartbreaker

[a6l6e6x]

Never thought of doing this, usually just have straight vodka and proceed to pass out. Going to try a fruity one

[IanBelfast]

41 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

doesn't seem to ... but I'm not sure my sense of taste qualifies me to answer

Thanks CF1 I'll just go for it.

[Perks]

1 hour ago, Heartbreaker said:

What was the length of time to infuse / ratio of sweets to vodka for this one Perks? Have tried before and always been a more of a 'shit Tesco value vodka taste' than sweets!

I used 150g of the sweets, crushed them up and added to vodka, put the bottle in the dishwasher by itself on the hottest heat. Took about 3 hours in total. Easy. Tasted good. But I needed to mix it with lemonade. Was so strong. I made lemon sherbet vodka the same way last year. I preferred that, but this was nice.

[mr gumby]

2 hours ago, IanBelfast said:

Not an alcohol infusion question, but I reckon the people on this thread will know these things...

Can I use any plastic bottle for spirits or will they only work with certain types of plastic? For example is there any problem decanting vodka into a plastic coke bottle?

Just wondering in case it dissolves it or gives it a bad taste or something.

Thanks.

If you leave spirits in a plastic bottle for a number of weeks, they can get a bit of a plastic taste, so I'd leave it late if you can. 

[BagpussSeesAllThings]

Ignore me...

Edited June 8, 2017 by mattiosmith

[pennylane07]

I thought this thread was about intravenous alcohol infusions and thought that's a bit extreme for Glastonbury 

[deebeedoobee]

My infusions are all drunk hic 

What to do eh?

[payneruk]

Not an infusion. But Morrisons have started selling Guinness Turbo. Which will go down nicely whilst watching Dropkick Murphy's  

Edited June 8, 2017 by payneruk

[Jne___]

thinking of trying some white choc vodka, need to get to lidl to scour their sweet section!

[susanl]

Leftover M&S Xmas Creme Brûlée liqueur, cherry brandy and amaretto. A strong and v sweet cherry bakewell evening warmer. With glitter! What could be better? 

[Jne___]

made a fruit salad (as in the sweets) "infused" vodka tonight - smells lovely but the taste isn't quite there! think foam bananas might be worth a go,m can never seem to find any though! 

[kellly]

I did my pineapple gin in March and had a taste at the weekend, does not taste the best at present. Does the caster sugar help at all @Scruffylovemonster? Thanks in advance

[hfuhruhurr]

10 minutes ago, kellly said:

I did my pineapple gin in March and had a taste at the weekend, does not taste the best at present. Does the caster sugar help at all @Scruffylovemonster? Thanks in advance

I've made mine with added sugar - it does help a lot. I also squish the pineapple to get the last bit of gin/juice out. But the leftover pineapple isn't good - so don't squish too much!

[hfuhruhurr]

My (adult) kids have now drunk all the home-made caffeine-free Kahlua for our white Russians - making more now. Will need to take best part of 2 ltrs made up white russian mix for our healthy breakfast (we have hob nobs too).