DIY

Issue No. 1 —

House Infused Spirits

I nev­er under­stood why you would buy, use, or con­sume arti­fi­cial­ly fla­vored liquors. This real­ly goes against my style. The vod­ka boom is still going strong and many Amer­i­cans love their fla­vored vod­kas. Well I’m try­ing to change people’s minds. Infus­ing your own spir­its is easy. It just takes some time, but in the end you will have real fla­vors and some real­ly fresh cocktails.

House Infused Spirits

I used Infused by Susan Elia MacNeal’s for reference.

Always use ster­il­ized mason jars, shake once a day, and keep away from bright sunlight.

Blueberry Vodka and Blueberry Bourbon

Infused Blueberry Vodka

  • 750 ml of booze
  • 1 quart fresh organ­ic blueberries

Slight­ly cook the blue­ber­ries until some of the nat­ur­al sug­ars start to release. The blue­ber­ries should be slight­ly firm not mushy.

Infuse away from sun­light for 5 days.

Lemon infused Vodka

Lemon Infused Vodka

This fresh infu­sion will blow your mind and you will hope­ful­ly nev­er buy a cit­rus vod­ka ever again.

  • 750 ml of vodka
  • 5 lemons

Zest lemons with no white pith.

I use a pota­to peel­er and then a knife to remove excess white pith. You could use a microplane zester here as well.

Infuse for 5 days. Strain and rebottle.

Yes, it’s that easy and tastes like real lemons.

Jalapeno infused tequila

Jalepeno Infused Tequila

  • 750 ml of blan­co tequila
  • 1 red Serrano
  • 3 jalapeno chiles

You’ll only need to infuse the tequi­la for two days. Once you have your jalapeno infuse tequi­la you’ll have ammo for some seri­ous­ly tasty cock­tails that pack a punch.

Pecan Infused Bourbon

  • 750 ml of bourbon
  • 2 cups of pecans

Here’s the prepa­ra­tion for the pecans. First soak your pecans in water for 30 min­utes, then strain. Place pecans on a bak­ing sheet and pre­heat the oven for 300 degrees. Sprin­kle with salt, pep­per, and cayenne pep­per on the pecans for fla­vor. Bake for 20 min­utes. Allow to cool and place in a ster­il­ized mason jar. Top pecans with bour­bon and infuse for 4–5 days. Strain with a cof­fee fil­ter or Bri­ta fil­ter to remove any sed­i­ment. I’m cur­rent­ly look­ing into agar clar­i­fi­ca­tion to help remove sed­i­ment and improve the over­all appearance.

Cocktails

Here are some recipes I used with these infusions.

Parkside Fizz

  • 2 oz Cit­rus Vodka
  • 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 oz Orgeat
  • Mud­dled Mint

Shake and strain into a collins glass with rocks

top with soda

Gar­nish with mint and a lemon wheel

Remington

  • 2 oz Blue­ber­ry Vodka
  • 1 oz lime
  • ¾ oz simple

Mud­dle mint & blueberries

Shake and strain into a chilled cock­tail glass

gar­nish with blue­ber­ry sug­ar. Dehadrat­ed blue­ber­ries then crushed with mor­tar and pes­tle, com­bine with sugar.

Recipe invent­ed by Bal­ti­more bar­tender Paul Palumbo

One Hot Minute

  • 1 ¾ oz jalapeno tequila
  • ½ oz Lillet,
  • 2 oz Apple & Cucum­ber juice
  • 1 tea­spoon agave
  • 1 tea­spoon Jalapeno hot sauce

Shake and strain into a collins glass with rocks

Gar­nish with cucum­ber slices and a jalapeno

Blueberry Thrill

  • 2 oz House Infused Blue­ber­ry Bourbon
  • 3/4 oz Lil­let Blanc
  • 1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
  • Dash Peach & Angos­tu­ra Bitters

Stir and strain into a chilled cock­tail glass

Gar­nish with 3 blueberries

Recipe invent­ed by Josh Sullivan

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