The fall spirit's finally hit and after tasting a delicious coffee and vanilla infused vodka recently I've gotten into the idea of making my own creations for seasonal drinks or gifts. A bit of Googling has guided the way on the basics and I'll be starting tonight with a somewhat ambitious first attempt: a spiced apple vodka for Thanksgiving dinner. After modifying a recipe found online this is the plan for the real deal, which should be done just in time for Thanksgiving: -Day 1: A whole Granny Smith apple sliced into wedges, and a whole cinnamon stick. -Day 5: Remove apple wedges and replace with fresh wedges. -Day 10: Replace apple again, remove cinnamon, add cranberries. -Day 11: Add nutmeg, four or five seeds. -Day 14: Add cloves, and a fresh cinnamon stick. -Day 15: Strain/filter and move to fitting festive container. I'll try to get a few pictures up as the process moves along. If anyone has any recipes they'd like to share please do! This seems like a fun hobby that will be tried many times...
One of my favorites is sbiten vodka. Sbiten is a traditional winter drink, but not typically made with vodka but instead red wine. I flavor my vodka with honey, blackberries, mint, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and a sliver of naga jalokia. I let mine steep for more like a month, keeping an eye on things and straining it out when the berries and mint start to break down. I'm also a very big fan of making Pertsovka, very heavy on the hot peppers.
Sloe Gin Sloe Gin Sloe Gin Sloe Gin Sloe Gin Sloe Gin Sloe Gin Sloe Gin That's all the seasonal beverage a man needs. In fact, its so seasonal, you can have it all year round.
This a million times. Local farmers market sells the stuff every November, always stock up. Boxing day has never been the same again.
A friend of mine makes damson gin using the exact process for sloe gin, the results are spectacular and highly, HIGHLY recommended. I also keep meaning to attempt to make my own version of Boukha (a kind of fig brandy) which I drank in Tunisia, copiously, and have yet to find available in the UK.
I am keen to see how the Vodka turns out, so keep us updated. Sloe gin sounds like about as far from my taste as possible... Just on the other side of sweet late harvest white wine
Nonono, the traditional danish spirit of "Gløgg" 1 bottle of unspecified red wine (not something good tbh) 1 cinnamon rod 2 cardemoms ½ a lemon 85 grams of sugar 2 whole oranges 12 cloves 100 grams of raisins 100 grams of almonds Pour the red wine in a large pot, put the cinnamon and cardemom in a small linen bag. Heat the mixture and then turn it off. Let the wine soak for around 5 minutes. Add the sugar, lemon juice and thin slices of lemon shell. Press the cloves into the oranges and put them in a large bowl. Add the raisins and almonds and pour the red wine mixture over it. Serve in small cups.
Sounds a bit like the German "Glühwein", but cold, Picarro... Sounds interesting, actually. In Namibia, it's hot-as-hell around xmas, so anythign warm goes right out of the window... Basically: If it doesn't get served with ice, it's too damn warm, unless it's lager with a layer of ice on the outside of the bottle...
It IS like the german "Glühwein" and you can serve it either warm of cold. Pro tip: Add a bit of schnaps to it - it makes wonders.
I consumed a rather spectacular quantity of home-made damson gin last xmas and it was rather magnificent. I'm pondering what to make again for this year, and might try a spot of sloe. I was thinking of making skittles vodka for new year again. Taste the rainbow.
I've just made coffee and vanilla rum which is rather nice - A bottle of rum, 40 beans of coffee, 3 sliced vanilla pods and sugar to taste. Take the coffee beans out after 24 hours.
This! +1 It's similar to Mulled Wine in English terms. Very tasty and serve it warm on those cold winter days for a lovely contrast. A dash of Rum or Schnapps as Picarro mentioned for extra oomph!
Skittles vodka is epic. (Just make sure you don't put all the colours in at the same time otherwise it goes a funky brown colour). We found a couple of 250ml bottles of 3 yr old skittles vodka recently (strained etc etc) which will hopefully be amazing! <edit> Mix it with something like lemonade and its a way to get wasted without even knowing you're drinking.... </edit>
We've currently got two jars of strawberry vodka maturing in the dark recesses of the cupboards, a litre of limoncello, a large bottle of lime and mint rum (for instant mojitos), a small bottle of raspberry gin, a small bottle of blackberry gin, chilli sherry, and the makings for a Christmas pudding rum and a clemencello vodka all ready for the holiday season. the gins really aint my thing but the homemade limoncello is fantastic
working for a Swedish bank we are drowning glögg (swedish spelling) every christmas, although whilst it can be very nice they don't seem to bother serving it in small glasses like you suggest
I make sloe gin every year. not really to a recipe as such. I just take a new bottle of Gordons or whatever is on sale, walk out into my field where a sloe berry bush grows, drink the gin neat down to an inch or so (proper hobo style) and replace the liquid with freshly picked slow berries. I'm not sure if adding sugar is a good idea or not. I usually don't. I then screw the lid on, leave on the window sill for a month shaking briefly once a day. On Boxing day crack it open and see how foul or awesome it is. I have mixed results.
mostly by following the limoncello recipie here but adding the lime zest whilst heating the sugar syrup instead of waiting for it to cool down, adding a pack of mint leaves to the cooling sugar syrup when you add the lime juice, and swapping the vodka for rum. then leaving the mint to infuse the mix for about a week or so before straining everything non liquid out through a sieve first and then a coffee filter for the really fine bits. it will also require about double the number of limes to lemons to keep the juice quanty about the same. when you want a mojito pour a double and add soda water or lemonade if you like it sweeter. or just drink it straight for a mojito type liqueur.
