Vodka Infusions?

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Has anyone done one? Do you have a favorite? I'm thinking about a spicy one w/ginger, cardamom, vanilla and a savory one with basil, cuke, something peppery.

― Jaq, Friday, 23 February 2007 18:31 (sixteen years ago) link

I've been thinking about trying this myself, was gonna start w/something simple & fruity. the spicy one sounds nice though Hendrick's Gin, billed as "cucumber-infused" is quite nice and so smooth it tastes more like vodka.

― m coleman, Friday, 23 February 2007 20:28 (sixteen years ago) link

The instructions I got were: put flavorsome stuff in a glass jar, cover with vodka, leave in a dark place for at least 2 weeks. Seems far too simple!

― Jaq, Friday, 23 February 2007 20:44 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm warning you, I got sake with cucumber pieces in it once and I found it completely undrinkable. The cuke really killed it for me. I'm a little weird, food-wise, but I'm just sayin'....

― Laurel, Friday, 23 February 2007 21:52 (sixteen years ago) link

there was an overpriced joint in the east village of NYC, maybe it's still there called Buddha Bar that served "sakitinis" w/cuke floaters that looked sorta yukki. Hendrick's has a whisper of cuke flavor, ugh that sounds pretentious, it's very subtle though the first time I had it was in a martini served w/lightly salted paper-thin cuke slices on the side. did not add them to drink.

I'm assuming some serious straining is required before drinking homemade infusion.

― m coleman, Friday, 23 February 2007 22:59 (sixteen years ago) link

After last night's grapefruit debacle, I'm thinking subtle is the key.

― Jaq, Friday, 23 February 2007 23:24 (sixteen years ago) link

i don't do it enough anymore, but chile vodka infusions rock! easy as cutting a habanero or 5 (or any other small chile) in half and sticking it in the bottle for a few days. you can strain it if it starts to get too hot.
ginger, cardamom and vanilla sounds lovely but...complicated flavorwise. but def. worth a try

― outdoor_miner, Saturday, 24 February 2007 04:23 (sixteen years ago) link

i love pepper vodka. the other kinds of infusions always sound SO good to me, but i end up not actually liking them very much. overinfusion seems to be a big problem. my friend's bar did infusions for a while, but the project was eventually abandoned because a lot of them ended up tasting chemically/artificial despite fresh ingredients and no one had the patience to muck around with proportions.

― lauren, Saturday, 24 February 2007 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link

Bacon-infused vodka is pretty great.

― eater, Sunday, 25 February 2007 18:22 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm a sucker for vodka flavoured with boiled sweets. Cough candy and rhubarb & custard are particularly good. I don't think you can just drop the sweets in and let them infuse, though - you need to heat up the bottle a bit in a saucepan full of hot water. Not that I've ever done it myself.

― Madchen, Monday, 26 February 2007 15:13 (sixteen years ago) link

The classic burstproof way to do that is: drop in candies, seal bottle tightly, place in dishwasher for a cycle.

― eater, Monday, 26 February 2007 18:32 (sixteen years ago) link

Holy shit, who even THINKS of these things?

― Laurel, Monday, 26 February 2007 21:05 (sixteen years ago) link

Honestly, a Halls eucalyptus flavored vodka is making me think "yuck". But Wethers? Maybe.

― Jaq, Monday, 26 February 2007 21:15 (sixteen years ago) link

I like it with good spicy black licorice too. Who thought of that? The Finns.

― eater, Monday, 26 February 2007 21:27 (sixteen years ago) link

vodka with spicy, salty black licorice is the exception to my licorice-hating ways. my finnish friends make their own by melting down salt-encrusted "jalapeno" black licorice and mixing it with vodka, blasting the bottle with a hair dryer (don't ask me), then freezing the whole mess for a while. it produces a glorious, extremely salty, slighty hot sludge that goes down way too easily.

― lauren, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:30 (sixteen years ago) link

I still haven't cracked my sloe gin (not strictly vodka I know) Sloes or damsons should work well with vodka.

― Ed, Thursday, 1 March 2007 16:42 (sixteen years ago) link

Yeah, why is gin the classic substrate for sloes? It doesn't seem a wholly natural fit. You know what would be good? Sloe slivovitz.

― eater, Thursday, 1 March 2007 19:06 (sixteen years ago) link

Sloe and juniper are the perfect complimentary flavours IMO.

Anyone else a fan of grappa infusions? Juniper grappa is a wondrous thing. (see also sage and st john's wort)

― Ed, Friday, 2 March 2007 10:53 (sixteen years ago) link

isn't aquavit moreorless a vodka infusion?

― m coleman, Friday, 2 March 2007 11:09 (sixteen years ago) link

Or schnapps.

― Ed, Friday, 2 March 2007 11:54 (sixteen years ago) link

Well, in the first sloe gin, sloes were a replacement for juniper, correct? And only afterward came the sort of sloe gin that is homemade by people adding sloes to storebought gin. I am sipping the latter now and I sort of taste the juniper complementarity but I'm not entirely convinced.

― eater, Friday, 2 March 2007 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link

Next time I'm in spain I want to pick up a couple of bottle of raw, pure alcohol and try out some pastis/anisado recipes.

― Ed, Monday, 5 March 2007 09:43 (sixteen years ago) link

Honestly, a Halls eucalyptus flavored vodka is making me think "yuck".

Cough candy is very different. Not mediciny at all.

― Madchen, Monday, 12 March 2007 14:55 (sixteen years ago) link

three years pass...

I have a sloe vodka! It has bears on!
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/6637/productimage.jpg

Pretty drinkable. At 21%, a bit less strong than the sloe gins I've had, which it is fairly similar to - much closer to sloe gin than to other berry-flavoured vodkas I've had, which is good for me as I haven't been keen on most of those. It wasn't too cheap though so I guess it will not become a regular tipple.

(bought from the newly-ish-opened wine shop which is on the route I'll have to take home every day until spring now the clocks have changed, as my preferred route has no streetlighting. danger! danger to liver and bank balance!)

― what is he like? the guy's a juggalo, man (a passing spacecadet), Sunday, 31 October 2010 21:42 (thirteen years ago) link

Suprised i didnt post here before, but me and the ex did several rounds of jalapeno or other hot chilli infusions in good vodka.

Was quite fascinating watching the chillis all go paler and paler, and the vodka redder and redder. I dunno how it leaches all the colour out but it does!

It was really effing strong, too.

― Sunn O))) Sundae Smile (Trayce), Monday, 1 November 2010 00:47 (thirteen years ago) link

three years pass...

I ordered some bisongrass in an attempt to DIY bisongrass vodka. Any tips, or should I just go with my gut?

― just like the one wing dove (Crabbits), Friday, 23 May 2014 21:17 (nine years ago) link

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