Thursday, November 15, 2012

DIY Infused Alcohol for Christmas Gifts

I decided to try my hand at making infused alcohol for several of my friends and family this Christmas. I did a little research and came up with the flavors I wanted to create. Then I went to get my ingredients. Infused alcohol is really easy to make. You simply take your choice of alcohol, something in the middle price range, and the fresh fruit, herbs and vegetables you want to infuse into your liquor. I decided to use vodka with the flavor combos of thai chile and apricot, pear and mint and apple cinnamon. I also made a lime jalapeño tequila.
























All you have to do once you buy your ingredients is to cut them up, wash them off and place them in your alcohol. However, there are a few rules that you should be aware of before you throw everything into your jar.

1. Only leave citrus fruit peels in for a max of 5 days otherwise they start to get bitter.
2. Some things take longer to infuse their flavor than others.
    For example: citrus only needs a few days as does any other fresh fruit but stronger flavors like peppers         and chiles only need up to 24 hours.
3. You can always remove the stuff you place in the jar and refresh it with new ingredients if you want to         make the flavor stronger but, you can't take away!


I haven't finished my infusions yet but so far the pear+mint is the best combination which makes me pretty happy because it was completely my idea and not inspired by someone else's combinations. The dried apricot is going to take a few weeks before it tastes like anything other than vodka because I'm not adding those chiles until the last minute. The apple cinnamon is also pretty good and the tequila just tastes like lime right now but will be really fun once I add the jalapeño.

I also made labels for my bottles that I plan on applying after pouring the different liquors into my clear bottles from Hobby Lobby. You can download the pdf of my labels here.

If you like this idea then you should check out the even easier gift of Rosemary Infused Olive Oil which also includes a how to and printable labels!

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