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Aug. 19th, 2016 08:45 amLast Sukkot I had all these etrogim after the holiday I wasn't sure what to do with. Searching online came across some suggestions to make etrog infused vodka, so I gave it a try. It is incredibly simple: You dump the peels into a mason jar full of vodka, let it sit for a few weeks, add some sugar, and you're done. It came out surprisingly well and other people agreed- to a person, they all expressed surprise that they were enjoying it.
Since it was so simple to do for such good results, I wanted to try doing more vodka infusing. About a month ago I threw some Granny Smith apples and a stick of cinnamon into a mason jar of vodka. Taste tests after two weeks were not promising- the cinnamon overwhelmed everything. It was like drinking Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I decided to see if removing the cinnamon and letting it sit for another few weeks would save things. It helped! After two more weeks, it was still too cinnamonny, but it was also appley and it was much closer to balance. Straining it through filter cloth also helped to take out some of the cinnamon and bring it more to my taste, though it's not perfectly to my taste.
I brought it to the Shabbos picnic a Jewish networking group in my town threw Shabbos before last and it went over quite well- about 2/3 of the bottle was consumed. Girls seemed to like it better than guys, in general, for whatever reason. Someone told me they liked the feeling of alcohol but not the taste, and that my concoction did a good job of masking the alcohol.
In doing some reading while troubleshooting the apple/cinnamon balance, I came across a suggestion that in retrospect is obvious: The first time you try a flavor, don't do your infusion with an entire bottle of vodka, do it in a smaller mason jar with a smaller quantity of vodka. That way if you screw up, you've wasted less, and you also get to try more different flavors at once. This is especially true when you're just trying a flavor for the first time- when I make more of the apple cinnamon I will probably do another full bottle again, since it went so quickly, but in general going forward it makes sense to experiment in smaller bottles. So at the moment I have an attempt at a smaller batch hot pepper vodka and an asian pear vodka in my cabinet. And we will see how that goes.
One of those little elements of setting up my new apartment has been building up a bit of a liquor cabinet. I don't drink all that much, and when I do it's rarely mixed drinks, so I don't need to go crazy there, but I have a bottle of bourbon, a bottle of vodka, a small bottle of tequila I haven't touched but figure ought to be there for tequila emergencies, a few bottles of wine (I pretty much only drink wine on Shabbat, but I cook with wine more often since I usually have an open bottle half full after Shabbat), and the remainder of a six pack of amber ale. Plus my infusion experiments.
Since it was so simple to do for such good results, I wanted to try doing more vodka infusing. About a month ago I threw some Granny Smith apples and a stick of cinnamon into a mason jar of vodka. Taste tests after two weeks were not promising- the cinnamon overwhelmed everything. It was like drinking Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I decided to see if removing the cinnamon and letting it sit for another few weeks would save things. It helped! After two more weeks, it was still too cinnamonny, but it was also appley and it was much closer to balance. Straining it through filter cloth also helped to take out some of the cinnamon and bring it more to my taste, though it's not perfectly to my taste.
I brought it to the Shabbos picnic a Jewish networking group in my town threw Shabbos before last and it went over quite well- about 2/3 of the bottle was consumed. Girls seemed to like it better than guys, in general, for whatever reason. Someone told me they liked the feeling of alcohol but not the taste, and that my concoction did a good job of masking the alcohol.
In doing some reading while troubleshooting the apple/cinnamon balance, I came across a suggestion that in retrospect is obvious: The first time you try a flavor, don't do your infusion with an entire bottle of vodka, do it in a smaller mason jar with a smaller quantity of vodka. That way if you screw up, you've wasted less, and you also get to try more different flavors at once. This is especially true when you're just trying a flavor for the first time- when I make more of the apple cinnamon I will probably do another full bottle again, since it went so quickly, but in general going forward it makes sense to experiment in smaller bottles. So at the moment I have an attempt at a smaller batch hot pepper vodka and an asian pear vodka in my cabinet. And we will see how that goes.
One of those little elements of setting up my new apartment has been building up a bit of a liquor cabinet. I don't drink all that much, and when I do it's rarely mixed drinks, so I don't need to go crazy there, but I have a bottle of bourbon, a bottle of vodka, a small bottle of tequila I haven't touched but figure ought to be there for tequila emergencies, a few bottles of wine (I pretty much only drink wine on Shabbat, but I cook with wine more often since I usually have an open bottle half full after Shabbat), and the remainder of a six pack of amber ale. Plus my infusion experiments.
