A few years ago cuasabon and I, along with our erstwhile co-imbiber Mr. MoosyFate (I don’t know what his stance is on his name and how public it should be.) got very into infusing vodka. We had almost as many bottles going under he bar as there were commercial products on the top. Like all experiments there were winners and losers. None of the sun dried tomato trials worked very well as I recall. A few rose above the heap and still sit in my bar to this day.
A new batch of one of my favorites is infusing right now. Since our little experiments I’ve made a batch of lime-basil-mint vodka every year, when the snow melts.
It’s as simple as can be.
LBM Infusion
Zest of half a lime
12-20 Basil leaves (this depends on the size)
12-20 Mint leaves (again, size)
750 ml of vodkaPut the zest and leaves into the bottle and let sit for at least a week.
I don’t know anyone lazy enough to consider that work.
You can of course add more if you want the taste to be stronger, that’s going to be fairly subtle when you are done. You will also want the vodka to be a decent brand. Back in the day we were checking to see if running bad vodka through a water filter actually made it better, and it did, but it burns through the filters and takes at least five times through. You’re better off just getting good vodka. High proof will help pull the flavors out.
So what do you use this in?
Garden Tonic
2 oz LBM Infusion
6 oz Tonic WaterBuild in the glass with plenty of ice.
The garnish on this can be either a wedge of lime, or a mint sprig, you’ve got both at play in there.
I’m happy enough with this drink that I haven’t bothered to go further afield, though there are probably other good drinks you can make with the stuff. Will it replace the Gin and Tonic? It’ll give it a run.
April 4, 2008 at 5:04 am
Holy poop, I’d forgotten about this one. It was delicious. I’d only remembered that brutal pepper martini and that “Bread” thing that you two kept on about.
April 4, 2008 at 8:13 am
Yeah, the pepper one did not turn out well at all. “Bread” was basically just homemade Aquavit with a lot less herbs in it. Tons of caraway and I’m not sure of much else.
April 5, 2008 at 7:26 pm
What if you just ran vodka through activated carbon? That’s basically all a water filter is, and it should be cheaper. We should try it.
I will have to try your infusion. Normally I avoid flavored vodkas, but that sounds delicious.
April 7, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Hey, rock. I came over here thinking of you boozy hooligans precisely because my gentleman friend has been infusing some ginger vodka and I wanted to look for input. I was thinking either a) shaken with something fruity and sweetish, like limoncello, peach schnapps, grand marinier or b) in a hot toddy or c) some kind of delightful monstrosity approximating the taste of gingersnaps. Thoughts?
Also: does there exist premium tonic water, made with sugar instead of corn syrup? There really ought to, there’s totally a market for it.
April 8, 2008 at 10:13 am
Personally, I’d be mixing that with rum. I don’t know how gingery it’s going to be, but rum, lime, and a little bit of honey was the set of ingredients that immediately sprang to mind. Limoncello would be harder. causabon and I have played around with it, but it doesn’t seem to like mixing with a lot of stuff. There are drinks out there, but without knowing how gingery this stuff will be… Maybe gin, ginger, and limoncello?
There is premium tonic water. I’ve never had it myself, but it got pimped on Hess’s site a few days ago. It’s in his G&T episode.