Infusion Confusion
The best thing about infused liquor is how easy it is to make. The second best thing is how impressed people are when you make it. “Ooh,” they’ll swoon, “How did you ever come up with this wondrous cherry-infused vodka recipe?”
What I’ll do is stick some cherries in some vodka and wait a couple days. But what I’ll say is “Oh, that’s my secret recipe. Just enjoy your beverage!”
Should you want to get started making infusions (and impressing your friends), simply pick a flavor, pick a spirit, and combine the two. For the spirit, vodka is the most neutral and allows whatever you infuse to shine through, but any other spirit will work too. I’ve infused gin, rum, tequila, and whisky with different fruit, vegetables, herbs, and spices; all to good effect. If you want more flavor to come out of the material faster, use a higher proof spirit like Skyy 90 or Absolut 100, both of which are stronger than standard 80 proof vodkas.
You can infuse almost anything edible into alcohol, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Some of the ingredients that give up flavor the fastest include dried herbs and spices and anything hot and spicy like peppers and horseradish. Fresh herbs, flowers, and grassy and delicate produce can also start to taste like dead vegetation quickly and must be carefully monitored. Slower going are infusions of citrus peels and non-juicy fruits and vegetables.
Use organic produce when possible and thoroughly wash everything first. Remove anything that has a bitter taste such as the white pith of citrus peel, stems of mint, cucumber skins, and anything woody like pits or seeds. Select a container made of glass, with a tight-fitting lid, that’s not much larger than you’ll need so there’s not a lot of air in the jar.
Test the infusion each day to see when it’s done. Spices and peppery infusions are finished when the flavor is intense enough, which may take a few hours to two days. (You can always dilute it with more vodka if it comes out too hot.) Fresh ingredients should be removed at the first sign of losing freshness, which may take a day up to a couple weeks. Strain out the solids and store your infusion in the refrigerator to make it last longer.
But where to start? Think of a cocktail you want to flavor and infuse the base spirit with an added ingredient. Some suggestions are the Basil Gimlet, Lemon and Lime Drop, Orange Cosmopolitan, Strawberry Mojito, or a Wasabi Bloody Mary.
Practice with a small infusion jar first, then make a bigger batch when you’ve got the timing down. A bottle of infused vodka makes a great party gift - everyone loves homemade secret recipes. Just don’t share the secret about how easy these are to make.
The Wonderful World of Whisk(e)y
No matter where you are in the world, whisk(e)y is a pain in the butt to spell, because it is spelled differently in the other parts of the world from where you are. It’s appropriate to use the local spelling of other changeably-spelled words like favo(u)r and colo(u)r, but whisk(e)y snobs won’t give you a break.
That’s too bad, because all whisk(e)y starts the same, as grain that is fermented and distilled and then nearly always aged in barrels.
Scotland makes the most famous whisky (no ‘e’), and most of it falls into two categories. Single-malt scotch comes from a single distillery, but more importantly it is made only from malted barley in pot stills. This means it has a lot of flavor going into the barrels. Some single-malts you may know include The Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, and Glenmorangie.
The other major type of scotch whisky is blended scotch, made from mixing the flavorful single-malt with lighter column-distilled whisky. Together you get a softer (and usually less expensive) liquid. Major brands of blended scotch include Chivas, Johnnie Walker, and Dewar’s.
Think of the flavor of single-malt scotch as whole grain bread, and blended scotch as wheat bread. And for something closer to French bread, we look to the USA.
In America, most of the local whiskey (note the ‘e’) is bourbon, and most of the grain used in bourbon is corn. Bourbon is usually column distilled and always aged in new barrels that give off a lot of flavor. (Scotch is mostly aged in less-flavorful used barrels, which is one reason scotch usually ages for longer than most bourbon.) Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark are bourbons, and Jack Daniel’s is not considered one due to a slight production difference. Still, it’s a heck of a lot closer to bourbon than it is to scotch.
Much Irish whiskey (with an ‘e’), though produced differently, is similar to blended scotch in its softness and drinkability. Most Canadian whisky (no ‘e’) is light-bodied and really meant for mixing. Let’s say that Canadian whisky is white bread and Irish whiskey is ciabatta. I know I’m stretching this whole bread analogy here, but is anyone else in the mood for a sandwich?
The Americans and the Scotts seem to be the most loyal to their local whiskies. Bourbon snobs will tell you that scotch is good for mixing, and scotch snobs think their favorite tipple is too good even for mixing with ice. There are cocktails that call for specific types of whiskies though: the Bobby Burns, Sazerac, Seven and Seven, and the Irish Coffee deserve to have their native spirits poured into them.
One cocktail works with every whisk(e)y, and that’s the Manhattan. Naturally, the Scotts can’t stand for that and instead insist it be called the Rob Roy. As far as I know the Irish and Canadians haven’t renamed the drink, which is good because then we’d have to memorize these along with all the different spellings of the whisk(e)y that goes into them.
Camper English is a cocktails and spirits writer and publisher of Alcademics.com.
