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Flavored liqueurs

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 6:28 pm
by Patience






Ordinarily we fill half gallon jars with whatever fruit is plentiful. Pour brandy in to cover the fruit. Vodka works too. Shake or rotate the jar daily. For at least a month. Three months is better. Longer is not a problem when we forget about it.

Then we strain the fruit out and add sugar to taste. Jar it up in pints, label, and our most popular gifts are done!

We only need a pint of peach brandy for a gift at the end of September so we used what we had and got it started a week or so back. Canned peaches work fine, just drained off the syrup and poured brandy over the peaches to cover.

We’ll shake it daily and otherwise just leave it on top of the fridge. Heat helps it extract faster. Taste it next week and see if the flavor is coming along. Mash the peaches some to hurry it up if not.

Couple days before our friends arrive we will strain the peaches out and add sugar. Start with 1/2 cup sugar to a pint of brandy. Set the jar in hot water a while. Shake often. Taste often. Add sugar as needed until it is sweet to taste. A cup of sugar to two cups of flavored brandy is about average, depending on what flavor we put in it.

Brown sugar can be really good. Especially with peaches!

We have used cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, anise seeds and more. With spices we use a tablespoon or so per cup of brandy. When it suits our taste we strain and add sugar until we like it.

Here is a recipe for that dreamsicle brandy.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/201 ... anton.html

We cook the water down to a thick syrup before adding it to the brandy. Everybody loves this one!

Re: Flavored liqueurs

Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:17 pm
by patriceinil
Sounds good and I’m sure everyone loves to receive some as a gift.

Re: Flavored liqueurs

Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:27 pm
by Farmfresh
I am making notes.

Re: Flavored liqueurs

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 6:56 pm
by Patience
There are complaints that the jars we gift our alcoholic stuff in have holes in them Patrice. Folks say the good stuff won’t stay in the jar?

Lot of trying stuff mostly Farmfresh. I tasted the peach today and then added sugar, with the peaches still in the jar. Scooped spoonfulls of brown sugar in. Maybe a cup? Stirred a while. Tasted again. Added another half cup of white sugar. Stirred more.

Tasted again. Not very peachy yet. Dumped the peaches out and chopped them some. Poured it all back in the jar and set it on top of the fridge again.

See if we can find fresh peaches at one of our farmers markets this weekend. We’ve never tried to do a fruit brandy in less than 2 months. And we want it really peachy!

I think pecan would go well with the peach. But the pecan has to be stored in the fridge or freezer because of the oils that are extracted. Or the oil has to be skimmed off. Or both.

Just too much hassle for us. We like extracts that either work very fast or that can be neglected for months and still be ok. Our little propane fridge is too full of ferments and home cooked goodies already. Alcohol stuff has to be shelf stable around here.

Re: Flavored liqueurs

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 7:10 pm
by Patience
We had another taste test this evening. Chopping the peaches really helped! It tastes nice and peachy! Won’t need to add any more peaches. Does need more sugar though. Let it run a while yet. Add the rest of the sugar when we strain the peaches out.