My first steps into the world of infusing alcohol

Now, I'm sure we've all seen the bars around town that serve their own infused vodkas. The Llama Bar in Subiaco, for example, have long had a number of infused spirits like their wasabi vodka. The Universal Bar in Northbridge is well known for its cocktail enthusiasts behind the bar, with infusions such as Vanilla infused tequila and white rum, chilli tequila, orange rum and chocolate vodka.

I figured I'd give it a shot for a couple of reasons.

1. It would mean that I'd have people over for drinks at my place rather than actually going out and spending $150+... therefore a cheaper and possibly more enjoyable experience
2. I've always wanted to give it a go.

So with my 3 Vintage Cellars Cellar Shares, I purchased 3 bottles of Skyy Vodka and a bottle of Bundaberg Rum. I also had a bottle of Havana Club Blanco Rum in my liquor cabinet to play with.

After buying the spirits, I had to work out what I was going to infuse them with. Consequently, I went to some nearby markets and purchased

• 500g of dark cherries
• 500g of plums (the really nice ones with the dark skin and the yellow flesh)
• 500g of white flesh nectarines
• 500g of apricots (not the really juicy ones, these were harder)

This was followed by a trip to the supermarket where I purchased

• 3 sticks of rhubarb
• 4 Pink Lady apples
• 2 Coconuts
• 6 Limes

I also bought six 1 litre jars to put everything in.

When I got home, I unpacked all the jars and cleaned them out. I then got to cutting up the various fruits I had purchased.

The first stumbling block was the coconuts. Living in an inner city apartment does not lend itself to needing to own a cleaver and I was not particularly willing to throw the coconuts on the floor to get the flesh out, so I put those aside.

The coconuts were to infuse with the Bundaberg rum, however the purchase of the apples and rhubarb gave me an idea of infusing these with the Bundy.

I chopped the three sticks of rhubarb into small pieces and likewise the 2 apples. I then put them in the jar, trying to ensure that there was a roughly even distribution of apple and rhubarb throughout the jar. I then poured about 600mL of the Bundy into the jar and sealed it up.

So that was one jar down, 5 to go. I then reached for the cherries. I threw all the stalks away and then commenced pulling the cherries apart to remove the pits. I figured that I needed the vodka to get to the flesh of the cherries and the pits would not add to the flavour, possibly removing from it. Half a kilo of cherries is a lot and soon I had a lovely pool of cherry juice on the chopping board along with about a half a jar of opened cherries in a jar. I used about 500 mL of Skyy vodka, and the jar was promptly sealed.

I looked at the limes and decided that this was the time for the Havana Club to enter the equation. I chopped all the limes in half, and then sliced them into fairly substantial chunks. The whole lot went into the jar and I used close to 650 mL of Havana Club over the top before it was sealed.

The apricots were easy to separate. They could be pulled apart easily and then chopped up into chunks. I finished off the first bottle of Skyy and poured about a third of the second bottle in to finish covering the apricots and sealing up the jar.

The plums were probably the most challenging to chop up. You can't cut them in half and separate them like you would an apricot, and the flesh sticks to the pit very easily. After about 10 minutes I had defeated the 5 plums and then poured the rest of the second bottle of Skyy over the plums and a little bit of the third (final bottle).

The white flesh nectarines were easy to cut. By this stage I had worked out that I could simply cut around the pit and then make small slices in and around the pit to maximise the amount of fruit that went into the jar. The last of the Skyy vodka was polished off and sealed.

All 6 bottles have been in a dark cupboard above the main cupboard. I intend on opening them all on Saturday to see how they are progressing.

Future infusions are being considered, like a pineapple and vanilla tequila, a rambutan and yuzu vodka and a date Jack Daniels. Any other opinions are welcome.

See you later :)