StillSmart

Essential oils seem mostly to be aimed at masseuses or people with small evaporating humidifiers.

My theory, on the other hand, is that if you put a few drops into an airstill with some cleaned neutral 40%abv, and then dilute the 65%abv distillate back to 40%abv in a bottle, you create an acceptable aperitif. And if you add a spoonful of sugar you get a tolerable digestif instead of the spirit.

My experiments persuade me that choosing one herb, one fruit and one spice results in quite exotic complexity. What I don't know is whether anyone else does it and if so is there a thread about what combinations people have preferred.

3 drops of basil, 3 drops of orange and one drop of aniseed, for instance, in one litre. A little of these oils goes a very long way.

My tastebuds can't appreciate such things, but certainly gin and such work out fine in airstill.

As you say one or two drops go a long way.

On a mostly unrelated subject, I at one time expressed surprise here that one spoon of honey was enough in a whiskey/bourbon and am now convinced that 3 is too many.

spot wrote:Essential oils seem mostly to be aimed at masseuses or people with small evaporating humidifiers.

I can see why you might think that but there are different types.

Pure essential oils. Synthetic and perfume oils are all quite unique. Food grade is the only way to go for drinking.

Mash wrote:Pure essential oils. Synthetic and perfume oils are all quite unique. Food grade is the only way to go for drinking.

I've looked but I've never seen any food grade essential oils advertised anywhere. If you can point to an example I'd feel oriented.

For a comprehensive source for herbs, spices and essentials oils try:

http://www.justingredients.co.uk/?gclid ... Gwod2dgHoA

This is virtually one stop shopping for anything you might need.

Good answer and they do the elusive bitter orange peel.

I'm delighted such a supplier exists, I've bookmarked the site for future purchases and I'll stop using the few 5ml samplers I picked up to learn with.