StillSmart

Hi all .

Has anyone tried supermarket essences to flavour their vodka. i.e. cherry, vanilla. e.t.c. I know its not like infusing fruit but is it as good as buying the \"proper\" spirit essences.

Dave

Do you mean like the small bottles for baking with? I haven\'t tried these, but I have used two syrups - one was Polish raspberry syrup from the local Co-op, and the other was Lingonberry from Ikea. They are both designed to be diluted with water like a cordial. I added some (150ml) to 1 litre of spirit and bottled them up, they\'re pretty good.
The \'proper\' essences often have different purposes, some thicken the drink to make it more like a liqueur, etc. For pure flavour this might work - anyone got anything knocking about that they care to give it a go with?

The \\\'proper\\\' essences often have different purposes, some thicken the drink to make it more like a liqueur, etc. For pure flavour this might work - anyone got anything knocking about that they care to give it a go with?

Actually Jimmy, if you check out most of the "liqueur" flavourings and recipes, most of them use either sugar, dextrose/glucose or glycerine to give them that liqueur like viscosity, the flavourings are just that.
Though I\'d also guess that some of the supermarket flavourings taste a bit too "artificial". Think vanilla here, the vanilla "essence" will do the job, but if you want good vanilla flavour in something cooked, then either vanilla extract or real vanilla pods seem to be the superior way of getting the best flavour.
The use of the Polish/Swedish syrups sounds good though :-p

im going to try some flavourings (supermarket) this afternoon will let you know later. any one know how much glycerine to put in a 750ml bottle

Dave

True enough Phantom - I\'ve not used many, but I forgot that you have to add the sugar as well.
Dave - depends how thick you want it to be! I can\'t see it being too much or it would begin to affect the flavour - probably best to try a teaspoon at a time and see how it goes.

tried the supermarket essences ok but they do taste artificial. Glycerine does make a difference, takes the sharp edge off the spirit. ( one teaspoon per 75 ml ) Got it from boots the chemest 90p for 200ml. Have also put two 1/2 bottles to enffuse one with pears and one with lemon zest and flesh (no white stuff) i will leave fot a few days and let you know.( the one with the lemon took on a yellow color straight away)

Dave

Sorry i ment 1 teaspoonfull of glycerine per 750ml.

Dave

I did a \'lime-oncello\' once like that with lime rind and juice, came out very nice so you should be onto a winner, the pear I don\'t know but it\'d be great to hear how it went.

with the pear im hoping to get somthing like a pear schnapps

Dave

im going to try some flavourings (supermarket) this afternoon will let you know later. any one know how much glycerine to put in a 750ml bottle

Ha ha! I was going to suggest starting at 1/4 tsp per bottle but it looks like you\\\'ve already found an acceptable quantity in 1tsp per bottle.
I\\\'d guess that it takes some roughness off the spirit because glycerine is a non-fermentable monosaccharide (a type of sugar) so it\\\'s just a case of sugar sorting out some of the spirit harshness - or masking it anyway.
As for Jimmy\\\'s idea of lemoncello, but with lime ? well I\\\'ve also looked into that, but any of the \"proper\" lemoncello recipes, do suggest the use of 96% alcohol and as it\\\'s not available in the UK - I\\\'ve been looking for a site that will sell the kit for laboratory glassware so that I can try and make a vacuum still - the sites that sell the glassware are hard work trying to work out matching sizes, but the real stopping point at the moment is where to get a low capacity vacuum pump (oh and a heater/spinner device as all the designs seem to suggest the use of \"liquid spinner\" bars to prevent excessive bubbling.

anyone got anything knocking about that they care to give it a go with?

I found some Rose water concentrate, which I used to use in my winemaking days. Not sure about quantities, but may give it a go.

I found some Rose water concentrate, which I used to use in my winemaking days. Not sure about quantities, but may give it a go.

I don\'t mind rose flavouring in my turkish delight, but bloody hell, rose flavoured spirit/vodka ? I can\'t imagine anything worse ! (ok, maybe jeyes fluid flavoured spirit/vodka might be worse)

Well Im following Alans recipe which adds bottled cherries to the spirit but being a big fan of Bakewell pudding, I\'m thinking of adding some almond extract to it-has anyone tried almond extract in alcohol?

Whiskers

I have tried almond essence in some spirit that I had soaked some cherries in,it does give it a nice flavour but the trouble is it wont dissolve completely in the spirit so you have like an oil slick in your glass,ok if you dont mind to much what it looks like.Mind you I never tried filtering it afterwards this might have removed the visible traces.