How to Make Flavored Vodka

Guide Note

Flavored vodkas add a great taste to all your favorite cocktails! They can be expensive, though, and it's sometimes tough to find the exact flavor you're looking for. This guide to How to Make Flavored Vodka will teach you the basics of making this great drink staple at home!

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• What You'll Need
• Preparing the Infusion
• Variations

Flavored Vodka Tips

1. Use a medium quality vodka.
2. Make sure ingredients are fresh.
3. Experiment with different combinations.
4. Taste the infusion periodically.
5. Host an Infusion Party to share your results!

• by Susan MacDowell

Introduction

• Flavored vodkas, also called infusions, are popular ingredients in cocktails and recipes.^{1 2} By making your own, you'll save money, as well as be able to tailor the flavors to your taste. You can also control the quality of the ingredients that you use. Commercially flavored fruit vodkas, for example, are not required to be made with fresh fruits; they're commonly made with artificial flavors or extracts.³

• Making your own flavored vodka is simple. You can buy a specialty kit of infusion supplies, but you can also make flavored vodka without special equipment, using things you probably already have around the house.⁴

What You'll Need

(Creative Commons photo by dbking)

• Vodka
  • Use good quality vodka. There's no need to buy a top shelf brand, but don't use the cheapest one either, as inexpensive vodka may not give the best tasting results.⁵

• Flavoring
  • Spices, herbs, fruit or other desired flavoring.
  • The amount you need depends on how flavorful the ingredients are and how quickly you'd like the infusion to be completed. Most recipes call for 1/2 cup to 2 cups of fruit, but smaller quantities of highly flavored ingredients like chili peppers or ginger.

Equipment

• Wide Mouth Jar with tight fitting lid, large enough to hold the vodka and flavoring⁶
• Funnel
• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Strainer

Preparing the Infusion

(Creative Commons photo by Betsy Fletcher)

1. Make sure the jar is clean, with no odors from previous contents.
   • For example, if you recycle a large pickle jar, you'll want to make sure that there's no trace of pickle odor—unless you're aiming for pickle vodka!
2. Some recipes advise you to sterilize the jars before beginning.⁷
3. Prepare your flavoring. The ingredients should be clean and fresh.⁸
   • Small berries: Leave whole.⁶
   • Strawberries: Remove the stem and cut in half.⁶
   • Pineapple: Peel and chop.⁹
   • Citrus Fruits: Slice, or leave whole and poke holes in the rind so the juices from the fruit and the vodka can mingle. You can also make citrus vodka using just the peel. ^{10 11 12}
   • Vanilla beans: Split the pod lengthwise with a knife¹³
   • Fresh herbs: Wash and dry, then bruise the leaves to release their oils.^{14 15}
   • Chili peppers: Wash and leave whole.^{16 17}
   • Melons: Peel, seed and cut into small pieces.¹⁸
   • Dried Fruit: Rehydrate by bringing to a boil and soaking for 15 minutes.¹⁹
   • Peaches: Slice.²⁰
   • Cranberries: Crush.²¹
4. Place the ingredients in the jar.
5. Add vodka. Reserve the original bottle and top.
6. Close the jar tightly.
7. Set aside in a cool dark place.
8. Most infusions take from 7-10 days;some are ready overnight, and others take up to 3 months. It depends on the potency of the ingredients and how strong you want the flavor. The only way to know if the infusion is ready is to taste it periodically.
9. When the vodka is to your liking, you'll want to remove the flavoring residue.
10. Using a funnel lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter, transfer the infusion from the jar back into the original vodka bottle.²²
11. Store in a cool dark place.

Variations

(Creative Commons photo by Kalina Wilson)

• There are about as many variations on flavored vodka as there are vodka drinkers, but here a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

1. Egg and Soldier staged their own infusion festival and tried out the following flavor combinations: vanilla-coconut, sun-dried tomato and cilantro, five-berry, fig, and pumpkin spice.²³
2. Grated or diced ginger can be used to produce an interesting infusion that adds zest to a Bloody Mary or a martini.^{24 25}
3. Citrus Fruits, such as grapefruit, lemon and orange, are traditional flavors.^{12 26 27}
4. Chai flavored vodka only needs to steep for 45 minutes!²⁸
5. Threading citrus peels on skewers, then inserting them into the bottle, makes for an attractive presentation and flavors the vodka as well.²⁹
6. Slashfood suggests using Skittles to color and flavor vodka.³⁰
7. You can substitute dried chiles for fresh in Chile Pepper Vodka.³¹
8. Combining several varieties of fresh chili peppers, horseradish, dried chili peppers and lime, this Chili Infused Vodka packs alot of heat!³²
9. Garlic and basil combine to make an infusion that makes a great marinade.³³
10. Fried bacon is paired with peppercorns in an infusion for the adventurous drinker!³⁴
11. Candy Canes make a mint-flavored vodka.³⁵

Conclusion

• Now that you've mastered the technique, you'll want to share the results with your friends! Invite them over for an infusion party, and experiment with using the infusions in your favorite cocktail recipes.

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References for How to Make Flavored Vodka

1. ↑ All Recipes: Vodka
2. ↑ Fris: Vodka Infusions
3. ↑ CHOW: Infusion Confusion (September 20, 2006)
4. ↑ infused-vodka.com
5. ↑ WikiHow: How to Infuse Vodka With Flavor
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Egg and Soldier: Five-Berry Cosmopolitan (November 25, 2006)
7. ↑ Food Network: Pepper Vodka 
8. ↑ BexHuff: How To Make Vodka Infusions (August 27, 2006)
9. ↑ New York Magazine: Pineapple Vodka
10. ↑ Recipezaar: Pink Grapefruit Vodka Infusion
11. ↑ Recipezaar: Chili Infused Vodka
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} CHOW: Grapefruit-Infused Vodka (July 27, 2006)
13. ↑ Recipezaar: Vanilla Vodka
14. ↑ Recipezaar: Basil Vodka
15. ↑ Recipezaar: Lavender Flavored Vodka
16. ↑ Food Network: Chile Flavored Vodka 
17. ↑ Martha Stewart: Chile-Pepper-Flavored Vodka
18. ↑ Food & Wine: Cucumber-Honeydew Vodka
19. ↑ Recipezaar: Apricot Vanilla Vodka
20. ↑ Recipezaar: A Peach Infused Vodka
21. ↑ Recipezaar: Wisconsin's Finest Cranberry Vodka
22. ↑ Food & Wine: Fig Vodka
23. ↑ Egg and Soldier: Infused Vodka (November 21, 2006)
24. ↑ CHOW:Ginger-Infused Vodka (May 11, 2007)
25. ↑ Recipezaar: Ginger Infused Vodka
26. ↑ Martha Stewart: Lemon-Flavored Vodka
27. ↑ Recipezaar: Orange Vodka
28. ↑ Food & Wine: Chai Vodka Recipe
29. ↑ Epicurious.com: Citrus Vodka  
30. ↑ Slashfood: Are You Ready for Skittles vodka?
31. ↑ Recipezaar: Chile Pepper Vodka
32. ↑ Recipezaar: Chili Infused Vodka
33. ↑ Recipezaar: Garlic Basil Vodka
34. ↑ Recipezaar: Bacon Vodka
35. ↑ Recipezaar: Mint Candy Infused Vodka

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