On average, the ingredients should stay in the liquor for 3 to 5 days, though this will vary. You can customize it to your personal taste and make your drinking experience a little more interesting. It can be difficult to know where to begin with infusions, but there are plenty of ideas to get you started. COCKTAILS. Adding the pepper with the cinnamon would ruin the tequila. You can also create some wonderful combinations, such as lemongrass-ginger tequila or lavender-rosemary vodka. Please reload. In a multi-flavor infusion, you may need different infusion times for each ingredient to create a balanced taste. Loose black and green tea, or high quality teas left in the little tea bag, can be added to your base. Common sense will guide you in preparing many of your infusion ingredients. Trying to remove a swollen stick through the narrow neck of a liquor bottle is nearly impossible. Apricot or cherry brandy and coffee-infused whiskey are great examples that are very useful in cocktails. Blue painter's tape is great for temporary labels and will not leave a sticky residue on your jars. Cherry-Vanilla Bourbon. … Simply combine a couple of cinnamon sticks and the whiskey of your choice and infuse it for a few days. Place masking tape on each jar to make notes about ingredients, dates, and other customizations so you know what works and what doesn't. If you're infusing an entire bottle, a 1-quart (32-ounce) jar will leave room for your ingredients. These are just the beginning of the possible infusions you can create. When you really get the infusion, bug you'll be delighted with truly unique infusions … Welcome to the club. Most recipes call for cutting fresh fruits, herbs or even meats and letting them soak in a jar of vodka for anywhere from 36 hours to 13 days before blending, mixing or simply pouring over ice. Welcome to the club. You want to cut fruits and vegetables so they fit in your jar and remove any undesirable parts—the skin of a cucumber, for instance, can impart a bitter taste. As you work with infusions, you will find that wide-mouthed jars are best. Chai spices and black tea can infuse a vodka for a killer Chai White Russian. These allow you to get the ingredients in and out of the liquor easily. Liqueurs and fortified wines are also fair game; Thai chile-infused Aperol and raspberry vermouth are two great examples. Really, it does the work on its own.… A variety of herbs, spices, and fruits are commonly used for infusions. Enjoy the process and, most importantly, have fun! If you're experimenting with a new infusion you may want to use a less expensive bottle so as not to waste money or good liquor. For the best results, use fresh ingredients only. Watch this space! Colleen Graham is a cocktail expert, professional bartender, and cookbook author with over 10 years of experience in the food-writing world. Wash the ingredients, cut them if needed, place them inside the jar, and fill it with liquor. Because this is a straight flavor infusion and you're not adding sugars or other ingredients as you would in a homemade liqueur, it will have the same shelf life as the original liquor. It's fun to add a complementary flavor to store-bought flavored rum or vodka. PRODUCTS. Download printable recipes and link up with us on social media. Infusing darker spirits is a little trickier but it will work if you choose the right flavor to complement the liquor. Some of your more intense flavors will only need 3 days; less intense flavors should stay in the jar for a full week or more. Kettle corn gin or butternut squash bourbon, anyone? It's also incredibly easy to make your own cinnamon whiskey to replace something like Fireball. Once your infusion has reached its peak flavor, you need to remove the flavoring ingredients to stop it from developing further. FIND US. Every infusion begins by choosing the liquor and the final infusion will only be as good as the liquor you use. No. Receive our Updates & Information.