Infused vodka, come talk to me about glass bottles and pretty shit.

[BrianCoxIsUpTheDuff]

pretty shit: organza, bows, stuff to make it pretty and present like.

I have 4 females to buy presents for and a low-ish budget. Had a brain wave that I would buy some nice vodka, some Skittles (or other sweets), bottles with stoppers and make my own sweet-infused-vodka.

Looking online for bottles is a nightmare, either qty 1 or qty 10+ and also delivery costs (I won't ever use the spare bottles, they will just sit and gather dust).

Does anybody know of a decent shop where I can get individual bottles from? I'm in Cheshire.

and, has anybody done this - do you have a recipe/was it a hit with the recipient?

Thanks

Duh, looking back I started making the rum about this time of year, so I did give it a good 6 weeks. DO IT TONIGHT!

Shirley Just had a quick look at your blog.
I'm gong to give the christmas pud one a go.
Daft question.......but how do you know when it's ready?

Ooh, sorry, and another question. How do you make sure that there is no pith left on the peel of the fruit?

Ohh fab thread. I don't have a dishwasher, do I just agitate it regularly, and if I'm using boiled sweets do I need to let them dissolve completley? Also the mint aero vodka would you just follow a choclate vodka recepie?

You'll know when it's ready by tasting it! If it tastes raisiny, nutty and a bit spicy (basically "nice") then it's ready. It doesn't say it (I'll amend that now) but in addition to the fruit and nuts you'll need some dark muscovado sugar.

It's difficult to give quantities - because you will need to add stuff as the weeks go by, but here is a recipe which looks good, with actual quantities (it's for vodka, but that doesn't make any difference IYKWIM?)

As for getting the peel off without pith? You need a SHARP knife and patience!

Cross posted with TitHead (arf!)

Yep, if you don't have a dishwasher just bung the sweeties in and shake every day for a week, and then just when you remember. Parma violets/refreshers are ready in a week, boiled sweets take a bit longer. I think the thing I've learned is that if you smash the sweets up first they dissovle more quickly! (DURRRRRR)

Ok thanks, so can I just bung the sweets into the vodka bottle then?

I did that with little bottles of vodka as "testers". You need to pour a little of the vodka out though (obviously) and some sweets and chocolates foam up a bit so you need to make sure there's room at the top of the bottle.

Preserving jars are not expensive though, and I'd really recommend buying one or two. You can always use them as storage jars for the rest of the year.

So did you just add the mint aero to the vodka then? Will get some jars at the end of the month. Do u think that will still be enough time?

I haven't made mint aero vodka. Let me PM the person who did and see if they'll come on and give you more deets.

The end of the month will be fine for sweetie ones, it's just the natural ingredients ones that take time. These jars look cheap!

Ikea have very cheap kilner style jars - £1 for a 0.5L one. Can't remember the prices of the larger ones, but much cheaper than anywhere else I've looked.

I've made some toffee rum (bottle of Tesco value rum, packet of value toffees for 10p per bag!!). Had a little taste last night & it is thick & creamy and tastes like baileys! Yum!

Thanks for all the tips - was just about the start a thread about this but glad I checked first. I went to Ikea at the weekend and brought a few 1 litre cordial bottles and 1 litre kilner jars (which were much cheaper than anywhere else) so hoping to start making some this weekend, when I've finished with the Kilner jars, I am going to make up some baking kits (things like Brownies, Cookies) and give these out along with the infused alcohol and some other bits and pieces - hope they will be well received!

I hear you are looking for a Mint Aero vodka recipe?

I used two bags of Aero bubbles to half a bottle of vodka.

Melt chocolate, add vodka and whisk.

Decant into kilner jars and leave for a good 3-4 weeks, agitating often. It starts off looking grim, but by a couple of weeks it has a lovely marl colour.

Yay!

I fancy having a go of that - do they still make chocolate orange aero?

Ohh thankyou so much that's top if my list along with x-mas pud just need to decide on 2 other flavours. I keep changing my mind.

I saw some caramacs in the supermarket today.

Caramac vodka would be. A-MAY-zing.

Oh darn Shirley now I'm changing my mind again.

I am going to have a go at wham bar vodka this year.

Marking place as I want to do this too

I got some kilner clip top bottles in Wilko's, they were £2.50 for a 250ml bottle - bargain
Kilner jars were slightly cheaper in Dunelm than Wilko's, but our local Dunelm didn't have any bottles

I have some jellybean vodka on the brew it currently tastes and smells of cough mixture

I bought a clip top kilner bottle today in Sainsbo's. I only bought it because I need something air tight for me to transport my voddy on a girls' weekend this weekend. [drunken smile]

I was looking at those gourmet jelly beans tiger but couldn't face the thought of having to separate them out! Did you just bung a load of normal jellybeans in or have you colour sorted them?

wilkinsons sell swing top bottles 6x500ml for £8
online says out of stock but they had some in my local store so worth a look

I had a packet of gourmet jelly beans but fished out the liquorice and chilli ones, leaving fruity and vanilla. It's come out a darkish orange colour (terracotta is everywhere this season non?) but I think a liquorice one may have sneaked in and made it a bit, erm, flavoursome. It's filtering as we speak, so may try a bit over ice with a splash of lemonade later on.

It never occured to me to separate colours. Yes, I am that dense.

can anyone recommend a vodka? is it worth paying for a decent one or will cheap stuff do?

Liquorice - eek! Although some weirdos might like that!

Those gourmet jellybeans are fabulous - I bet you could make a fairly incredible popcorn flavour vodka. It's cost more that a bottle of champagne by the time you'd bought the amoutn of JellyBelly's you'd need though!