I have some Christmas Gin questions.

[LynetteScavo]

Can I pour gin over the Christmas pudding to light it? Or do need to go and buy some brandy?

Can I make dishwasher gin, in the same way that you can make dishwasher vodka?

And if so, what can I put in it...is it just Skittles? Has anybody tried anything fresh like raspberries/blackberries?

Lynette I would not use gin for flaming pudding, could you get one of them tiny bottles of brandy. Or not bother at all!

Fruit gins usually need a few months to soften up, imo. I wouldn't be making any to drink this side of Easter 2015 tbf.

Skittles dishwasher gin's gotta be worth a punt tho.

Raspberries are great.
Bottle of gin in a kilner jar with a load of strawberries and a bit of sugar. Give it a good shake and leave it..ideally for a couple of weeks but if you shake it more it be grand by Christmas.

No. You must not pour gin over the Christmas pudding. You must send it to me!

I have 4lb of frozen blackberries I picked in the summer....if I cook and sieve them and bottle with the gin, will that be drinkable now? grasps at straws for homemade Christmas gifts

It would be a waste to light the pudding with Gin, you need cheap brandy.

Dishwasher Gin would work but would be a criminal act, and probably punishable.

My plum / apple /elderberry gin is better the longer you leave it and that's really a minimum of 3 months otherwise it tastes a bit raw.
Last years vintage is amazing but this years hasn't had any complaints.

OK, So I need to make it now to give as gifts next year?

Mmhm

So raspberry vodka, make in the summer, blackberry in Autumn (blackberry whisky is VERY nice) sloe gin autumn.

Etc.

But skittle/sweetie vodkas, yep they can be done and drunk pretty much the same time.
Hurrah!

For blackberry vodka

1. drink bottles of wine with screw cap lids arduous I know. You don't need to wash, just rinse if you can be bothered as it's alcohol replacing alcohol.

1. Stuff washed blackberries into bottles, add a slightly smaller equivalent weight of sugar. Add cheap vodka.

1. Put bottles in cupboard and ignore for 6-8 weeks until the sugar is dissolved and the colour is leached out of the blackberry, they go a yucky brown colour.

1. Pour bottles through a sieve into a big bowl, push the berries with back of wooden spoon to get every last drop. Mixing it all up with clear up inconsistencies in your batch.

1. Decant back into original bottles ( or pretty one if you intend to give away)

Absolutely delicious neat, with ice, or with mixer, or with white wine