How to put the “your own” in “bring your own booze”
Enjoying a cocktail is a sensuous experience. Not “Nigella Lawson eating ice cream” sensuous, I mean that we enjoy cocktails with our senses—the feel of the glass, the presentation of the drink, the sound of the shaker and most importantly—the taste.
There’s no clear indication of when people first started flavoring spirits simply for taste, but it’s not hard to imagine that it didn’t take long for someone to throw some fruit or herbs into a bowl of daddy’s “medicine” to help it go down. Before long, every culture had its own tradition of distilled spirits, each with its own unique flavors and characteristics.
The first flavored spirits weren’t mass produced but were infusions made in homes, bars and taverns using ingredients like ginger, cinnamon, bison grass, black currant, cherry, apple and lemon. Fast forward to today’s well-tended, modern bar and you’ll see many of these same flavors back at work, along with some surprising, if not challenging new flavors.
In the ‘70s, my experience with flavored spirits was a lot like dating a stripper, plenty of fun at first but things can get ugly really quick. I immediately learned that sloe gin and cherry vodka may have been friendly and approachable to my teenage palate but the poor-quality produced consequences ranging from skull-crushing headaches to heart-wrenching walks of shame.
In the ‘80s, Captain Morgan spiced rum made a huge splash in the market but vodka pushed back to reclaim its title as the OG infusion medium. Flavored vodkas were produced as early as the fourteenth century, initially to mask the harshness of these primitive vodkas then later as a way to indicate the distiller’s skill. These days, you can’t swing a copy of the Miller’s tale around a liquor store without hitting a flavored vodka.
The ‘90s brought in a host of flavored spirits that led to the exotic and sometimes ridiculous flavors we see lining the shelves of liquor stores today. The same impulse that led bartenders in the ‘80s to put on their best Ted Lange smile and whip together outlandish and innuendo laden concoctions like the Slippery Nipple or Sex On The Beach, is the same impulse that has given us terrifying combinations such as Swedish Fish vodka and blueberry pancake liqueur today.
I’ve been making my own infused spirits for years. My kitchen shelves are dotted with glass decanters and bottles labeled with tempting names such as lemongrass and Thai basil vodka, ginger infused whiskey, and coconut sugar syrup.
The oldest and most common method for creating an infusion is to pick a liquor you love, insert an interesting ingredient to infuse, and let it sit (or steep) for a period of time. Not so long ago, bartenders figured out they could utilize pressure and heat to help move this original infusion process along.
Devices such as vacuum sealers and hot infusion siphons have given mixologists more flexibility to create quick infusions that otherwise, would not be practical in a bar environment. Whereas steeping could take as long as five to six days to achieve flavor, putting those ingredients under pressure with a vacuum sealer can create a flavorful infusion in as little as three to four hours.
For the amateur infuser, this lab equipment might be a bit much, but a simple immersions circulator (a sous vide machine) can do the trick. Set the temperature at 140°F, place the liquor and your flavoring components into a jar then submerge in the water bath for one hour. Cool, strain and enjoy.
In spite of the chemistry lab components and exotic flavor combinations, at the end of the day, the most important thing is that the cocktail tastes good. There is no substitute for quality ingredients and artful preparation, even when making the simplest of drinks.
If you’re the DIY type, you can easily make basic infusions at home. But I’ll warn you, once you start making your own, it becomes hard to stop. Before you know it, you’ll be up late at night trying to order fresh Buddha’s hand from India because you just have to make ginger-citron vodka for your sister’s wedding because she loves citrus drinks. Have fun, drink responsibly, eat consciously, and invite me over if you need help taste testing your latest infusion. Cheers!
Mike McJunkin is a native Chattanoogan who has traveled abroad extensively, trained chefs, and owned and operated restaurants. Join him on Facebook at facebook.com/SushiAndBiscuits