Slow Drinks, Home-made Spirits, Liqueurs and Ingredients

[Puzzicato]

I'm aiming for August - I probably won't be at tomorrow's either! Samples would be excellent.

[Yeps]

I was just thinking along these lines... does anyone have a recipe for something like Herbsaint? If I am not mistaken, that is a absinthe substitue sans wormwood. I have had homemade anisette, and I wonder if it could be similar with less (or no) sugar. If the process is entirely different, I guess that would end my inquiry.

EDIT: I might be thinking of Pernod. Either one would be interesting to make. An anise liqueur which is not sweet, to my understanding.

[Absinthe_1900]

Legendre Herbsaint Original has no sugar in it, Herbsaint is not the same as a traditional Pastis.

[Ethan Bentley]

Speaking regarding the Legendre you are 100% correct Absinthe_1900, it's better In the UK we have a Cadbury Chocolate Bar called Fruit N Nut (with alomd and raisin) I've been trying to make a liqueur that tastes like that.

[olive bleu]

mmm. Yum..i make Limoncello every summer, and cranberry cordial in the winter. I tried out my Limoncello on an italian friend of mine who bascically stopped buying the commercial stuff. The cranberry cordial is ok,, but the Limoncello is Sunshine in a glass.. i love it!

[Methuselah]

I make a couple of bottles of sloe gin each year.
Other successes include bramble (blackberry) infused vodka, damson gin, wild cherry vodka, limoncello and ginger gin (made with candied ginger from Julian Graves)
Rosehip gin was a compelte disaster - smelt like silage.

We came back from a trip to the Cairngorms yesterday, and we picked a lunchbox full of juniper berries as a souvenir.
So I'm currently working on some test batches of home made gin (infused vodka, no illegal stills!)

We like foraged food, makes our rambles across the cuntryside more interesting.

[Ethan Bentley]

Juniper vodka sounds good, you could pop in a few coriander seeds for good measure. I've just made some ginger gin, I used fresh ginger. How sweet is it if you use candied ginger?

[Methuselah]

VERY sweet indeed.
I overdid it a bit to be honest - I filled a bottle with candied ginger then poured gin over it. We forgot about it and didn't get around to tasting it until about 3mths later. By that time it had taken on a slightly syrupy consistency, but this was countered by the fiery taste, a definite 'tongue tingler' effect.

[Methuselah]

Here's a goldmine of information on gin production:
http://homedistiller.org/gin.htm
Particularly this diagram:

[LocktownDog]

I tried my hand at making blood orange bitters this summer. The first bottle didn't quite work out, but I have a second aging now.