Filtering Techniques

03.22.09 Paper coffee filters

Paper coffee filters. Double filtering required for gingercello. A serious pain and went through a lot of filters.

04.18.09 Mesh & Paper coffee filters

Double filtered cocoacello with gold mesh coffee filter to remove cocoa nibs, and then again with paper coffee filters. Still a pain.

07.05.09 Colander

Colander filtered Strawberry & Raspberry vodkas. Super easy, but leaves particulates in both of the vodkas, especially the raspberry.

07.18.09 Mesh coffee filter

Gold mesh coffee filter, for Raspberry2 and Strawberry2. Was a pain and required multiple rinses for Raspberry2, but was super-easy one shot filtering for Strawberry2. Also refiltered Strawberry1 and Raspberry1 to remove the particulates left over from the colander filtering.

E: Mesh coffee filter removes most of the partculate matter. Doesn't take as long as it did with the paper filters. Wiser to filter out large pieces first for crushed things like raspberries w/ a colander and then use the mesh coffee filter. For large things like strawberries, it doesn't matter as much, the mesh filter is fine.

08.10.09 Cheesecloth

Since raspberry was such a pain to filter the previous time, L decided to use cheesecloth to see if that would be any better. She folded the cheesecloth over once, and found that it clogged up just as quickly as the mesh coffee filter did. She had to use a spoon to scrape out the raspberry particulates to get anything through. In the end, it was tidier to just use the coffee filter since that can be rinsed out quickly and doesn't soak up the vodka like the cheesecloth does.

Drink Recipes

Strawberries and Cream

2/3 c cream soda & 2 shots strawberry vodka.

E: 8/10, L: 8.5/10

Yet-to-be-Named

2 shots Irish Cream & 2 shots Strawberry Vodka. 

E: 5/10, L: 4/10 (too thick).  Has an Irish cream start and hit of strawberry at end.

Strawberry Lemonade 

Lemonade & 1 shot strawberry vodka

E: 7/10, L: 7/10.  Refreshing lemonade with strawberry finish.

Yet-to-be-Named-too

Sprite 1/2c & 2 shots raspberry vodka.

E: 6/10, L: 6/10, good but not as good as strawberries and cream drink

Raspberry Lemonade

~1/4c lemonade & 1 shot raspberry vodka

E: 6/10, L: 5/10 (more raspberry flavor would make it better). Lemonade w/ mild hints of raspberry at end.

Emilio's Favorite

1/2 c lemonade, 1 shot strawberry vodka, 1 shot raspberry vodka, 1 shot triple sec.

E: 9/10.  Triple Sec smooths it out and adds additional citrus flavor.  To improve it needs more raspberry flavor

L: 8.5/10.  Really tasty and fruity.  Tastes of strawberry at the end.  Don't know where the raspberry went.

Emilio proudly shows off the Emilio's Favorite

CTLX Tasting Party

Our first Tasting Party! We volunteered friends who were staying with us for the Connecticut Lindy Exchange to taste our infusions.

The sweet taste of honey, vodka infused with honey.

Bottoms up!

Joshua is feeling the burn... He liked the habanero vodka with it's lingering burn.

Our wonderful volunteers. Notice how Daniel rubbing his stomach from the yummy shot.

E created a shot from the ingredients that he had available just because he felt like it. Bam! Super tasty shot!  This secret recipe will be revealed later!

Daniel is analyzing the cocoacello. He liked the the different flavor given to the infusion by the raw nibs vs. roasted nibs that he is used to.

Gingercello, cocoacello & habanero shot with awesome layering. Daniel and Josh both said that a little less ginger next time, as the chocolate got lost.

Ben decided to finish the evening with something a bit more gentle than vodka. He has been stressed at work, who are we to critique?

Basil

07.18.09 Basil test size

After having an amazing Pineapple-Basil Gelato in Austin, Lissa decided she needed to try a basil vodka. E gave in... What the heck am I going to do with basil?

We had no idea how to do this infusion. Googling basil vodka brought up a page from azcentral.com with some instructions on how to make it.

It said to use 1 cup loosely packed basil for 750 ml vodka. Let it infuse for one day, then remove the basil and allow it to age for one week.

Test size.

1/4c loosely packed basil (1/4oz). 6.25 oz Fris vodka (1/4 bottle).

From Lissa's prior experience with basil olive oil infusion, she thought the basil leaves should be bruised with a wooden spoon first. So the leaves were bruised and then torn up.

Tasting the basil: L thought it tasted very green and the leaves were a bit tough. E thought it tasted like basil.

07.19.09 Taste test. ~12 hours infusion time.

~12 hours after the infusion started.

Tasted the basil vodka. Awarded 1 out of 5 stars.

E: Hell of a burn and bitter. Needs to be mixed with something sweet. I would NOT make a whole bottle.

L: Ick, that's disgusting! It tastes like decaying plant matter. Maybe that's why it needs to age. That's too bad, I really wanted basil to work.

* Pineapple-basil cocktail

Pineapple juice with basil vodka.

L: It was good. Definitely tastes better. Can taste the basil but it isn't as well as I had hoped.

Let's see what the aging does.

Future improvements: pick sweeter and more tender basil leaves.

07.25.09 It needs to age. Now this infusion is done!

Aging this one for a week seems to have helped. It still tastes pretty bad straight, but it has improved at least. The infusion has a basil taste at the beginning and a vodka burn at the end. Lissa thinks that it no longer tastes like decaying plants and is grateful for that. She'd still like to try another test size version of this one using a sweeter basil. We're still not sure if bruising the basil is the correct technique or not.

Recipe

750 ml vodka

1 cup loosely packed basil (~1 oz)

Use a sweet basil variety. Maybe bruise the leaves lightly with a wooden spoon.

Infuse for 12-24 hours.

Remove basil leaves and allow to age for 1 week before using.