Raspberry

06.30.09 Raspberry Version 1

~9pm. Raspberries picked at Lyman Orchards 3 days before. They were frozen. We thawed them and mostly drained the liquid/juice. The raspberries were just a pile of mush. Added to Platinum 7x distilled vodka. Vodka and raspberry mush completely filled the mason jar.

07.05.09 Declared Done! 5 day infusion.

We taste tested the infusion and found it tasted like vodka with hints of raspberries instead of the desired raspberries taste with a hint of vodka. We decided to crush the raspberries against the side of the jar with a fork since the flavor was still stored in the raspberries. We intended to infuse them longer but upon another tasting we found it tasted enough of raspberry to declare it done. Total time was 5 day of infusion.

We filtered the infusion using a colander. Vodka ended up having particulates in it. (07.18.09 Refiltered with gold mesh coffee filter to remove particulates)

Future improvements: crush raspberries at the start.

07.06.09 Drinks

* 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.

07.08.09 Raspberry Version 2

Lissa started a half bottle infusions of vodka. The vodka is Smirnoff triple distilled, using 375 ml vodka.

Our previous infusion was 1 cup thawed, mushy (but local & freshly picked 3 days prior) raspberries. Started w/ 1/2 c frozen whole raspberries, but once they were thawed, they only filled the half cup about two-thirds of the way. Lissa added more raspberries, until it was 1/2c thawed, mushy raspberries. Lissa mashed up the raspberries with a fork, because that was one of the improvements we thought we should make from the first time. At this point, there was some juice in with the berries. I left the juice in because it was originally part of the berries. When I added it to the vodka, it immediately turned a deep red due to the raspberry juices.

07.18.09 Declared done! - 10 day infusion.

We taste tested the infusion and declaired it a win! It had a good flavor of raspberries and the harsness of the vodka comes from the Smirnoff, of which we will not purchas again in the future. We filtered the infusion with a gold mesh coffee filter. E: Filtering the raspberries was a "pain in the filter." (Also refiltered Raspberry1 with gold mesh coffee filter to remove particulates)

Notes for improvement: Don't use Smirnoff.

Raspberry 1 vs Raspberry 2:

E: Raspberry2 (made with Smirnoff) is not as smooth, but infusing the raspberries for 10 days added a stronger berry flavor

L: Raspberry2 burns more. Both taste like raspberry, but Raspberry2 does have a stronger flavor. Also, crushing the berries right away helps.

08.03.09 Raspberry Version 1.5

We liked the extra fruitiness of the longer infused Raspberry v.2, so Emilio decided we should re-infuse Raspberry v.1. We still had some of the raspberries we had picked in the freezer, so we decided not to mess with a good thing and thawed out 1/2 cup of those to use. There was ~550 ml of Raspberry v.1 left, the 1/2 cup of thawed and crushed raspberries was added to that. We'll taste it again in a week to see how that affects the infusion.

Just for fun, Lissa set a bit of the Raspberry v.1 aside so we can truly compare the improvements. What good is it to do an experiment if you don't have some sort of control group?

8.10.09 Declared Done!

We just got back from Montreal on Sunday and tasted it before going to bed. The raspberry taste is very good with very little vodka aftertaste. Lissa thinks that the second version is sweeter and masks the vodka taste better. Version 1 you can taste the vodka at the beginning where as version 1.5 not so much. In version 1.5 it is not twice as sweet. She thought it would be even sweeter.
Emilio felt that it has a smoother taste and was sweeter by a small fraction.

We were surprised that there was no significant color change between v1 (bottle) and v1.5 (shot glass).

Recipe

1 cup of crushed raspberries

750ml vodka

Infusion time of 10 days or more to taste. Greatly improved if a second round of infusing with another cup of raspberries.