After making vanilla extract this past winter, we decided to try out hand at infusing booze with some other things. We have been using the results of our experiments in some delicious drinks which you’ll see here soon.

First we tried blackberry vodka and blackberry gin. The gin tasted better than the vodka, like a very clean and fresh sloe gin, but we didn’t like the amount of sugar that was used. We tried three other infusions without any sugar: Apple, Cucumber, and Honeydew, in order of successful-ness. The honeydew tasted fine, but the smell was a bit off-putting. The cucumber and apple tasted great, but the complexity added by the spices of the apple infusion earned it the #1 spot in our infusions race so far.

These recipes all yield small amounts (except the blackberry) because we wanted to test the recipe before making larger batches.

Blackberry Vodka/Gin

• 2 cups vodka/gin
• 300g blackberries
• 150g sugar

Using a needle, prick each blackberry a few times. Combine sugar, pricked blackberries, and vodka or gin in a jar and shake it until combined. Store in a cool dry place, shaking every day for: Gin – 3 weeks, Vodka – 5-6 weeks. Strain the fruit out (you can keep them in the refrigerator in a separate container for garnish or other uses).  You can use this to replace wherever sloe gin is called for, or regular gin/vodka.

Cucumber Vodka

• 1 cup cucumber, sliced thin
• 1 strip lemon peel
• 1 cup vodka

Put cucumber in jar, top with lemon peel and cover with vodka. Store in cool place for 4-7 days, shaking daily. Strain, reserving the cucumbers for garnish or use in other drinks (particularly good muddled in Pimm’s Cups).

Honeydew Mint Vodka

• 1 cup diced honeydew melon
• 2 sprigs mint
• 1 cup vodka

Put melon and mint sprigs in jar, top with vodka. Store in cool place for 4 days, shaking daily. Strain and discard the fruit and mint.