Associate web editor Rochelle Bilow may work on the internet, but when it comes to cooking, she prefers to keep it old-school. From making her own butter (seriously) to grinding her coffee beans by hand, Bilow&#;s all about doing things the slow way. This week, she's infusing cheap booze for DIY flavored vodka. Fun!
I love a good drink, but until now my rule has been: Beer and wine at home, cocktails at the bar. Why invest in a dozen bottles of liquor that will get used twice a month? Besides, cocktails are labor-intensive: All that measuring, shaking, and sitting! But here is what I have recently discovered:Cocktails at home in your pajamas are amazing.
There's something so smugly satisfying about drinking a martini on Sunday night without having to put on pants. Plus, the bottle will pay for itself after just a handful of drinks at home. This is even true for the really good stuff. But there's one alcohol I refuse to pay top-dollar for, and that's vodka. I just can't taste the difference between high-brow and low-brow vodka. It all pretty much tastes like rubbing alcohol to me. (Rubbing alcohol that happens to combine very nicely with grapefruit juice and a salted rim.)
This is why I've been buying cheap bottles of vodka and adding my own flavors to them. Not only do I save money, I wind up with an end result that is about 1,000 times tastier than what I started with. Here's how to flavor your own vodka at home.
Blackberry and Ginger Cocktail. Photo: Roland Bello
1. Buy a Cheap Bottle
Seriously, go for the least-expensive bottle available. You're only wasting money if you shell out for the top-shelf stuff. Remember that you're going to layer in your own flavor, so you don't want strong notes of floral, citrus, or whatever else the heck people claim straight vodka tastes like. The only thing to be mindful of is what the vodka is distilled from. It can be made with ingredients as varied as grains, potatoes, and even grapes. If you're gluten-free, be sure that your vodka was not distilled from grains like wheat or barley.
2. Secure Your Vessel
I always seem to have an abundance of quart and half-gallon wide mouth mason jars on hand. In addition to looking nice, they're ideal for infusing alcohol. They won't impart "off" flavors to the booze the way plastic would, and the wide mouth is big enough to accommodate whatever you're going to infuse with. (An apple does not fit very neatly through the neck of a vodka bottle.)
Last year I stocked my first bar cart for our home. A lot of you asked me about tips for getting started. At the time, I suggested just buying what you like and building it up over time. A year later I still agree with that advice, but have a little lot I want to add. Ready for a long post about liquor? K. Let&#;s chat&#;
I have put together some suggestions for starting at different budgets, but first a few money saving tips!
-Don&#;t buy any flavored liquors, at least not at first! Donut flavored vodka can be tempting because the labels are adorable, and it sounds so interesting. But you&#;ll be seriously limited on what you can make with it. Instead, focus on buying base spirits like Whiskey, Vodka, Tequila, Gin and Rum. When you want something flavored you can make your own syrups or infuse your own liquor. It&#;s super easy!
&#; Buy baby bottles. &#; When you are trying a new recipe with a bunch of new ingredients, buy mini bottles (1.7oz) instead of full size. The liquor store I go to has almost every specialty liquor in cute tiny bottles. After you&#;ve tried it, you can decide if you want to invest in a bigger bottle.
&#; Focus on favorites. If already know you love whiskey, spend a little more on those bottles and collect your favorites. Spend more on your favorites and be extra thrifty on the rest.
Here&#;s a little guide to starting your bar cart at different budgets. I know liquor costs are very different everywhere in the world, but here&#;s what you can get where we live. $15 (or so) bottles are our starting point. It&#;s smart to stick with &#;medium shelf&#; or higher, so you&#;re sure can get the base qualities of the liquor. The cheapest stuff can get a little unpredictable. And then, obviously you can upgrade when you want to! It&#;s also important to note that these guides do not include mixers like cranberry juice or club soda or garnishes like mint leaves, lemons and limes. Even still, it&#;s nice to have a fully stocked bar and only need a few fresh ingredients for new recipes!
Cocktail Ideas: Classic Mojito Recipe, Classic Gimlet Cocktail, 40 Fun Cocktails to Make at Home
Suggestions for a $50 Budget
For this budget I recommend investing in three different base spirits (choose your favorites from Whiskey, Vodka, Tequila, Gin and Rum). If you aren&#;t sure what you like yet, google some of your favorite cocktails to see what they are made with. I also recommend one bottle of bitters. Start with Angostura or any aromatic cocktail bitters, because you can use them in a huge variety of drinks.
Here are a few recipes you can make with my choice of base spirits pictured above (Vodka, Gin & Rum) and common kitchen staples (like juice and club soda!). With Gin, you can make a Tom Collins, a Gimlet or a Gin Sour. With Rum, you can try a Mojito, a Hurricane and a Painkiller. With Vodka, you can make a Bloody Mary, a Screwdriver or a Salty Dog. See? The possibilities are endless!
Suggestions for a $100 Budget
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For this budget, I recommend purchasing 5-6 bottles of base liquor. You can also get two bottles of bitters. Or you can swap out one of the bitters for some dry and sweet vermouth (this needs to be refrigerated after opening).
A few recipes you can make: (in addition to the recipes above!): With Whiskey, you can make a Whiskey Sour, a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned. With tequila, you can make Margaritas (in about 1 million different flavors), a Tequila Sunrise and a Bloody Maria.
Suggestions for a $250 Budget (and beyond!)
I know it&#;s unlikely that many of you will want to spend this much on bar cart supplies in one day, so just think of this as planning for the future! You can build it up over time. For this budget I recommend 9 base liquors (you can branch out/upgrade as shown below), 6 bitters (I use Fee Brothers Celery, Bitterman&#;s Elemekule and Hellfire bitters most, in addition to the Angosturas) and 3-5 Liqueurs and Mixers (I love St. Germain, Benedictine and Cointreau).
Also at this stage, it&#;s a great time to branch out and invest in some good bar tools and different types of glassware. We&#;ll talk more about that stuff below.
I spent the past year collecting different bottles and pieces a little bit at a time. The best part is that now no matter what recipe I want to try I usually don&#;t need to spend too much money, because I have so many basics. Plus it&#;s great for parties! We have a couple friends who geek out for hours mixing different cocktails.
Branching Out
After you&#;ve collected the basics, you can branch out and collect different types of your favorite spirits. Whiskey, Gin, Rum and Tequila are really diverse and it&#;s fun to collect different types from different regions.
Special Bottles
There are so many special bottles that you may want to eventually collect. I love this Japanese Whiskey for Hot Toddys. And Absinthe is something I rarely use, but it&#;s fun to have for special recipes. Since liquor lasts forever-ish, it&#;s ok to buy things you won&#;t use as often. Although, every time I buy a special bottle I inevitably start searching for more ways to use it!
Liqueurs and Mixers
These are SO fun! I love trying different liqueurs and mixers! They aren&#;t as versatile as the base liquor, which is why it&#;s important to collect those first, but they often come up in cocktail recipes and will add lot of flavor to your drinks!
Tools
Above: Citrus Juicer, Fine Mesh Strainer, Julep Strainer, Jigger, Muddler.
Tools are usually inexpensive and you&#;ll get a LOT of use out of them. Plus, they are just fun because they&#;ll make your at-home-cocktails feel more legit! The tools I use the most are my muddler (for any drink with muddled fruit or mint leaves) and my fine mesh strainer (great for straining homemade simple syrups into mason jars). A jigger is nice for measuring, but you can use any measuring cup! Having a cocktail shaker is awesome, but you can use anything that seals (like a mason jar) if you don&#;t have one. You just need to be creative when you&#;re pouring, so the ice stays in the container.
Special Occasion Pieces
Some classic cocktails are served in special cups. It&#;s fun to collect copper mugs for Moscow Mules and silver cups for Mint Juleps. I collect cocktail shakers at home and I love using them at parties and for special dinners.
Glassware
There are endless varieties of glassware you can collect. I&#;m planning to write a whole post about just glasses eventually. To get started, the most used glasses in my collection are a simple cocktail glass, a rocks glass and a collins glass. So basically, something pretty, something short and something tall! You can always branch out from there. I love collecting random vintage glassware from flea markets.
Additional Resources: Bar Cart, Lucite Tray.
Let me know if you have any questions of experiences you&#;d like to share in the comments!! xo. Elsie
Credits//Author and Photography: Elsie Larson.
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