Christmas Booze – Week Four

To get started look here for week one

and here for week two

I know there’s no week three, but that’s because nothing much was happening.

The Werther’s Original Vodka is doing OK, it’s still very vodka-y so I will be adding yet another bag of sweets to the mix this weekend (when I remember to buy them)

Before shaking

The Christmas Pudding Rum is..well, it needs something but I’m not sure quite what yet. I’m going to give it another week and then maybe add some more fruit, nuts and sugar.

Also before shaking - check out the sediment on this baby.

The Parma Violet Vodka is ready for filtering.

It smells like a pack of sweeties and tastes like twisted childhood memories.

It looks like a very naughty, slightly effeminate, Guinness

Filtering is the same process as in week two.

drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip

The first filtration left quite a lot of foam in the filter paper

I didn't taste it. (You know I did)

and a slight “scum” floating on the top of the liquid.

It looks a bit like mould. It isn't.

So I changed the filter paper and poured the liquid through again.

This time though, I went slightly bonkers at the end of the process (in my defence I was baking cakes at the same time and drinking wine was a little bit distracted) and squeezed the filter paper to get the last valuable drops of liquid out. What an idiot. Of course this squirted the foam straight through the paper, down the funnel and into the liquid and so I was onto a third filter paper and starting all over again. Top Tip – don’t do this.

Squeezed filter paper

So after a third (and self-inflicted) filtering the vodka was ready and bottled up.

Hmmm.

Now. As you can see I have lost half of my lovely, lovely vodka. Some of this can be attributed to the filtering process (by the final one I was starting to get a bit slapdash) some of the loss can be blamed on the tasting, and some on the initial pouring away of vodka to fit the sweets into the bottle.

It is fabulous though, and I will definitely be making more of this one.

The Rhubarb and custard vodka, bottled on the second week, remains clear and sediment free. It has become quite the party trick for visitors.

I play, “what’s the flavour?” and watch as they get steadily more pie-eyed while trying to locate that memory buried in the back of their childhood brains, of sweets sucked on a wet playground while Barry Tilner chased them for a kiss.

Now, just to get that Christmas Pudding Rum tasting as good as it smells (It’s going in the Christmas pudding this weekend, ready or not)