My friends often bring me spirits as gifts. It could be something exotic from their travels, or it might be something from their hometown distiller they’d like me to try. I appreciate these gifts, and I give them a serious tasting—but I don’t always like them, and that’s when I save them as a base for infusions.
What Is Infusion?
Infusion is when we extract flavors from something by suspending it in alcohol or other solvent. That includes water—when we make tea, we’re making an infusion. Yet alcohol is even more effective at extracting flavor and aroma compounds.
Vodka is definitely one of those spirits that I often save for infusing. Being mostly a whiskey and gin lover, I don’t find much excitement in vodka—there are certainly exceptions, but for the most part it doesn’t thrill me. However, I keep a healthy supply on hand for making infusions—and for serving to guests who might prefer lighter spirits.
People sometimes ask me whether it’s okay to infuse whiskey. My answer is yes, with a caveat: I’m sure all distillers want you to enjoy their spirits as they are, entirely unadulterated. So, if any self-imposed guilt is there to calm, just set aside half of the bottle for infusing and save the rest for sipping neat.
Why Infuse?
One reason for infusing spirits might be that you simply don’t find the flavor you’re looking for on any shelves. Perhaps you crave a spicy kiwi spirit; other than chemicalized syrups, and you’re not likely to find such a thing on your local shelves. So, why not make it yourself?
Another reason to infuse spirits is that it’s easy to do, and infused spirits are easy to use. Pulling out a bottle of vodka infused with pear, ginger, and lemon is much quicker than making a pear, ginger, and lemon cocktail. Speed is sometimes why mixologists infuse spirits for bar service; they can expand their creativity and add more complex flavors to the cocktail while making the composition more quickly.
Infusions are also an excellent option for making punches for a crowd. Using a spice-infused spirit may mean that all you need to add is juice, and your punch will deliver complex flavors with fewer ingredients.
Infusion Methods
Whatever your reason for wanting to infuse spirits, there are several methods of doing so.
Maceration
For maceration, you immerse fruits, herbs, or spices in alcohol and let the mixture sit until your desired flavor is achieved. One of the benefits of this method is that it extracts the natural characteristics of the ingredients, so you tend to pick up more of the delicate flavors without the need to use heat. You’ll need patience with this method because the ingredients will need to soak in the alcohol for several days or weeks.
Every year around the holidays, I infuse a vodka with cardamom and fig. Because I know I’ll be serving it at multiple events, I make a large batch and plan in advance, so the soaking method works well for me in this case.
Cardamom and Fig-Infused Vodka
First, I chop fresh figs into small pieces and put about three chopped figs in a 64-ounce mason jar. I then add six cracked cardamom pods and the peels of three to four fresh lemons. Then I fill the jar with alcohol—I use rye vodka for this combination. I like how the rye’s spiciness complements the fig’s sweet meatiness. I let this mixture sit for about seven days. I conduct a nose and taste test toward the end of the period, deciding that it’s ready once the aroma of the fig hits me when I open the jar.
This infusion is the perfect ingredient for winter martinis. Add three ounces of the infused vodka to a half-ounce of Carpano dry vermouth in a large mixing glass and stir with ice until the glass is cold to the touch. Strain the liquid into a martini or coupe glass and garnish with a fig slice for a festive presentation.
If I’m not interested in playing bartender all night, I can mix up pitchers of this martini ahead of time and offer a serve-yourself option. A critical note about batching this martini: You still need to add ice to the liquid and stir well before filling a pitcher. One reason we stir a martini is to chill it and add some dilution to the drink to achieve the perfect balance of flavor.
Sous vide
The sous-vide method consists of cooking ingredients that have been vacuum-sealed together in a constant-temperature water bath for a set time. You don’t need a fancy machine for this method; you can simply vacuum-seal a bag, put it in a water bath, and heat it in a crock pot. When I use this method, I typically allow my bag to sit in the bath for about three hours to achieve the perfect flavor infusion. Try chopped apples, thyme, nutmeg, and ginger with bourbon. Or try chopped quince with walnuts, cinnamon, and a single malt whiskey.
Flash infusion
If you have a cream whipper, as many home chefs do these days, you can use the whipper for a flash infusion. Applying pressure to a maceration of alcohol with herbs or spices forces the alcohol into cavities and increases the surface-area ratio, increasing the infusion rate. It’s a great compromise between the maceration and sous-vide techniques because it works fast and at room temperature. The only drawback is that it’s not great for volume.
Achieving Clarity
After infusing your spirits, if you want the liquid to remain clear, you can use carbon filtering to remove any color that may have come from the materials you used in your infusion. You can purchase filtration devices for home use: A device that uses premium activated charcoal water filter disks will usually do the trick.
An alternative to carbon filtering is egg-white fining. You may have heard this term from hobby or European winemakers who still use this method. Egg whites bind and precipitate harsh tannins, leaving behind the more desirable ones. The process is relatively simple:
- First, separate the egg whites from the yolks, and reserve the yolks for another use.
- To the egg whites, add a few tablespoons of water and some salt. (The salt prevents the solution from getting cloudy and dissolves the eggs’ globular proteins.)
- Gently stir the solution until it’s cohesive, but do not beat the egg whites.
- Add the solution to the infused spirit and set it aside for a few days.
- Once the egg white settles at the bottom, pour out the spirit and leave the egg white behind.
Whichever method you choose to use for infusing spirits, done thoughtfully, your desired outcome should be easy to achieve. Always consider the base of your spirits as a flavor component. What was used to make the vodka you’re using? Is it a sweeter corn-based vodka or a spicier rye one? Would you like to retain some of the flavor of the spirit? If so, use delicate ingredients in your infusion.
When making infusions, I feel like a mad scientist, and my kitchen tends to be messier than usual. Even when I’ve planned ahead, I often find myself reaching for extra ingredients and creating many happy accidents.