is it possible to do a home made version of Grand Marnier?

[terryt]

seems to me I might have seen something like this posted on here at sometime in the past, but I was wondering - would it be possible to make something close to a commercial grade Grand Marnier ? One thing I'm a little confused about is that it is apparently triple distilled. Maybe I have this wrong. But, if you distill something, don't you remove most of the flavors that you would already have ?

[punkin]

That depends on what you place in your still, i suppose.

if you were to place twice distilled vodka in your still that had orange peels macerating in it for a couplea weeks and then add more orange juice or peel to the still when you boiled it up for the third distillation, i would assume you'd get orange flavoured spirit.
If you look in Tried and True or Experimental, you'll find some threads and some links.

[Uncle Jesse]

not sure but I'll never forget the time I ordered a Glenfarclas straight up and was given a straight shot of Grand Marnier instead.

[EuroStiller]

Yes it is possible. I've been working on the formula myself for some time now and I'm getting closer to perfection, almost 40 batches later!

What we know:
The liqueur is Cognac based
The liqueur is flavored exclusively with the peel of Bitter Orange a.k.a Seville Orange
The liqueur is distilled
The liqueur has some caramel in it
Their syrup is defiantly an invert base, due to its sweetness and mouth feel

So far I have come close, but there is always something missing. I believe that GM has a bit of undisclosed spices in it. I pick up clove some times when I taste it. Other times I pick up allspice or nutmeg. Yet still other times, I get ever the tiniest hint of fennel, anise, or angelica.

There is no juice in the product, this I am sure of. Any acidity would have to come from added acid(s) like citric, malic, tartaric acid, or some combination there of.

I have a batch macerating now that won't be ready for the still for at least a few more weeks. I will post back with results.

EuroStiller- The Doctor

[brewmaker1]

Bringing this back up.
EuroStiller, have you improved your formula to something you wouldn't mind sharing yet? I have two gallons of 90% brandy that I'm airing and would like to get some good finished product.

One idea I have is to invert some sugar with a few drops of orange oil. Maybe go extra long to get some caramel flavor, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel if you've already done this.

[olddog]

Ok so whats the recipe?

[Mud]

Hope you're not waiting for Eurostiller to get back to you. He doesn't post anymore. Check out his location.

[brewmaker1]

damn.
Thanks Mud

[olddog]

I was doing my third cleaning run useing 3lt 100% orange juice 3kg sugar 1tsp baking soda and 22lt of water. the run came off very clean and I thought it would be a waste of good spirit to throw it away. I soaked it in oak chips for a week and put some colour into it, but the orange taste was still there but very light.
I went to the local supermarket and bought 2 large oranges, with a potato peeler I peeled the surface taking only the orange part of the peel leaving the white pithy peel. I place the peel of half an orange in each bottle, and within 24 hours the flavour was a deep orange flavour similar to Quantro or Grand Marnier.
I will definately be making this again.

[LWTCS]

olddog (sir),
Making what again (if you don't mind my asking)?

It sounded as if you had gone through some guess work steps that may have had you stretching for flavor (and perhaps color). Or not. And then that the saving grace was the zest maceration.

Will you replicate all steps used the first time?

What was your spirit (wash)?

When you get that recipe worked out, I hope you won't mind reposting your steps.

Cheers L.T.

[olddog]

I thought my previous post descibed what i did including the wash mixture

[LWTCS]

Yep, sure did!
Reread and I guess I thought you were macerating all the citrus to your spirit.

I thought I read in a previous post (some where) that citrus did not make the best washes?
Am I wrong (again)? I guess thats why your recipe seemed unclear to me?

Your steps are clear now.

Thanks L.T.