Just started a batch of very interesting stuff. It's an old russian vodka recipe. The recipe calls it bay leaf vodka but there's a whole lot more than just bay leaf in it. The ingredients for about 1L 40% ABV of end product are as follows:
To that add 1L of neutral alcohol ( 40% ABV) and macerate for 2 weeks in a dark place at room temperature. Then distill through a potstill and add 80g of regular sugar to the distillate, dilute to desired strenght and consume
I just finished mixing the the herbs and spices and added the alcohol. Let's see how it turns out after sitting in a jar for two weeks.
Kui ei ole surmatõbi, siis saab viinast ikka abi...
You definitley got all the makings for gin, although I never saw bay leaf in any recipe. Seems like the russians and polish call a lot of things vodka for lack of a better word.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day and drink beer.
Calamus is a marsh plant that grows near water. It's quite widely spread in our part of the world. I just go out into the wild and pick it up. Dunno if it's available commerically though.....try searching the inetrnet.
Kui ei ole surmatõbi, siis saab viinast ikka abi...
Well I could not hold myself back and tasted a little bit of the mixture I laid down yesterday. Woweee......I thought it would taste quite bitter and harsh, especially in the undistilled form but intead it was a super smooth combination of flavors that caress the sense of taste. It seems to be an incredibly well balanced recipe and all the flavours compliment each other with no overpowering effects.
Kui ei ole surmatõbi, siis saab viinast ikka abi...
Well I finally got to it and pot stilled the batch off the herbs........macerated a bit longer than 2 weeks though I gotta say it's an interesting drink. Really complex taste with a strong note of bay leaf...but it's not overpowering. The only downside is the harsh aftertaste but maybe time mellows it out a bit. I haven't diluted it yet and haven't added the sugar, maybe that helps too.
Kui ei ole surmatõbi, siis saab viinast ikka abi...
It's close to gin but if you see to the proportions of the ingredients, I'd say it's more like a Dutch Genever, but why the sugar? Just now I'm distilling a gin with a recepie like this:
Mix and macerate in 80% alcohol for at least 12 hours, distill. Mix with alcohol to 5 liter 40%.
I will add some cucumber and rose distillate(!) to copy a Hendrick's Gin and I'll definitely will try some Bay Leaf and Rosemary. The latter should marry quite well with the other spices. I wonder what Allspice is? Different brands, different mix I guess.
Aha, we call it kryddpeppar = "spicy pepper" in Sweden. Thx!
BTW, my recipe above was far to junipery. I mixed in some calmus, bitter almonds and coriander seeds (all distilled). Then diluted it to about 8-9 liter. Now it´s very good.
I gotta say it's an interesting drink. Really complex taste with a strong note of bay leaf...but it's not overpowering. The only downside is the harsh aftertaste but maybe time mellows it out a bit. I haven't diluted it yet and haven't added the sugar, maybe that helps too.