Your ingredients:2 quarts of apple juice, preferably NSA and without preservatives.
2 cinnamon sticks
2-3 whole cloves, or 1/4 tsp ground
A small amount of nutmeg, i.e. a couple passes from a microplane for whole nutmeg, or at most 1/4 tsp ground (a little goes a long way)
1 tsp lemon zest, or 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 quart of 150 proof neutral spirit, or whatever floats your boat.
I make the cider first. It's faster to get the thing boiling, and straining a smaller amount of liquid is easier.
In a medium saucepan, combine:
3 cups apple juice
1 cup water
Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and lemon zest... how you put it in is up to you. You can use a tea ball for the smaller stuff, or just toss it in the pan directly.
Heat the mixture to a boil, then reduce temp to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes. After that, strain out your spice mixture. I use a quart mason jar to collect the mixture via a coffee filter inside a strainer. At this point you have a delicious cider, which is awesome by itself.
Once strained, pour your cider back into the saucepan. Add 1 quart of apple juice and place on low heat. Stir in your sugars and vanilla, remove from heat once dissolved. Let cool. To expedite cooling I pour the mixture into mason jars, then submerge them in a cold water bath. Add alcohol to taste.
For drinking, I typically use 3 parts mixture per 1 part alcohol for 2 quarts, then 1 quart of 50/50 mixture. The apple juice I get comes in 3 quart containers, so it either gets saved for the next batch or dilutes the pie to taste. If I do any aging, I'll leave a cinnamon stick in the jar for a week or so. This is what the 3:1 ends up looking like:
- Finished product w/ cinnamon stick
