Making Akvavit

[Leon]

Distilled my aquavitae tonight, but did’nt quite go as planned. Forgot that I need at least 3l in boiler to cover the bottom with reasonable margin, so my half litre ninetysix was diluted to a total of 3l. Figured i would get in the 35-40% range on the product, so went with it.

Story ended fairly well, collected 850ml at a tasted slightly below 40%. Alcometer is broken. Taste is almost in my range, a little to heavy on caraway, but solved that by diluting with same proof neutral to 1L. Put a few french oak chips in the bottle after taking a small sample for tasting.

Conclusion is : «shit, this is easy!!» very nice flavor for first attempt, and from memory very close to my favorite akevitt «gammel oppland». Only have linie aquavitae for comparison and my product seems somehow richer and rounder in taste, but not heavier even though caraway is a little more up front.

I think on the next iteration i’ll keep it the same, but reduce caraway to 8g, add 1-2g of fennel seeds and maybe up the tangerine a bit or add same quantity of lemon skin. That’ll do i think!

[Noesgaardk]

Did you ever do a second iteration?

[Noesgaardk]

My take on OP Andersen Akvavit
When I was last in Denmark we tried lots of different akvavits,
but my wife and I agreed we liked the Swedish OP Andersen the best (Sacrilege!).
After reading through all the threads here on making akvavit
I gave this a try and I’m super impressed with the result!

First I made 2x 5 gallon batches of the All-Bran sugar wash recipe.
5 gallons water
3 KG sugar
1 box All Bran Cereal
I pkg Turbo Yeast (I used Black Label from Gert Strand)

I did 2x 5 gallon carboys of this. It fermented out in like a week.
It stayed cloudy even though I used Super-Kleer followed by Sparkalloid.
I did my first run through my reflux still. It started at 95%.
After tossing the first 250ml I collected everything until the hydrometer showed 50% abv.
I added tap water until it proofed at 30%. It went cloudy from
the tails but I didn’t care because I knew it was going through the still again.

I added the spices.
per liter of alcohol mixture:
8g Caraway seeds
4g Aniseed
4g Fennel

I let it steep for 2 full days (2 ½) and dumped it all into the pot still – seeds and all.
Ran the pot still and collected 5 liters at 70%. Proofed it down with distilled
water to 40% and put it all in a carboy with half a charred oak spiral.

After 1 day it’s already developing color. We’ll see what it tastes like in 3 weeks and again at 6.
The 95% distillate was super clean, sweet and nice. The Pot still product was SO nice.
A good approximation of OP Andersen , but perhaps more dry. The spices really
did come through the process nicely. We’ll see what the oak does and I can always
glycerine it if I think it needs a touch of sweet – likely not.

[Noesgaardk]

Update:
I took this to a family gathering with a bunch of Danes at a traditional Danish meal.
In a side by side comparison with Aalborg Jubilaeums Akvavit everyone preferred mine!

I'll make this again!

[TittaD]

In a side by side comparison with Aalborg Jubilaeums Akvavit everyone preferred mine!

I'll make this again!

That’s my mothers favorite! Even if the Jubilaeums contains coriander and dill, I’m going to try your recepy.