Spirits, Booze, Liqueurs...

[Mr Flibble]

go for it, though luxardo limoncello here isn't much more expensive than vodka

[fiamma]

Oh alright, be like that then... ;):D

There's actually a type of limoncello "cream" that you get here - just like linoncello only made with milk... what about replacing it with some kind of veggie milk?

Do you get that over there?

[Mr Flibble]

no, post a recipe please :)

[Roxy]

By the time I get back from my vacation, it will be time to remove the cherries from my vodka :D I'll then strain the vodka into a different bottle and allow it to "age" until Christmas.

[fiamma]

Ok, so here goes - the translation of a recipe I found on the Net.
DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS RECIPE AND SO CANNOT VOUCH FOR IT!
It also uses cow's milk - I don't know how well it will work with veggie milks. It uses full cream milk, so perhaps use the creamiest variety of veggie milk you can find, or one with a fairly neutral flavour so as not to interfere with the lemon taste. But all that boiling and cooling should thicken the milk, I think that's the point. Some recipes also use cream.

So! Here goes..

Ingredients:

8-10 ripe lemons
1 litre pure alcohol/vodka
2kg sugar
2 litres "milk"

Preparation time: 1 week

Take 8-10 ripe lemons (the recipe says untreated - I guess organic is best) and remove the skin with a potato peeler, taking care not to peel off the pith with the skin (would give a bitter taste). Some recipes say cut into fine strips. Immerse in 1 litre of pure alcohol (never seen this in the UK, I guess vodka is the next best thing). Leave to steep in a glass container in a cool dark place for five days, stirring every so often.

On day five, dissolve 2kg of sugar in 2 litres of "milk" and bring to the boil. Allow to cool and repeat this boiling-cooling procedure 3 times. Leave to rest for 12 hours. Stir the alcohol mixture again, drain to remove the lemon skin and add to the milk. Mix well, bottle and put into the freezer.

Ready to drink after 2 days.

Buona degustazione a tutti!

There are other recipes - some use more lemons, some leave the lemons in the alcohol for longer, some add vanilla pods to the milk when boiling it, or a bit of grappa or brandy to the alcohol - all variations on a theme. I plan to make this tomorrow - will let you all know how it goes!!

[Sarah_]

Do you think drinking the soya nog would be easier for someone who's never had any sort of egg nog at all?

[exec]

Nuts, seeds, and chocolates. I think I'm going broke...

[Bunger]

I would think so, I've had people tell me that they don't like the thick texture of egg-based 'nog' and that Silk Nog or soy-based nog is easier to stomach.

Speaking of which, Silk Nog season is coming... =) ohh happy day!!!

[fiamma]

I'm going to make the cream of limoncello I mentioned on the liqueurs thread as soon as I can get me to a supermarket for the ingredients... Will let you all know how it turns out...

[fiamma]

Well, I finally got around to making this and it's pretty tasty - sitting in my freezer as we speak! I used the Bjorn brand of vanilla soya milk so didn't bother with the vanilla pod, and used 400g of fructose instead of 1kg of sugar - my bf is diabetic so I wanted him to be able to drink it too. I also used less alcohol - 300ml of alcohol instead of 500 (buying the alcohol was more expensive than I anticipated so I wanted to make it stretch a bit further). After all the boiling and cooling the milk mixture went rather a strange coffee colour, which I'm at a bit of a loss to explain, and when I poured the alcohol into the soya milk mixture it curdled initially, but after a thorough mixing it became smooth. I'm not sure why the recipe says wait 2 days to drink - I just waited till it had chilled sufficiently :thumbsup:

Highly recommended :)

[ellaminnowpea]

The Christmas vodka sounds amazing. I think I'll order an infusing jar online and get the ingredients this week. Can't wait to taste it! Mmmmmm...

[Risker]

I'm doing well with this now, thanks for getting me into it Corum, I picked up some more demijohns from freecycle and I even got given a bottle corker, some shrink wrap things for the tops of wine bottles and some other bits and peices.

I tried filtering through a coffee filter again and it's just so unbearably slow that I've given up on that idea (maybe morrisons coffee filter paper is too dense?).

The latest thing I'm trying is reusing the yeast after I'm done syphoning, so I just top up the dregs with more apple juice, saving having to clean and resterilise everything and saving adding new yeast, it seems to be working ok so far. I'm also going to try bread yeast because it's alot cheaper and easier to obtain. At some point I also want to try other fruit juices and see what happens with just water and sugar.

[Corum]

I've been using bread yeast for a long time as like you say, you can get it from the supermarket. OK, you might lose about 3-4% Alcohol by Volume, but it's not a great deal and it still does the job it's intended for! :D

Sadly, I've not been able to go picking fruit this year due to chaos in the house, so... it's time to make more turbo cider :D (I have got two demijohns to bottle, but seeing as we've got nothing bigger than a cloakroom sink at home for the next two weeks in which to steralise bottles, they can wait a while longer).

[Corum]

We got a new sink with our kitchen... :D

and it is BIG (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/53391337_e80b1dafa4.jpg)!!!!!

It is so big (it's the DOMSJÖ double sink from Ikea), I can now sterilise half a dozen wine bottles/wash a demijohn out in one sink bowl, while placing the other demijohn on the windowsill above and run a syphon tube to the other bottles I'm filling in the right-hand sink!! Also, there's no mess and I have space to store the bottles I've just filled on the worktop next to the sink (as my wines are temperamental to say the least! :D)

So... I can now bottle a gallon of wine in less than an hour - quicker if I have two funnels (with coffee filter papers to filter out the must) and a five litre water bottle, which I use for first filtration (so the wine goes from the demijohn into the water bottle, and from there into the bottles).

This is the first time that I got more than five bottles out of a single demijohn!! :)

That's nettle done over the weekend, next is a gallon of Parsnip!! :D

We tried the Sage, which I made at the start of this year; It was lovely but needs a little bit more time to mature!!!

It's getting there!!!! :D

[Buddha Belly]

I have quite a few bottles of home made cider in the garage, i'm waiting for xmas. I have also bottled some wine but am doubtfull if this is going to taste nice.

[Corum]

Why not?

I've just bottled two batches of wine that I made back in the spring - Parsnip, and Nettle. Both of which in their raw state tasted fine.

[Name 5434]

hi,

on the off chance does anyone know if stewarts 'cream of the barely' whiskey is vegan ok?

cheers.

[buttons]

I've recently gotten back off the wagon (I was teetotal for several months) and was just wondering what cocktails/concoctions/undiluted alcoholic beverages tickle your fancies?

Before I went vegan I was quite fond of campari/orange, but my vegan epiphany put paid to that!:eek:

On New Year's - my first alcoholic beverages since April - I went for a gin/lime/soda and a gimlet.



NB: I realise I post far too often on this forum, but my boyfriend's watching Predator right now and I need an escape!:D

[Mr Flibble]

By far the nicest (vegan certified by the producer) spirit I've found is Remy XO (http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=3698).

[Risker]

£100 a bottle! :eek:

[Mr Flibble]

I got mine for £68 duty free.

70cl bottle: ~£1 per 10ml.

A shot is 25ml, so £2.50 per shot.

If you sip a shot's worth over 20 minutes like I do then that's equivalent in my reasoning to drinking a pint of similarly priced beer in a pub. Without wanting to sound antisocial I'd rather stay at home and drink nice stuff :)

Remy VSOP (http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=255) is OK (often on offer at ~£20 a bottle in supermarkets) and I use it for cocktails, but when drinking neat there's a noticable difference in XO. It's smooth with all the pleasantness of cognac, without any of the after/harsh alcohol taste.

[Name 5434]

just in case anyone is interested, received letter from the distillers stating COB is vegan friendly.

[Mr Flibble]

just in case anyone is interested, received letter from the distillers stating COB is vegan friendly.

If it's an email can you paste it here, along with the question that you asked please?

[Buddha Belly]

http://i546.photobucket.com/albums/hh427/rosswat/DSCF2538.jpg

These are currently in my kitchen, going to rack them tomorrow. I am working to a recipe from a very informative book i found, Real Cider making: on a small scale. It gives one as adding sugar from the start and says use mollases or brown sugar for a change of flavour. To this end i have done a mixture of them all. Each is a 2ltr Westons bottle and they will get divided into 2 x 1 ltr bottle with the first being made into 'flat' cider and 1 into sparkling cider. Then i shall be forced to taste test.


The ones i had ready for xmas were brilliant. Very strong and very tasty.

[Buddha Belly]

Took the pictorial step by step cider making process off as a breach of copyright. I will e-mail Korn to ask. PM me to find out more.