Alcohol in the steep, sweet summertime

Ah, the weather is warm, the beach waters are cool, and the daylight stretches well past 8 PM. It must be that steep, steep summertime. 

And, no, that's not a typo. 

While summer might conjure up a range of warm-weather pursuits for different people, for those of us here at the Whiskey Still Company, summertime is the time for steeping! With a bounty of ripe, delicious fruit on offer, it's the ideal time to make flavored alcohols. Doing so is simple – and you'll be glad you did in the winter months, when you can pour out some berry or peach vodka and remember sunnier days.

While our basic potato moonshine recipe works great as a base for your infusions, if you don't have one of our stills yet (and we can’t imagine why you wouldn't), you can use any neutral spirit like grain alcohol or vodka.

To get steeping, follow these general guidelines:

• Prepare the fruit – slice or chop, with or without pit.
• Fill a jar loosely with the fruit and top with alcohol. For fruits that don't pack loosely into a jar (crushed berries), measure the fruit volume and add twice as much alcohol.
• Toss in the zest of half or a whole lemon. 
• Steep 2-4 weeks, strain and filter. 
• If you want to enjoy your concoction straight up, add sugar syrup to taste and age another 2-4 weeks. A fair starting point is 1 part syrup for every 3 parts of spirits. 
• Taste. You can always toss in a few more ingredients, like spices, herbs or other flavorings.
• Seal in another jar, age.
• Filter again, bottle and enjoy

That's all it takes to add a nice fruity punch to plain ole 'shine.

Cheers and happy distilling! 

Jason Stone

Posted by Jason Stone on July 15, 2020