Raspberry Vodka

Last summer I came across a raspberry vodka in my local Aldi supermarket.  Now, as far as I'm concerned, raspberries are the epitome of summer.

Strawberries used to hold this hallowed position, but nowadays they do seem to be largely grown for size, not flavour, so for some years now, raspberries have reigned supreme.  (I must just take a second to say that the alpine strawberries I grow are still really flavoursome, it's the bog-standard strawberries I object to.)

So, when I caught sight of these reddish pink bottles, I simply had to buy one to taste it - I forgot to mention that I also enjoy vodka - a Harvey Wallbanger being one of my very favouritest drinks of all time:-)

I made a return visit to the store the next day to stock up on a few bottles, as it was one of the most delightful drinks I'd had in a long time.

Sadly, it's all but gone now, but the other day I was given four punnets of raspberries and a lightbulb illuminated in my head - I could try to create my own raspberry vodka!!!

I went to my secret stash of bottles and dusted off a new half litre bottle of vodka and began my experiment.  Vodka, rasperries and a tub of vanilla sugar.  I make my own, as you can see, by storing a couple of vanilla pods in a tub of unrefined granulated sugar, yummy.

I weighed out 150gms of raspberries and 100gms sugar into a glass bowl.

I pulverised the raspberries with the sugar until I got this lovely, rosy mush.

I poured in the whole bottle of vodka, not one drop of it passed my lips, honest!  I used Lidl's best vodka.

I allowed the mixture to stand for a week, tightly covered with cling-film (didn't want any alcohol to evaporate, did I?)  Then carefully ladled the pink liquid back into the vodka bottle through a strainer.

The weird muck in the bowl is the remains of the poor raspberries, which kindly gave up their colour to the vodka.  I'll mix it into a cake batter, or something, it would be silly to waste the fibre and the vodka absorbed in it, wouldn't it?

The resulting drink is delicious.  It's not as deep a colour as the shop-bought article, but they probably added beetroot juice to add some depth to theirs for consumer eye-appeal.  I don't think mine is quite as sweet as theirs, either, but that's ok, this was a trial.  I'll happily make more:-)

Oh, and there was too much liquid to fit back in the bottle, so I'll just have to drink it this evening, as I don't have another bottle free to pour it in to.  Life is so hard sometimes:-)  Cheers!