Elderflower Liqueur

I posted during the summer about my forays into making elderflower liqueur.  Since then the macerated vodka has been sitting on a shelf waiting for me to pay some attention to it and turn it into a liqueur.  I had nearly a wine bottle full of elderflower vodka and a small bottle of St.-Germain to compare and contrast with my creation.

At the onset the macerated elderflower vodka that I made has a dankness to it, a very green note, one that would lock with clary sage, or lavender absolute.  At first I thought it was a honeyed note that was missing so I sweetened a small batch with Lancaster County, PA, honey.  The dankness in the honey locked with that of the elderflower so that experiment was set aside.

The second experiment I sweetened with white sugar.  In the past I've used raw cane crystals instead of sugar but they add a slight mollasses flavor to the brew, as well as an unpleasant dark colored slimy layer that floats to the top of the bottle as it clarifies.  I'm hoping for a better result with white sugar.

After doing a bit more research in elderflower liqueur I noticed that most of the recipes call for lemons or lemon rinds during maceration, often recommending meyer lemons.  Last winter I made meyer lemon vodka so I did a little tweaking with it.  I also took a look at my collection of perfume oils and decided on four notes to be added;  yuzu, wild sweet orange, neroli and peru balsam.  I made 10% solutions of each oil and added them one or two drops at a time.

Also in my research I learned that most people make an elderflower syrup and then add alcohol to produce a liqueur.  I confirmed this yesterday with a Swiss friend who explained to me how this was done in her country.  Some of the recipes I read also called for fresh lemon balm.

Many trials later I've come up with something I think is truly worth sipping.  I even "fixed" the first and second versions and bottled them separately.  The recipe is a little rough but I think I have a much firmer idea of how to proceed next season.  In the meantime I think a cocktail of elderflower liqueur and champagne would be perfect for the holidays.

Elderflower Liqueur

2 3/4 cups elderflower vodka

1/8 cup meyer lemon vodka

scant 3/4 cup sugar

5/8 cups water

13 drops yuzu dilution, 10%

15 drops peru balsam dilution, 10%

4 drops neroli bigarade dilution, 10%

6 drops wild sweet orange dilution, !0%

Making Elderflower Liqueur

Elderflowers macerating in vodka

A few years ago elderflower became the new darling of the artisanal cocktail explosion.  It was hard following up something as popular as yuzu but those people at St-Germain know what's good.  Elderflower liqueur has been on every mixologist's short list in recent past, specifically St-Germain.  I was astonished to discover that this strange, subtlety flavored libation is a new invention and not the ancient tradition their advertising campaign would have you believe.

Elderflowers grow all over Prospect Park and another artisanal cocktail enthusiast told me that he'd made his own liqueur from the flowers in the park.  I made a point of getting together with another friend, a local forager and farmer, to hunt for the blossoms.  Armed with wildflower guides we set out and identified plenty of look a likes but came home empty handed.  A second foray found what we were looking for.

I've read that the flowers must be picked in the morning when they're at their most fragrant, and that they should be used within two hours of picking.  The stems are toxic and undesirable so the flowers were cut from the stem and placed in a wide mouth jar.  When the jar was full I covered the flowers in vodka and capped it.  I'd also read that the flowers will float to the top, and that the flowers that come in contact with air would turn brown.  The flavor is not altered, it's just not very appetizing, so I placed a clean lid from a slightly smaller jar upside down on top of the flowers to weigh them down under the vodka.  Every day I removed the second jar lid and shook the jar, then replaced the lid.

I macerated the blossoms for a little over a month.  Each day when I shook it I would compare the aroma with the small bottle of St-Germain that I have.  It was only in the last week or so that I began to notice a similarity, prior to that I was wondering if I had the wrong genus.  I find a honey note in St-Germain so now that it's been strained, like many of my other herbal liqueurs, it's waiting for that special local honey to be ready before it's bottled and labeled and ready to use.  Results to follow.

Cocktail Lab, Summer 2011

Every season has inspired me to make new vodka flavors.  Summertime has it's bonus of fresh herbs straight from my garden.  As I weed, water and muse over my plot I start to imagine the frothy cocktails being shaken up from these freshly macerated liquors.  Once I have a few flavors to play with I gather up some possible mixers to go along.  Lemons, limes, tonic and club soda are a must as well as a long lingering look at the juice selection at my food coop and local grocery store.

Once I have everything assembled I invite my fellow cocktail lovers over for another round of Cocktail Lab.  On hand were Lori Firpo, Diane Fargo and Rebecca Winzenried.   Food is required lest we lose our senses in drink.  This round had lots of fresh vegetables and dip plus some delicious shrimp dumplings from Chinatown.

After feeling like I'd used all of the best ideas for flavors in last summers extravaganza I stumbled upon some overlooked plants in my community garden.  Red shiso was one such plant.  I'd only ever had it in sushi before but sampled some while weeding one day and was pleasantly surprised.  It's in the mint family but has a dinstinctively anise like flavor.  I used the leaves of an approximately ten inch stem chopped up in once cup of vodka and let it sit for about a day.  The resulting liquid is a gorgeous pink color.

Another overlooked herb I infused was Sweet Annie.  This plant has been popping up all over the garden since I joined eleven years ago.  Up until last summer no one was able to identify it until one member made it her mission.  It's an artemesia, a relative of wormwood, and sometimes referred to as Sweet Wormwood.  It's aroma is described as camphorous and there is definitely that note but there is so much more going on.  It's sweet and lightly floral quality makes it an intoxicating beverage.

My recent foray into tincturing and creating extracts has me sampling the many types of tea available.  I'd heard about tea infused vodka before but it never appealed to me until I inhaled the sweet aroma of some organic peach flavored black tea extract that I recently made.  Now I'm busy reading up on tea and collecting a few varieties.  I steeped some organic Assam for our little soire.

The last vodka I conjured up is made of basmati rice.  I love the sweet perfumed fragrance of basmati rice and after the success of the honey oat vodka from last winter I had a feeling it would be a hit.

Thus assembled and fed we began to conjure up some ideas.  I'd been thinking about shiso vodka and that fresh garden cucumber in the fridge all day.  It took several rounds for us to hit on a recipe for something we're calling The Shihito, a delightfully refreshing libation with muddled cucumber and yuzu.

We started a recipe for a tea and lemonade cocktail with a muddled mint leaf and honey absolute.  I want to work on the tea vodka to perfect that one.  Ideas are brewing for the basmati rice vodka (saffron?) and a few other things, one inspired by spumoni.  Stay tuned.

The Shihito

I jigger shiso vodka

4 thin cucumber slices

1 mint leaf

1/2 teaspoon sugar

pinch of salt

2 drops of yuzu essence

splash of club soda

In the bottom of a glass muddle the cucumber and mint with the sugar and salt.  Add the shiso vodka and yuzu essence.  Fill the glass with ice and top with a splash of seltzer.  Relax and enjoy the flavors of summer.

Cocktail Alchemy - A Workshop

"Alchemy is the art of transmutation, of taking the rough and raw and rendering it more precious" writes Pam Grossman, curator of the group art show, Alchemically Yours.  To celebrate the closing of the show at the Observatory Room in Brooklyn I'll be hosting a Cocktail Workshop featuring some alchemically transmuted elixirs.  Simple vodka will be transformed by a little herbal magic and then successfully rendered into delicious (and possibly even nutritious) cocktails.  Chocolate mint, angelica and lemon verbena vodka (among others) will be available to sample as well as the cocktails they inspire.  The Sprite, The Kashmere and The Black Dog are a few of the libations that will be passed around to tickle your palette.

Cocktail Dilutions

I'll be using essential oils and absolutes from my natural perfumer's collection to add a unique accent to the drinks.  The oils have been diluted so that only one drop is necessary to give the cocktails an original and uncommon flavor. Some of the flavors include jasmine, yuzu, blood orange, black pepper and petitgrain.  Floral Waters such as Chamomile Water also make an an unexpected appearance.

The show is running until June 12th at the Observatory Room, 543 Union (at Nevins).