Read Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits: Innovative Flavor Combinations, Plus Homemade Versions of Kahlúa, Cointreau, and Other Popular Liqueurs for Free Online Page A

liqueur-by-committee approach, the alcohol base is also blended — vodka for tincturing, rum for sweetness, and bourbon for pizzazz.
    Makes about 1 quart
Ingredients
1 cup vodka (80–100 proof)
1 1 ⁄ 2 cups dark rum (80 proof)
1 cup bourbon (80 proof)
4 dried peach halves, chopped, or 2 ripe peaches, pitted and chopped, or 15 frozen peach slices, thawed
8 dried apricot halves, chopped, or 4 ripe apricots, pitted and chopped
3 pitted prunes, chopped, or 3 ripe plums, pitted and chopped
1 ⁄ 2 cup dried sour cherries
1 cup Simple Syrup
Instructions
1. Muddle the vodka, rum, bourbon, peaches, apricots, prunes, and cherries with a wooden spoon in a half-gallon jar. Stir to moisten everything.
2. Seal the jar and put it in a cool, dark cabinet until the liquid smells and tastes strongly of fruit, about 7 days.
3. Strain the mixture with a mesh strainer into a clean quart jar. Do not push on the solids to extract more liquid.
4. Stir in the simple syrup.
5. Seal and store in a cool, dark cabinet. Use within 1 year.
    Note: When you drain the mixture, reserve the fruit. It is dynamite cascaded over scoops of ice cream.
    Skål! Makes a multifaceted Manhattan with a dash of citrus bitters.

    Tropical Banana
    Warm-climate tropical fruits develop a combination of fruity esters, sultry sweetness, and mild tartness that is hard to resist. That raucous combo is captured completely in this congenial, slightly creamy liqueur. The method for this mixture is a little different from that of other fruit liqueurs in the book. The fruit is muddled with sugar syrup early in processing to prevent the banana from darkening too much due to oxidation. It makes a fragrant daiquiri.
    Makes about 1 quart
Ingredients
4–6 bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed (1 1 ⁄ 2 –2 cups)
1 mango, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 cup Simple Syrup
1 fifth (750 ml/3 1 ⁄ 4 cups) light rum (80 proof)
1 ⁄ 2 of a whole nutmeg
2 vanilla beans (Madagascar or Bourbon), split and broken into small pieces
Instructions
1. Muddle the mashed banana, mango, and simple syrup with a wooden spoon in a half-gallon jar. Stir in the rum, nutmeg, and vanilla beans.
2. Seal the jar and put it in a cool, dark cabinet until the liquid smells and tastes strongly of banana, 2 to 4 days.
3. Strain the mixture with a mesh strainer into a clean quart jar. Do not push on the solids to extract more liquid.
4. Seal and store in a cool, dark cabinet. Use within 1 year.
    Sláinte! Try it in a Banshee ( page 239 ).

    Blueberry Cinnamon
    I am a sucker for cinnamon and blueberries; I wish I knew why. Maybe it’s because I’m not much of a cinnamon freak, and I find its juxtaposition with the blueberries generates barely a hint of the Red Hots Saturday-matinee-movie sucker punch so ubiquitous in cinnamon-flavored products. This liqueur has a beautifully balanced flavor and is a gorgeous color as well.

    Makes about 1 quart
Ingredients
2 pints blueberries, stemmed, or 1 1 ⁄ 2 pounds frozen blueberries, thawed
1 cup Simple Syrup
1 fifth (750 ml/3 1 ⁄ 4 cups) light rum (80 proof)
4 cinnamon sticks, smashed into shards
Instructions
1. Muddle the blueberries and simple syrup with a wooden spoon in a half-gallon jar. Stir in the rum and cinnamon.
2. Seal the jar and put it in a cool, dark cabinet until the liquid smells and tastes strongly of blueberries, about 7 days.
3. Strain the mixture with a mesh strainer into a clean quart jar. Do not push on the solids to extract more liquid.
4. Seal and store in a cool, dark cabinet. Use within 1 year.
    L’chaim! Drizzle over fruit cocktail.

    Blueberry Balsamic
    Blueberries are saturated with antioxidants, especially in their skins, and those inflammation-relieving elements are absorbed during tincturing, making this liqueur one of the few alcoholic beverages that contains its own hangover remedy right in the bottle. The alcohol base is about one-third wine, which lowers the alcohol content and reduces its ability to capture flavorful molecules quickly.