DIY recipes absinth, liqueurs, bitters, brandies and more...

About alcoholic drinks

The dyes used must be absolutely harmless. So you use self-made dyes extracted from plant parts, or order them with a clear statement of the purpose for which they are to be used; the last way is the safest. For brown one usually takes burnt sugar or caramel; the taste of this often helps. The taste of a liqueur is often rounded off by adding wine or fruit juice.

The amount of essence or fruit oil added to a drink must be carefully measured; too much often harms more than too little. Since the raw materials are often different, the indicated recipes cannot always be absolutely correct. The necessary deviations must be tested in small experiments. These deviations cannot be avoided or one would have to give up all products from certain factories. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that people's tastes are very sensitive and varied; here it is a very nice task for those who want to work here to change the recipes to their personal taste. In fact, all given recipes should only be regarded as a starting point for one's own personal work.

An important factor in making drinks is time; the flavor only develops on standing, also in the essences. So one should never make the mistake of mixing an essence today, making it into a liqueur tomorrow and tasting it immediately; the liqueur then definitely does not taste good. The essences must first of all have time to develop. If you can't or don't want to wait, it's much better to buy the essences from a factory, which often lets them stand for years before they are put on the market.

The barrels in which a drink is left to stand have a major influence on its taste. For example, the tannin from oak seems to have a very favorable influence on the taste development.

In general, drinks are clarified by adding some gelatin solution or pure skimmed milk. Filtration is generally still recommended.

In the preparation of all kinds of alcoholic beverages, the essences are first dissolved in the strong alcohol, then the water and the sugar solution are added, then allowed to stand for some time and filtered. After this, the drink is left to sit quietly until the taste is sufficiently fine.