Boozy Tuesday: Infused bourbon recipe

Ahh, yeah, sorry about my radio silence these past few days. Happy Thanksgiving! It was a crazy-busy, extra-long weekend and I'm not even going to bore you with the details. Instead, I submit to you this vanilla-cinnamon-apple bourbon I infused. And oh wow. You guys, oh WOW.

So this was a bit of a trial-and error thing. I Googled a bunch of recipes to get ideas about proportions, which I promptly ignored. It wasn't the best result. Fortunately, I had enough to make two batches: a one-week infusion and a two-week infusion. I was able to correct my mistake in the longer version and hot dang, is it tasty.

I started with a 750 mL bottle of Woodford Reserve. You can use any kind of bourbon you like, but this is what was recommended to me by the bartender who inspired me to try my own hand at infusing. I also picked up a couple of green apples, a jar of vanilla beans (which fortunately contained two beans), a jar of cinnamon sticks, and two quart-size mason jars. The nutmeg I had on hand, but has since mysteriously disappeared from my house...


Anyway, I just split the bourbon into the two jars.


Then I sliced the apples and added one to each jar. I went back and added another half-apple to each jar, which was actually a mistake as it turns out. In fact, I would suggest doing one-half or three-quarters of an apple per jar, or using Golden Delicious apples instead. The Granny Smiths were just too tart.


Anyway, I also divided the cinnamon sticks between the two batches and added them with a dash of nutmeg to each jar as well. I think I ended up with three or four cinnamon sticks in each batch.


Next up was the vanilla. Real vanilla beans are interesting things, and to get the full flavor you have to split them down the center with a sharp knife to open them up. You don't want to cut all the way through; just enough to get the "tube" of the bean open. Inside are all these tiny, wonderful-smelling grains of vanilla-ness. It was kind of hard to photograph, but here's my attemp.


Then I just popped one bean into each jar. I had to kind of fold them in half so they'd fit well.


Then I gave each jar a good shake, labeled them with the date and the duration for infusing, and left them in a cool, dark space on my counter where they wouldn't be disturbed.


When the time came, I gave the jar a good hard shake to mix everything up again. Then I took a fine-mesh strainer and poured the jar through it into a different container. I gave the jar a good rinse to get rid of any loose particles, then poured the newly infused bourbon back into it.


On tasting the first batch, I realized it was wayyyyy too tart. So I took about half the apples out of the second batch, which still had a week to go. It turned out perfectly. As for the first batch, I'm thinking about adding some pure vanilla extract to it to tone down the tartness a bit. Sydney also suggested adding maple syrup, which may be the most Canadian thing I've ever seen. (Except perhaps my six-pack of fleece-lined leggings.) I might split the jar and try a little in each to extend the experiment.

Despite the minor setback of the tartness, I'd call this foray into liquor infusions a great success. Have you ever tried infusing booze? Tell us about it (and link to a recipe, if you can!) in the comments :)