Diversion: shrubs, etc.

Saturday the 19th we bottled another carboy of Muscat - one to go, and I imagine that one will go straight into PG-S' summer-fun trove.

This evening I strained and sweetened two shrubs - one is sour cherry, the other is rhubarb.  I froze the fruit for both last summer.  This seemed like a good way to clear the freezer before fresh fruit starts coming in.  The fruit macerated in champagne vinegar for a week.  Should be ready to try in a week or two, but I corked the bottles and will try to hang on to them until the weather is really warm.

While I was storing the bottled shrubs I came across two 750 ml bottles of sage liqueur and a single 750 of the Yvette von Boven citrus based vermouth I made last year.  Buried treasure!

Diversion: sage liqueur

Decided to put another bottle of the 2011 Muscat to good use - a double batch of the sage liqueur from Mielasch.  Amazing sage from our last market trip, clove, and lemon peel all steeped in wine and distilled alcohol for a few weeks, then strained and sweetened and stowed away to mellow a bit.  First taste might be OK at Xmas or the New Year.  Used vodka as the alcohol base.

Liqueurs started for the June 5, 2010 party

Double batch of the lemon sage (Juju Pongo's Love Balm), this time using a Torrentes for the white wine portion.  Single batch of the pistachio, this time using whole cloves and cinnamon bark rather than ground of each.

Sage & pistachio follow-up

Strained and sweetened and filtered the liqueurs we're targeting for the June 13 party.

The sage / lemon is a beautiful, clear yellow. Very attractive. Very lemon scented. Really didn't need filtering.

The pistachio was a real hassle. I realized I chopped the nuts too fine when I started it, but decided to go forward anyway. Took only a couple of days to develop into 80% green mud and a little clear-floating alcohol on top. Ran it through a cheesecloth strain first, and squeezed out what I could. Then a paper towel. Then coffee filters. The last stage must have taken an hour and multiple filters, as each would get clogged with nut-dust. And while it all was happening, impatience set in and I added the proscribed amount of syrup without figuring what booze-loss I had because of all the filtering. La. Finished product id a greeny yellow, clear but not sparkling like its sage sibling. Will taste in a month.

Sage liqueur for June 13 2009 party

And why not. The amaro won't be nearly ready, and this might be a little bitter - a balance to the anisette.

• 14 sage leaves
• 2 cloves
• 1.5 cups dry white wine
• 1.25 cups vodka
• skin of one lemon, no pith

Combine the above and let set for 2 weeks.
Strain and filter.
Combine with

• 1 cup simple syrup

Let age for 4 to 8 more weeks weeks.
That makes it a little tight. The minimum aging, 4 weeks, puts us at May 29. Party day gives us 6 weeks. (Maybe it's tme to start a quicker aging nut liqueur.)

I'm using a 12.5% Italian pinot grigio, and a 40% (Tito's) vodka. And I think that gives a final product of about 18.3% alcohol.