Got to taste a aged Rye last night that's been blended with a sub batch of vanilla bean infused Rye.
Dam good imho.
You'll find a natural bean pack in the baking isle at your local supermarket
http://www.queen.com.au/pantry-item/vanilla-bean-pods/
Good thing is its around $8 for 4 pods which will last years not $5 each as they used to be.
So 1 whole bean split and crushed into a 1lt sub batch @ no more than 60% abv to avoid it going bitter. Leave for min of a month.
re blend to personal taste with straight spirit at what ever abv you drink it at.
Currently drinking it at less than 1/4 total volume blend and is subtle which is kind of how I prefer it. Could be ramped up to suit prefs.
Been playing with vanilla for while and learnt the hard way...avoid essences...they contain all sorts of thickeners, modified sugars etc.
here's tale from a while back on this
http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1365&hilit=+vanilla
bt1