cheap essence

[Stoney]

made my first decent size batch of neutral last night and just missed the homebrew shop 1:30 closing today.

had to go to supermarket for more sugar anyway, picked up some queens essence, rum, orange and aniseed, $1.20 each, coles homebrand choc syrup, aldi maple syrup, had condensed milk and bickfords iced coffee mix already.

made a baileys ..
aldi can of condensed milk, 400g
filled can with 45% neutral, 280ml it appears
tblspoon bickfords iced coffee
tblspoon homebrand chocolate syrup
teaspoon vanilla extract
100ml hot water

not bad, its a little sweeter and thicker than it should be, might try adding some cream and water later, instant coffee instead of bickfords probably a better choice.

then a real quick rum for my heathen missus. she drinks it with coke anyway.
50ml bottle of queens rum essence, suspect 75ml might be better.
700ml of 40%

crap by itself, never going to much good on the rocks, with coke though .. does the trick.

tried a 1/4 teaspoon (1.25ml) of the aniseed with a dsstspoon (15ml) of diluted spirit .. not bad I thought, its ouzo.
mixed up ..
50ml queens aniseed essence
700ml approx of 40%
tasted a bit washed out, added 4 dsstspns sugar, helped, its not bad, ouzo drinking visitor likes it. I think 75ml essence might do the trick.

mystery liqueur .. being worked on, not sure where its going yet..
1/3 cup honey
2/3 cup aldi maple syrup
1 cup pure spirit..

orange liqueur.. also work in progress
1 tsp queens orange essence
5 tblsp sugar
only added a cup of 40% so far.

[Stoney]

feedback from the missus on the rum, loves ii, i knew she would as she likes it smooth, I put it in an empty sailor jerry bottle.. I like my rum violent.

the ouzo .. needs significant work, tried a nip last night, its missing something. i might try a clove in the bottle to reduce its bite and run it through a coffee filter with cinnamon/nutmeg to add some more complexity.

had 2 shot glasses of the honey/maple after dinner, it has quite a bit of depth but needs a twist in its tail, considering some tobasco. might try a drip in a shot. this is ok if you like something like american honey.

the baileys .. cloying and far too sweet, I think I blew that one, might dilute it down with milk and try again with some heavily roasted beans instead of iced coffee mix.

[Zak Griffin]

Have a go at Aussie Cream if you want a Baileys knock off :)

[woodduck]

If you like ouzo try the one in the tryed and proven. I had a crack at it and worked a treat. Theres some funky stuff in there that I'd never heard of but you can get it all from the local supermarket. it sounds harder than it is it didn't take long at all. and my mates love it.

I've tryed attaching the link hope it works.

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=286#p1950

[Stoney]

I looked at that one last night, it does sound nice as does the baileys. vanilla bean paste sounds awesome and with most decent liqueurs its the quality of the ingredients and the way they perfect a recipe over years, going to need some careful attention to get right and I am prepared to put in the hard yards a bit later. I looked up how galliano is made, 7 distillations and 39 herbs .. hell.

I was a bit embarrased to post about this as it makes me look like a no taste pauper, actually the pauper bits not far off the truth but I have expensive tastes ;) the one thing I had was a bunch of neutral and the hbs was closed, supermarket was open, hell lets provide some feedback on what can be done with a few simple things.

Since I could find no posts on the forum mentioning the queens stuff I am not even sure anyone has tried it, but if you just want a cheap rum to chuck in with coke its just fine really, missus really enjoys it. the aniseed is not horrible but needs tuning. i reckon it would make a fine ouzo with just the right additions. I wont be using that one again though, star anise from here on out.

I will probably try some hbs essences next batch but I will be surprised if I like many of them, theres actually an exotic spice shop 2 doors up from the hbs, sells all sorts of bulk stuff, including big bags of star anise, never looked through it with an eye to spirits though. I might do that tomorrow. much of it though i have never heard of lol.

[woodduck]

I wasn't trying to have a go mate just trying to help. Credit to you for giving stuff a go, you made do with what you had. I had the same problem the other night but I was just lazy and drank it as vodka :laughing-rolling: to be honest I actually enjoyed it, it was good stuff, it had bugger all flavour but I think that's what tickled my fancy cause I made a neutral that good I couldn't taste it thanks to the tpw and this forum.:handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Stoney]

heh sorry, i didn't mean to sound offended, I know you weren't having a dig.

all feedback and recipe ideas are great !
I intend to try everything at some point, I am here for the long haul :)

[tipsy]

Have a go at Aussie Cream if you want a Baileys knock off :)

:text-+1: I love this stuff.
I don't make it often though cos I'm trying to keep my wifes figure. 8-}

[bt1]

On Essences just use a little care and test first...the modified sugars can stuff it right up...

The tale of woe

http://www.aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1365&hilit=+essence

bt1

[Stoney]

oo, thats a bummer. I will wait till the "rum" is finished before clearing the supermarket shelves of it in case it changes, seems stable so far.

actually enjoyed me baileys on the rocks with a dash (maybe a third) of milk last night, struggled to get through a sherry glass size the night before but with a bit of milk it was gone in 2 minutes leaving me looking at a couple of sad looking ice cubes.

i used to drink a litre plus of iced coffees a day, farmers union in SA then ice break up here in qld, i have a sweet tooth which helps me stomach these things and it went down like an iced coffee would, i sculled it, its not a fail and it may be as simple as just making a larger batch with the condensed milk. how can it go wrong, chocolate, coffee and vanilla ..

hope to get some more feedback yet, I filled the leftover 50ml essence bottle with a 'baileys" for the sister in law. doubt she will drink it though, she is convinced that the tiniest drop of hd will turn her instantly blind .. no reasoning with some women.

[Stoney]

went to the exotic spice shop, win !

cinnamon, star anise, cardamon, fennel, nutmeg, ginger paste and some bourbon biscuits (dont taste like bourbo :() from there. cheap too $23 the lot.

then a trip to coles for a few more essences, vanilla bean paste and citric acid and epsom salts .. $25, thanks vanilla paste.

then a trip to hbs .. $9.50 for a butterscotch schnapps .. whatta rip, one off, will find it cheaper i reckon. missus wants a cowboy.

told the spice guy that he really should get a website up, he reckons its on the way and will hopefully only be a few more weeks. can recommend, so much weird stuff.

[woodduck]

I hope you like the smell of ouzo cause when I did mine it stanck the whole shed out lol, still does smell a bit and that was a week ago.
All the best you certainly look like you have everything you need now.

[1 2many]

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2568&hilit=butterscotch

I use this for butterscotch then use mrs mac's kahlua with a tables spoon of choc powder

[Stoney]

http://www.aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2568&hilit=butterscotch

I use this for butterscotch then use mrs mac's kahlua with a tables spoon of choc powder

I reckon the recipe originates from http://www.epicurus.com/beverages/butterscotch-schnapps/651

identical except the word clarified is missing from the unsalted butter. I think its a rarher important piece missing.
just clarified a block of unsalted, added dark brown sugar (instead of light) and 5oz golden syrup.
waiting for it to cool.

[Stoney]

.. and .. wow, totally blew it.
made a really nice tasting batch of toffee.

live and learn :)
for anyone trying .. 'soft ball stage' is when the syrup forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water, go past this and theres no going back and there is not a lot in it.

there is always tomorrow :)

[Muppet]

Gday mate, a couple of things I picked up from my early essence days. I bought some 'essences' from a smaller HBS and they tasted exactly like icecream topping (mr whippy style) the girls really liked them. Strawberry, Jaffa, banana etc. Fruit infusions are a dead set winner. Strawberry, mango and the likes are cheap and easy. Give a actual rum wash a go, the mollasses flavor still carries over even with a lot of reflux. For me these days if I have an abundance of neutral I'll go fruit infusions or espresso vodka. Makes a happy mrs muppet lol

[Muppet]

Ohhh by the way.... Don't make too much or you will have to deal with her friends every weekend ;) hahaha