During lemon season in Italy, supermarkets stock plastic bottles of neutral grain alcohol so that people can make their own limoncello. Every family in southern Italy has its own special recipe. It’s a similar story in Poland, Slovakia and all over Europe where homemade liqueurs have long been a way of turning a fruit surplus into something delicious. Isn’t it time you go in on the act? To help you out we have this spirit distilled from pure wheat and bottled 69.9% ABV. This is the perfect alcohol content to quickly remove flavour and colour from fruit but without extracting harsh notes.
You’ll find this ideal for making liqueurs from all manner of soft fruit like raspberries, cherries and strawberries. Or for those looking to take things to the next level, it can be used to extract flavours from spices such as anise, juniper and wormwood so you can make your own vermouth, gin or aquavit.
Here’s a simple fruit liqueur recipe to get you started. Fill a large mason glass jar with 1kg of cherries, add 35g of sugar and cover with a bottle of Grain Neutral Spirit. Close and leave for three months to steep. After this time, taste and if you’re happy with it, strain off the fruit (which tastes amazing with ice cream), and you have a homemade liqueur which should last for years. In fact it gets better with age.
Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt
Suitably neutral, with soft grain spice.