Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

3 Infusions Worth Trying to Upgrade Your Spirits at Home

Tyler Zielinski
By

At the liquor store, there are only so many ingredients to choose from. When you want to add a flavor to a cocktail that doesn’t exist as a pre-packaged product, sometimes you’re left to your own devices and need to put your DIY skills to the test. While these components can sometimes be included in the form of a syrup, an infused spirit is another way enhance the texture and flavor of a cocktail. Whether you favor using a fruit, herb, spice, or fat (i.e milk, nuts, meat fat, and so on), infusions are a way to customize your drinking experience.

Aquavit-infusions
Aska

They are fairly simple to make, and you can use any spirit as the base. When it comes to choosing a base spirit for the infusion, make sure it is something that you enjoy on its own. You’ll never be able to cover-up a lack of quality with other infused flavors. Another thing to keep in mind has to do with safety and making sure the infusion is potable. Alcohol is a solvent. It extracts high concentrations of the characteristics of whatever it is mixed with, which can be hazardous in some cases. For example, the pits of peaches, and other stone fruit, contain a compound called amygdalin which breaks down into hydrogen cyanide when ingested. If this ingredient were to find its way into a spirit, the consequences could be lethal. Refer to cocktailsafe.org before you go infusing away with various ingredients, and make sure to do your homework.

Recommended Videos

Related Cocktail Guides

With a little bit of time, patience, research, and a knack for pairing flavors, you’re on your way to creating bespoke infused spirits to add to your home bar. At first, it may entail a bit of trial and error. There are many variables to keep track of including temperature, pressure, time, ratio of spirit to infusion element, the intensity of the ingredient and whether it’s fresh or dry, the ABV of the spirit (the higher the ABV, the quicker the infusion and the more concentrated the flavors are), and so on. Keep track as you go and you’ll eventually lock-in a recipe that you’re happiest with. To get started, we have gathered three recipes worth trying at home, with classic cocktails that work excellently with the infusion.

Related

Brown butter-infused bourbon

old-fashioned
Mathew Macquarrie/Unsplash

Ingredients:

  • 750ml bourbon
  • 6 tbsp of unsalted butter
Method:
  1. Melt butter in saucepan on low-med heat, stirring frequently until the butter starts to brown and smell nutty. Then remove from heat and let the mixture cool before adding it to a large ziplock bag, or a rectangular container.
  2. Add the bourbon and give a light shake to integrate the ingredients. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 4 hours, then place in the freezer for 24 hours to separate the fat from the alcohol.
  3. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and a cheesecloth as many times as it takes to remove any excess fats, then store in an old liquor bottle and keep for up to 2 weeks.
Try in an: Old-Fashioned

Grilled pineapple-infused Tequila

Ingredients:

  • 750ml Tequila
  • 1 pineapple (cored and sliced into rings)
Method:
  1. To grill the pineapple: heat up your grill to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and add the sliced pineapple rings to the grill until charred on each side; then set aside for infusion. (Note: If you don’t have a grill, a stove-top griddle will also suffice.)
  2. Once the pineapple is grilled, cut the sliced pineapple rings into quarters, and add the tequila and pineapple to a container to infuse. Leave the mix for 2 days, then strain through a fine mesh strainer and cheesecloth and store in an old liquor bottle for up to 1 month.
Try in a: Margarita

Banana-Infused Rum

Ingredients:

  • 750ml Appleton Estate 12yr
  • 3 very ripe bananas
Method:
  1. Mash the bananas in a large container, then pour over the rum. Allow the mix infuse for 1 day in a cool, dark space, then let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 day.
  2. After 2 days, strain the rum through a fine mesh strainer and cheesecloth and store in an old liquor bottle for 2 weeks.
Try in a: Daiquiri

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Tyler Zielinski
Tyler Zielinski
Tyler is a New York-based freelance cocktail and spirits journalist, competitive bartender, and bar consultant. He is an…
The 9 best rums for Mojitos that you can get behind
Making a Mojito? You're going to need a nice light rum, like one of these standout selections
A hand serving a glass of Mojito on a table.

In the vast land of rum cocktails, the Mojito is an elite player. This classic cocktail, born in Cuba, is both a cinch to make and extremely rewarding to drink. Made of rum, lime, mint, sugar, and soda water, the beverage is basically the liquid definition of refreshing.

While often pegged as a summer drink, the Mojito is really accessible year-round. In fact, like a good tiki drink, the cocktail can be even more desirable during the colder months as it can deposit you somewhere sun-kissed and tropical. Yet, because the drink is so dependent on its spirit base, it can only be as good as the rum that goes into it.

Read more
Stock your home bar with these fantastic vodka mixers
These are the best ways to mix your vodka, from tonic to...beef broth?

A wise man once said vodka goes with just about anything. While this is true, some mixers just work better than others. A working horse spirit, vodka offers the perfect backbone for any number of drinks. Better still, you don't need a PhD in mixology to enjoy its versatility. Stereotypes say the clear spirit is only good for shots straight out of the freezer, or sipped as a Vodka Martini or alongside some caviar. These things are true as far as they go, but that doesn't fully explain vodka's vast potential.

We've assembled your go-to list of complementary mixers to choose from when your thirsty for a vodka cocktail. They range from classics to the unexpected, and everything in between. So, take the leash off your favorite bottle at home and let it run free, mingling in the glass with these 17 great options.

Read more
The Best Barware for Your Home Bar To Make Amazing Cocktails

We know you have a bar tool or two but what if you need a more extensive setup that goes beyond the wine glasses or the whiskey rocks glass? We've put together some of the best of the best barware products out there that focuses on quality, style, and function. Yes, you can have style AND function. Never let anyone tell you differently.

There are some items that we didn't cover in this list because we just feel they may be unnecessary. For instance, while an ice bucket can look cool, it's really unrealistic because you'll have ice melting faster than you can drink, especially if you're using specialty ice such as spheres, cubes, or cocktail ice. We suppose that if you want a small ice bucket to hold a round's worth of ice, that would work but for us, keep the ice where it belongs, in the cocktail glass.

Read more