One Bottle of Vodka, Infinite Flavor Options!

Hi, Friends of Cocktails! Do you have too many bottles and not enough space? Then let me show you how to turn one vodka into five flavors–from raspberry to vanilla, and a few in between. It will be quick and easy, allowing us to take control of color and flavor too!

While regular flavored vodkas are fun, they take up a lot of space – especially if you only use them every now and then. Absolut alone has more than 15 flavors, from lime, watermelon, passionfruit, you name it. But that’s not really the Cocktail Time way, we prefer to do things ourselves, 

So we’ll go through five different techniques and create five different flavored vodkas using freeze-dried fruit, essential oils, a high-proof tincture made with a slow infusion, in a vacuum, and… with a shortcut! You might remember we already did something similar in our post on tinctured syrups, so check that out for inspiration after you have made your vodkas of choice. 

We’ll start with a bright, fresh, and nicely tart raspberry vodka. It will be made with freeze-dried raspberries, and Absolut vodka as a clean, affordable, and easy to find base. This method is fast, clean, and gives you a big fruit flavor without any mess, so with a promising start, let’s begin–it’s Cocktail Time!

Raspberry Vodka

● 250mL · 8.33oz Vodka

● 9g Freeze Dried Raspberries

For our first vodka, you simply combine the vodka and powdered raspberries in a cup. If you have whole freeze dried raspberries, which are a great snack by the way, you can easily blend or crush them up beforehand. Then mix this for about 10 minutes using a magnetic stirrer.

If you don’t have a magnetic stirrer, you can also just let this sit a bit longer and give it a stir every now and then. Then simply pour this through a rinsed coffee filter or a muslin cloth, give it some time, and that’s it. You’ll have a berry-forward, ruby-red vodka with a beautiful aroma, perfect for a Collins or even a fruity Martini.

Next, let’s make grapefruit vodka. For that we’ll make a grapefruit tincture, but I’ll show you a quicker method for citrus vodka using essential oils after this. 

Grapefruit Tincture

● 33g Organic Grapefruit Peels

● 220mL · 7.33oz 96% ABV Grain Alcohol

This process works for basically any citrus tincture. Here I peeled two organic grapefruits and removed most of the white pith. Then I chopped up the peels and added them to high-proof alcohol for 48 hours. Now strain the tincture, and you’ve got a powerful extract, full of citrus oils–ready to be mixed with vodka. 

Grapefruit Vodka

● 250mL · 8.33oz Vodka

● 25mL · 0.833oz Grapefruit Tincture

We’ll now combine our grapefruit tincture with vodka, mix this for about 5 minutes, and it’s ready! While the finished ABV is slightly higher with this vodka, that’s not a bad thing as higher proof is a great flavor carrier, which you’ll notice with this citrusy vodka that even Ernest Hemingway might enjoy.  

Now, it’s time for another vodka with a bright and clean citrus punch: lemon. But first keep in mind that you really need to be careful and know how much essential oils you can use. Always follow recipes, unless you know the math needed behind using these extracts, and also make sure to measure out the exact amounts using a precision scale to avoid making yourself or your guests sick. 

Lemon Essence

● 60mL · 2oz 96% ABV Grain Alcohol

● 1.5g Lemon Essential Oils

It’s as easy as combining the essential oils with the grain alcohol for 10 minutes to help the oil fully dissolve. Keep in mind that you really need high-proof alcohol for these infusions, but with that you’re ready to make some lemon vodka. 

Lemon Vodka

● 250mL · 8.33oz Vodka

● 8mL · 0.25oz Lemon Tincture

Combine the vodka with the tincture for another 10 minutes, and don’t worry about the louche effect from the oil and alcohol mixing as this will settle over time–and that’s it! A bright and zesty lemon vodka. Pair it with lime vodka and you’ll have yourself a perfect Cosmopolitan combination.

For our next vodka, vanilla, we’re going with a shortcut this time: using vanilla extract. It’s a simple and cost-effective way to add rich vanilla flavor to your vodka, and you don’t need to wait two weeks for a vanilla infusion to be ready. 

Vanilla Vodka

● 250mL · 8.33oz Vodka

● 12g High Quality Vanilla Extract

Combine vodka and a small amount of good quality vanilla extract, and make sure to rinse all of the extract out! After a few minutes on the magnetic stirrer it will be fully mixed in and you’ll have a smooth, sweet vanilla vodka that’s ready to party–in a cocktail or even just mixed with Coca-Cola.

For the final method, we’re using the vacuum chamber, this time to make a pepper vodka with a fruity aroma and a tingly aftertaste. We already showed a bunch of cocktail hacks using this tool in a recent post, but it also works great for infusions.

We’ll just need vodka and the peppercorns of choice–I’m going with pink pepper, black pepper, long pepper and Sichuan peppercorns.

Pepper Vodka

● 250mL · 8.33oz Vodka

● 1g Pink Pepper

● 1g Black Pepper

● 1g Long Pepper

● 1g Sichuan Pepper

First crush the peppers slightly with a mortar and pestle to increase the surface area for a better extraction. Now combine the crushed pepper and vodka in an open jar, place it into the vacuum chamber, and press the marinate button.

This will then run a few cycles, and you’ll see how the vacuum pushes the vodka into the pepper. Once it’s done feel free to taste it, and if you want a bolder flavor, just run it one more time. This turned out great, so it’s time to bottle. Just strain it first, and you’re done!

This final vodka is spicy and aromatic, perfect for a Bloody Mary or even a spicy Martini riff. With five flavored vodkas it’s easy to mix up quick cocktails to suit the taste of friends or guests, but a quick way to test them out side-by-side is with a Vodka Collins. 

Vodka Collins

● 60mL · 2oz Flavored Vodka

● 22.5mL · 0.75oz Lemon Juice

● 15mL · 0.5oz Simple Syrup

● 2 drops 20% Saline Solution

● Soda to Top

Into a chilled shaker I’ll pour in the lemon juice, simple syrup, saline solution, and a flavored vodka of choice. Shake with ice, then strain the cocktail into a tall glass filled with fresh ice, and top with soda water. Express essential oils from a lemon peel and place it on the top. Cheers, and see you next week, Friends of Cocktails!