Raspberry vodka and blackberry gin

Number 33 on my Day Zero Project was to make a flavoured alcoholic drink - I have done double that and made two!

I posted a little bit about them here, but it really was incredibly simple.  I saw the idea on Gillian's blog and thought that sounded do-able!

Put some raspberries, some sugar and some vodka in one jar, and some blackberries, some sugar and some gin in another - that's about as scientific as I got.  I shook them once a day for a couple of weeks, and then once a week for about another eight weeks.

I needed something to strain them into, and found these cute little bottles in Lakeland (where else?).  Straining them was a tad messy (raspberries that have been in a jar and shaken regularly for 10 weeks don't look terribly pretty) but I got there eventually, and I reckon they made just under 200ml of flavoured alcohol (these drinks were started before the photos were taken!).

The raspberry vodka is definitely my favourite - I can't remember when I first tried raspberry vodka, but I used to buy it from a lovely shop in Edinburgh called Demijohn.  I even kept my bottle when it was empty until my next visit, so I could get it filled up again!  Sadly, I am now very, very far away from Edinburgh, but the homemade version isn't too bad!

The blackberry gin isn't as blackberry as I was expecting - maybe I didn't put enough in, or maybe the blackberries weren't as ripe as they should have been, I don't know.  It's all an experiment.  Maybe I just liked flavoured vodka more than I like flavoured gin.  In future, I think I'll just stick to the vodka.  I've bought the Kilner jars and the muslin for straining, so I'll definitely make more again.  Perhaps some friends will be finding a little bottle in their Christmas parcel!