Homebrew Underground

The Cosmopolitan is made with four basic ingredients: fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, vodka and cranberry juice. It is made with homemade Orange Kumquat Liqueur (or Cointreau if none is available). If you do make your own Orange Kumquat Liqueur and give it away as a gift, then you can provide this recipe as a serving suggestion. Use 100% cranberry juice and fresh squeezed lime juice for best results.

When made with homebrew Orange Kumquat Liqueur this Margarita recipe will have a unique flavor you would swear would only be found at a high class resort hotel. If homemade Orange Kumquat Liqueur is not available, you can use Cointreau as a substitute. Use only high quality, 100% blue agave tequila for this cocktail like Puerto Vallarta Blanco (photo right). Don’t use "gold" tequila. Use fresh squeezed lime juice for best results.

Step Two: Straining, Filtering and Clarifying

Shown below is a photo of the infused spirit after macerating for 4 weeks. It is ready to strain.

Using a metal coffee filter, carefully pour off any clarified part into a clean 2 qt. Mason jar.

When all the infused spirit has been poured out, empty the contents of the jar into the filter and let it strain naturally for 10 – 15 minutes to recover as much spirit as possible. Discard the strainings afterwards. Normally I would try to press the strainings through a cheesecloth, but in this case these remains are very bitter and cloudy and will only spoil the flavor and clarity.

Shown below is a photo of the strained, infused spirit. Set it aside for 3 to 4 weeks to allow it to clarify. The sediments will settle to the bottom of the jar and you can rack off the clarified part.

After 3 or 4 weeks the infused spirit should be mostly clarified. At this time carefully rack off the clarified part into a clean 2 qt. Mason jar. You can see the difference. It is totally clarified.

Sweetening and Blending

Note: Blending a number of batches may produce unexpected results. The batches may become cloudy when blended together. If you have more than one jar to blend, then I strongly suggest that you wait and see if the infused spirit becomes cloudy when you blend the batches. If so, then wait an additional 4 weeks or so the allow the infused spirit to clarify again, then rack off the clarified part, then filter it with paper coffee filters to remove any "sludge."

Shown below is a shot of the clarified infused spirit, standard sugar syrup and a measuring cup.

Combine one part infused spirit with one part standard sugar syrup. It is now ready to bottle and serve!

My goal in developing this recipe was to create a homebrew orange liqueur that I could use as a mixer. I wanted a good substitute for Cointreau that I could use in cocktail recipes.

Cointreau is 40% ABV (alcohol by volume). That is rather high for a liqueur. Most liqueurs range from 18% to 22% ABV. In my first attempt I tried using straight vodka for the spirit component when I first began to experiment with this recipe. Vodka, like most spirit (e.g. brandy or gin) is usually 40% ABV and after adding sugar syrup the finished liqueur was around 20% ABV. It was horrible!

After that first failure, I began to see why Cointreau was so much higher in alcohol content than other liqueurs. I discovered that to make a good orange liqueur, the alcohol content would need to be more than usual. It definitely needed more "zing."

In later attempts I used grain alcohol plus vodka and brandy for the spirit component. The grain alcohol raised the alcohol content and the brandy gave the liqueur some depth. The grain alcohol brand is Everclear. It has an alcohol content of 75.5% ABV and it is available in liquor stores. When made according to this recipe, the final ABV should be somewhere around 26%. The finished liqueur works as a substitute for Cointreau in most drink recipes. You can find recipes here in the blog for a Margarita and a Cosmopolitan.

Step One: Infusion

Shown below is a shot of all the ingredients. Back row, left to right: brandy, 2 qt Mason jar, vodka and grain alcohol (Everclear). Front row, left to right: sweet orange peels, bitter orange peels, fresh kumquats, cloves and cinnamon sticks.

One of the key ingredients for this homebrew orange liqueur recipe is bitter orange peel. I decided to use it to add contrast to the sweet orange peel and kumquat flavors. Cointreau is also made with bitter orange peels. The point here is to add a little bit of bitterness to the sweet flavors.

To the left is a shot of the bitter orange peels. Bitter orange peel (also called "Curaçao orange peel", aurantium amarae pericarpium) is available under the brand name "Brewer’s Garden", which is available from most homebrew supply stores. This botanical is used for flavoring other popular citrus liqueurs (Triple Sec, Curaçao and Cointreau) and Belgian Ale.

Kumquats also lend their sweet and bitter flavors to this liqueur recipe. As a kid when I was growing up, one of our neighbors had a kumquat tree in their backyard and we used to raid the tree and eat them raw when they were ripe and juicy. The kumquat has a natural balance of sweet and bitter. The fruit and pulp is bitter, but the rind is sweet. With most varieties of oranges, the opposite is true. For example, with Navel and Valencia oranges, the fruit and pulp is sweet but the rind is bitter.

Remove the button from each kumquat then cut them into wedges similar to the photo below.

Add sweet and bitter dried orange peels to a clean 2 qt. Mason jar then add 1 cup distilled water. Wait about 4 hours to allow orange peels to rehydrate.

Add the wedged fruit and other botanicals plus the spirit to the jar with the rehydrated orange peels, then shake vigorously to thoroughly mix all the ingredients. Set aside and allow to macerate for 4 weeks. Periodically shake the jar to mix the ingredients, but don’t shake during the last week to facilitate clarification.

Continue to Orange Kumquat Liqueur Recipe – Part II

We love our cocktails, but we should take care of our livers. Research has shown that milk thistle has proven to be effective in protecting the liver from damage from alcohol. The website for The University of Maryland Medical Center (Milk thistle) states that today "several scientific studies suggest that active substances in milk thistle (particularly silymarin) protect the liver from damage caused by viruses, toxins, alcohol," and that "five of seven studies evaluating milk thistle for alcoholic liver disease found significant improvements in liver function."

Photo is provided for reference only and is not an endorsement of any product.

These studies suggest that milk thistle and its active substance, silymarin can be effective in protecting the liver from minor damage, but it is less effective with more serious damage such as cirrhosis. The same web page states that "Cirrhosis is characterized by scarring and permanent, non-reversible
damage to the liver. It is often referred to as end-stage liver
disease." Needless to say it is wise to be temperate and to not over-indulge.

Milk thistle and its active substance silymarin is widely available as a dietary supplement.

If you want to make cherry liqueur, then now is the time to do it. Yesterday I was shopping at Whole Foods and I noticed that dark, sweet cherries were $4.99/lb. The price doesn’t get any better than that and they looked ripe, juicy and sweet! I decided that now is the time to make cherry liqueur.

I have tried making dark cherry liqueur in the off-season with frozen cherries, but the results were not as good as when I used fresh cherries.

So I spent the afternoon pitting cherries and prepping a batch of dark cherry liqueur for this season:

If you want to make a batch, you can find the recipe here.

This is my recipe for lemon-limeade. It is quick and easy and best of all, it’s fresh. I buy limes and organic lemons from a local grocery store and keep them in the refrigerator. I also have a Lime Squeezer and a Lemon Squeezer to make the job go fast. The amounts can easily doubled, tripled or quadrupled for a larger batch.

Lemon-Limeade is a very delicious and refreshing … especially on a hot summer day!

This simple spaghetti recipe is quick and easy and can be prepared in about 30 minutes. By using prepared spaghetti sauce and ground beef, you can make this delicious meat sauce fairly easily. The spaghetti sauce is tomato and basil marinara with mushrooms and meat. All you do is simmer the sauce with added mushrooms, cook the spaghetti and the meat, and then then serve.

For the spaghetti sauce, I chose a tomato and basil variety. I am adding my own mushrooms, so I chose a variety without mushrooms. Spaghetti sauce comes in 24, 25 and 26 oz sizes. Any of these sizes should do fine.

Shown below is a shot of the ingredients: spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, ground beef and spaghetti. Not shown is the seasoning and Bay leaves.

Begin by simmering the sauce. Add the sauce, mushrooms and Bay leaves to a large saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for 20 minutes.

Next, chop the garlic. It is a good idea to begin heating the water for the spaghetti at this time.

Saute the garlic in a frying pan over a medium heat.

When the garlic is softened and is a light tan color, add the ground beef to the frying pan.

Season the meat with salt and Basil, then cook it thoroughly, stirring briskly while breaking it up.

Add a little salt to the water for the spaghetti, then when it begins to boil, add the spaghetti. Boil for 9 minutes.

Below is a shot of the stove with everything cooking.

After the meat is cooked, set the frying pan on an incline to allow all the fat to separate and collect at the bottom. Remove it with a spoon and discard all the fat. We want a low fat, healthy meat sauce.

Add the cooked meat to the sauce after it has simmered for 20 minutes.

Stir the cooked meat into the sauce.

After the spaghetti has boiled for 9 minutes, drain it into a colander.

Serve immediately. Remove any Bay leaves when serviing the meat sauce.

This pizza recipe is a healthy pizza. Pizza can be healthy. This recipe uses organic pizza crust and organic Mozzarella cheese plus tomato paste with olive oil. Tomato paste is rich in the antioxidant, lycopene, which has been shown to have health benefits. Lycopene is also fat soluable. So by adding a little olive oil to the tomato paste helps increase the body’s absorption of lycopene.

You should be able to find all of the ingredients at local supermarkets and health food stores. When buying the tomato paste, be sure to read the label. Choose a brand that does not use any artificial ingredients, additives or preservatives. The brand I chose for this example was a cheap store brand sold at Von’s supermarket. I checked the labels of 2 other major brands at the time and they had additives like citric acid and HFCS (high fructose corn syrup). It is remarkable that this simple brand of tomato paste was a better choice.

Shown below is a shot of all the ingredients. Starting in the lower left corner and going clockwise: Sweet Italian Sausage, Organic Mozzarella cheese, sliced mushrooms, olive oil, tomato paste, Basil, onion and Organic Pizza crust.

Start by grilling the sausage. Remember to cook it thoroughly because it is pork. I am using an outdoor grill but you can also broil it in the oven on a broiler.

Chop the onion .

Add the chopped onion and the mushrooms to a frying pan. Season with salt and Basil (or other seasoning if you prefer), then saute over a medium flame until cooked.

Shown below is a shot of the sauted vegetables. Set aside for the moment.

By now, the sausage should be done..

Now is a good time to preheat the oven to 400° F. Shown below is a shot of the organic pizza crust.

Open the can of tomato paste and sread it onto the pizza crust with a rubber spatula. At this time add 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil while spreading. Mix it and spread it at the same time. Work in a spiral motion from the center out.

Spread the tomato paste and olive oil mixture evenly over the crust.

Shown below is a shot of the pizza crust with the tomato paste and olive oil mixture spread over the pizza crust. It is now ready to add the toppings.

Next, add the shredded organic Mozzarella cheese.

The first topping is the sauted vegetables.

Distribute the cooked vegetables evenly over the surface.

The next topping is the cooked sausage. Dice the sausage by cutting each sausage into 3/8 inch slices, then quartering each slice.

Shown below is a shot of the pizza ready to cook. By now the oven is probably ready. Place it in the oven and bake for 10 – 15 minutes.

Shown below is a shot of the finished pizza. It’s delicious and healthy. Cut into six slices and serve hot.

This is a recipe for the more traditional Mai Tai using light and dark rum that you can make with homemade Almond Liqueur and homemade sweet and sour mix.