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Set to become another cult yuletide spirit this Christmas Pudding Gin Liqueur deserves pride of place amidst the festivities. It’s the star of the drinks cabinet and a showstopping centrepiece for the holiday season guaranteed to make it a very merry Christmas. The LIVE virtual tastings are carried out in the last week of the month. Please keep an eye on our socials for confirmed dates! Sugar – Different sugars have different flavours, so take this into account. Because the dried fruit already adds lots of sweetness, you should not be tempted to over do it. Soft dark brown or muscavado sugar adds notes of treacle and caramel, while a lighter sugar would pair well with lighter fruits. The joy of this simple recipe is that it’s not only easy to make at home, but it’s totally flexible; the number of spices we’ve suggested in our easy recipe below are merely our own preference, so feel free to experiment with the flavours you like; so if you are not so keen on cloves, for instance, just leave them out! It makes sense that a festive spirit will help get you into the, ahem, festive spirit, so of course we're getting excited about Christmas gins. These seasonal offerings infuse a gin base with all manner of festive flavours, from candy canes, mulled wine, Christmas pudding, and cranberries to clementines, frankincense, myrrh, and even Brussels sprouts — yes, really. That takes the trend for unusual gins to next-level greatness.
As with other liqueurs, store this in a cool dark cupboard. It is best consumed within a year, because the flavours can start to fade if you keep it longer. Hints and tips
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Spices – I’ve added a mix of cinnamon, mixed spices, cloves and all spice. You can choose your own, and any warming spices would be delicious. I don’t like too much spice, and don’t want to mask the fruit. If heavy spice is your thing, then go wild. Gin – I use a supermarket own brand. You don’t want one of those fancy botanical versions, as they are expensive and all the subtle flavours that make them expensive will be lost. You don’t want anything rough either. A dry London gin works well. If you want your gin Christmas gifts to look really fancy, you can crumble in a pinch of culinary gold leaf when you bottle your gin. I like to sip my Christmas liqueurs from a shot glass. If you prefer, you can serve over ice or add to mixed drinks. Vary the dried fruit – For the best Christmas pudding flavour, keep a base of about half to two thirds dark vine fruit (currants and raisins) and then make up the rest with apricots, dried figs, dates, cherries, mixed peel, or any combination to taste. Cut larger pieces of fruit into smaller pieces, about the size of a raisin.
Winter is made for infusions, concentrating and capturing flavours to last through the colder months. This one is like Christmas pudding in a glass. Muscovado Sugar – This adds both colour and a lovely treacly caramel note. You can also use dark brown soft sugar. A lighter sugar like golden caster will make a lighter gin in both colour and flavour. You can also add more or less sugar based on how sweet and syrupy you want your gin liqueur to come out - the more sugar you add, the more treacly your liqueur will become (all the better for drinking neat or over ice!). To find the best liqueur, our panel of 10 WSET-trained experts and consumers tried 37 fun flavours from the leading supermarkets and brands. They were looking for a well-balanced, easy-drinking liqueur they’d be proud to serve at the end of a meal. All products were served chilled and blind to prevent brand bias.Sweet and oh-so-indulgent, liqueurs are the perfect end to any meal. Typically, they will have a lower ABV of around 15-20% (as opposed to a straight spirit such as gin, which will be upwards of 40%), making them ideal drunk neat or over ice. Step Seven – Although you can keep your gin in a jar, it will pour better from a bottle. You will definitely want to decant your Christmas pudding gin into pretty bottles if it is a Christmas gift. These need to be clean and dry, but you don’t really need to sterilise them unless you want to.
Gin liqueurs are made from distilled gin infused with different flavours and sweeteners (like fruit or sugar). So for example, sloe gin is actually a gin liqueur! What is the difference between gin and liqueur? The Gin Liqueur contains warming flavours of Christmas spices, including cinnamon with mince pie, Christmas cake, dried fruit like raisins and prunes overlaid with icing sugar, toffee and syrup on the aroma. A syrupy sweetness, combined with dried fruits, gives you a liquefied Christmas pudding on the palate. Although you can’t see it clearly in the bottle, there’s also a golden shimmer that shines beautifully in your glass. My infused Christmas gin, brimming with all the warm, sweet flavours of the traditional pud, makes a delicious nightcap or digestif. Flavour 👅 “A vibrant expression of orchard fruits, a mixture of ripe and unripe, with minerals, and a natural spice on the palate.”You can also experiment with the fruits that you’d like to include - we’ve kept it fairly simple below, with just the addition of bright and citrusy orange zest, but popping some clementines, sloes or even plums into the mixture while it’s steeping would result in a wonderfully deep, flavoured result.
Mixed Dried Fruit – I’ve used an equal weight of raisins, currants and apricots for some extra fruit flavour. You can use whatever you like most. Just make the weight up with your favourites, but have a good base of about 2/3 of dark vine fruit. These days, there’s so much more than Irish cream to choose from too — new, innovative flavours are inspired by comforting desserts, seasonal spices and plenty of chocolate. Use a reasonable gin, but not something really fancy. A mid range supermarket own brand dry London gin is perfect here.The stunning spherical bottle was custom made and comes dressed as a Christmas pudding holly sprig and all. The spirit within is as dazzling as the bottle itself. Gently shake this rich gin liqueur to awaken its golden shimmer and festive spices. Pour a little and discover flavours of vine fruits cinnamon candied orange vanilla ginger nutty marzipan and sweet juniper. It’s enough to put a rosy glow into the cheeks. Sip Snow Globe Gin’s Sixpence Pud neat alongside Christmas pudding or a mince pie. Alternatively serve it as an aperitif mixed with Prosecco as a digestif over ice or use it to charge the hip flask for a walk on Boxing Day. Aroma 👃 “Fresh green apples, green pears, gooseberry with the slightest hint of spice and orange zest on the aroma.” Instead of wasting the infused fruit, you can add it to all sorts of dishes. Eat it on ice cream, in mince pies, or use it instead of mincemeat in this Christmas fudge recipe. Alternatively, add it to a fruit tea loaf. Making homemade liqueurs is much easier than you might think. This one only needs about three – four days to infuse, so even if you are running out of time to find the perfect present, you may have found it here. Why make Christmas gin
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