Homemade Kahlua and Ginger Infused Vodka
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Given my love of White Russians, I burn through a lot of vodka and Kahlua. I've heard that making your own isn't too difficult, so I decided to give it a try. It seems there are as many recipes as there are vodkas out there, but I wanted to use real beans instead of the instant coffee most recipes call for. In this case, I bought Caribou's Obsidian Dark Roast Blend knowing I'd get a wonderfully powerful rich taste from it.
Homemade Kalua
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- 1/2 lb dark roasted coffee beans
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 whole vanilla beans
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
- vodka
- dark rum
- brandy
- Divide the coffee beans into two equal portions. Grind half the beans very finely. Leave the other half whole.
- Use your coffee maker to brew half the ground beans with 2 cups of water to make a very strong coffee. An espresso machine would be even better. Repeat a second time with the other half of the ground beans and 2 more cups of water.
- Add the coffee, cinnamon sticks (broken in half), whole coffee beans, and brown sugar to a stock pot. Heat slowly and mix until the sugar is dissolved. Don't let the water get hot enough to boil.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate.
- Distribute the coffee mixture evenly among four 1 quart canning jars. Then add the melted chocolate to each along with the vanilla beans cut in one inch diagonal slices. The jars should be roughly 1/3 full.
- Add 1 cup of vodka to each jar. Then add 3/4 cup of dark rum. Then add 1/2 cup of brandy. Fill the remaining volume with vodka until within an 1/8 inch from the top. This will use nearly an entire 1.75 liter bottle of vodka.
- Screw on the lids tightly and shake. Store the jars in a cool dark place for at least a month. Shake the jars every day or so until ready.
- After a month of storage, strain the jars into dark glass bottles with a metal coffee filter.
And since I was busy making my own booze, I decided to attempt to infuse my own ginger vodka. I (and others) have fallen in love with a delicious gingertini, but Yazi is $35 a bottle. So making my own from a ginger root and $12 bottle of Svedka is much more economical.
Ginger Infused Vodka
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- 1 large ginger root
- vodka
- Peel and slice the entire ginger root into thick slices.
- Divide the ginger slices into two 1 quart jars evenly.
- Fill the jars with vodka to within an 1/8 of the top.
- Shake and store in a cool dark place for at least a week shaking daily.
- Strain the vodka through a metal coffee filter and store in the refridgerator for up to a month.
So now these jars are busy resting in my basement. It'll be hard to simply look at them and shake them each day without getting to taste them, but it should be worth the wait. I'll definitely report back on this in a month to let you know how it all turns out.
