Raspberry vodka recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Liqueurs | 149 comments
Home grown raspberries from our garden waiting to be made into delicious raspberry vodka
Note: Raspberry Vodka is probably the best and easiest of all homemade fruit liqueurs. It and raspberry gin are our all time favourite.
“One for me,” Gilbert popped a raspberry into his mouth, “and one for the bottle.” He pressed a juicy raspberry through the top of an empty vodka bottle.
“What on earth are you doing?”
Marjorie had sent me into the garden to join Gilbert. He was sitting on the terrace beside a large bowl of raspberries. Several bottles of vodka and a funnel beside him.
“Marjorie won’t let me into the kitchen, thinks that I’ll pour sugar into the cabbage.”
It took us just twenty minutes to make four bottles of raspberry vodka.
Always looking for new raspberry liqueur recipes, I asked Gilbert if it was a patent recipe. He nodded sagely and started to write the labels with a large, even hand.
“You better get the name right, before you note down the ingredients.”
Intrigued I got up and stood behind him, pen poised. The labels read, “Fiona’s patent Raspberry Vodka.”
“Is that me?”
He roared with laughter, “Of course it is, you goose.”
Tips and tricks for making the best raspberry vodka – printable recipe below:
- If you grow raspberries or have access to a “Pick your own”, you will make a liqueur that has a far fuller, fresher flavour than the supermarket raspberries that have been rattled around for miles (air and/or road). But even if you can’t find the freshest and best raspberries you will still make a fantastic liqueur (discard all bad ones). Our raspberry liqueurs (gin and vodka) are the two that people remember and natter about. And until a year ago, when our raspberry patch was finally established, we often bought the raspberries for this superb grog.
- Make notes on a label of your fruit/vodka/sugar ratio and stick it onto the bottle(s) so that you have a record When you make a particularly good batch you will need this info. The best production labels are made from decorator’s masking tape as these can be peeled off and passed from bottle to bottle. We also note our responses at the grog matures. It won’t be long before you will get a feel of what works well for your taste (and the notes will come into their own). In an ideal world it would be wise to make more than you need in the first year, so you can compare different vintages. This liqueur does improve over time. This can be difficult, even Gilbert has never managed to keep a vintage beyond three years.
- Keep your fruit vodka away from the light, unless the bottles are dark green or brown, as this will maintain the colour. If you are stuck with clear bottles, wrap them in brown paper to keep out the light or store them in a cool dark place that is dry and airy.
- Every couple of months take a tiny sip. At this time add sugar if it tastes too sharp. If it is too sweet it is difficult to go back.
- See how you can make your own labels
| Raspberry vodka recipe |
- 300g of raspberries
- 350g of white granulated sugar
- 1.5 litres (or more) of medium quality vodka (don’t be tempted to go for the cheapest or thr best)
- Sterilised 2 litre Le Parfait jar or 2-3 (70 cl) washed and sterilised vodka bottles
- Extra vodka bottles. We save a few empty bottles throughout the year as the raspberries and sugar fill about one third of each bottle
- Wash raspberries and discard any bruised/bad fruit. Place raspberries in either a large 2 litre Kilner/Le Parfait jar or divide the raspberries between 2 or 3 (70 cl) saved vodka bottles. If you have to squeeze fat raspberries through the neck it is fine.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar (divide the amounts if using several bottles) and top up with vodka to 2-3cm from the top.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year).
Leave a reply
Thanks very much for your lightening response. I’ll press on with what I have — there wasn’t a hint of mouldiness despite the raspberries showing no resistance to being pushed through the neck of a third-sized bottle of wine. I’ll try and remember to post again at around Christmas-time when the experiment will reach its conclusion!
Hi Fiona
Great site and lovely to see how the discussion has taken off. I made the mistake of attempting raspberry vodka and then finding your site. The raspberries were bought today straight from the fruit farm but were a little squashy, tasting variously wonderful or a bit sour. Does this really matter? Have I wasted my duty free vodka?
I haven’t added the sugar and, being honest, this is just a trial run in a 250 ml bottle.
AH
Hi Andy
I reckon that your raspberry vodka will be fine. As long as you haven’t added bad/mouldy fruit. A bit tart is good – HFW suggests adding some like this to raspberry jam to give it a bit more flavour and punch.
Best of luck with your experiments. Between you and me I always make my fruit vodkas in biggish bottles as it’s very difficult to ruin the grog ;0)
Sounds loverly. This might be a silly question but do i sterilise the jars first?
Hi Sarah, Yes, just like you would do with jars for jam or marmalade.
Hi, just found your recipe. I’ve never made fruit liqueur before but am looking forward to making and subsequently drinking the raspberry vodka.
Thanks.
i like this it sounds really good! reminds me of the rasberry cocoa flavor of voli vodka 🙂
I made this a while ago with the supermarket own brand vodka. My boyfriend said you could tell it was cheap vodka even though it was flavoured. I wondered what quality of vodka others use?
I’m planning to do make vanila flavoured vokda for Christmas and possibly this again and currently smirnoff flavoured vodka’s are on offer the same price as non flavoured so does not make sense to buy that!
Hi Katy
I use supermarket brand vodka and gin. Not the very cheapest but the one up from that and the grog tastes fine.
I make my raspberry vodka after the first frost, and never touch it until Thanksgiving. It does not need to be stirred,or fussed with in any way.Love the countertop decoration it provides!
Thank You fn. I will likely split the batch (currently 40oz, lol) this weekend and see what results. I am sampling some right now, mixed with Ginger Ale, it tastes good, but I can see that the sweetness would soon be too much.
Okay, I too am finding my Raspberry Vodka too sweet and I understand I cannot remove the sugar, but what if I divided my current mix into 2 jars or bottles and added more Vodka and berries?
Hi Yvonne
That would be the best way of getting around the problem of the raspberry vodka being too sweet
Great..thanks