Wild Spiced Apple Pie Vodka -

This Wild Spiced Apple Pie Vodka is an absolute must for me in winter, it’s lightly spiced and works incredibly well in a hot cocktail for those colder winter nights.

Ingredients:

5 Apples – I used some wild apples from my local park here in Sussex but if you can’t find any granny smith apples work nicely.
2 – Cinnamon sticks
4 – Wood Avens Roots – or Cloves
1 Nutmeg (whole)
1tblsp Hogweed Seeds – or Cardamon pods
5 shoots – Sweet Woodruff – or Vanilla pods
1.5 litres – Vodka
Brown Sugar – to taste
Large flip top jar or bowl you can leave covered while infusing
Bottles to decant your flavoured drink into. I use sloe gin swing top bottles bought online, they fill about 500ml per bottle.

Method:

Fill your container (Large jar or bowl) ¾ the way with vodka.
Chop and remove the cores of your apples and add enough so they fill half the jar roughly.
Add your spices.
For roughly 1.5 litres vodka I used 2 cinnamon sticks, 4 Wood Avens root cloves, 1 whole nutmeg (grate the outside a bit before adding it so it releases its flavour), 5 shoots Sweet Woodruff and 1 tablespoons common Hogweed seeds.
Measure about a cup of dark brown sugar (300g ish), or any brown sugar will do with 300ml water in a pan and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar. Leave to cool then add to the vodka.
Shake or stir your infusion, cover, and leave for about 5-7 days shaking each day. Taste test to see how its coming on. I had to remove the cinnamon sticks early on as they were taking over but I left the rest of the spices in. I strained the initial apples out of the mixture and added more apples mid-way through to up the apple flavour.
Strain the vodka through a fine sieve of muslin cloth so its nice and clear. Decant into your (clean and sterilised) bottles.
Label, decorate, et voila!
Try serving it hot with apple juice or cider and a cinnamon stick