summer pix # 2 - home-made hierbas (july 2nd)

So, five years after this conversation started, I finally got around to making hierbas at home :D

The first hurdle we had to overcome is that it appears that no one is importing any Spanish anisette to Russia. We found one French brand but not in the quantities we required (about 30 liters). We bought a bottle of sambuca to test but decided the flavor was all wrong (makers of sambuca and pastis tend to add licorice on top of anise).

So, we made our own anisette!
Pretty easy, actually - 8 liters of 95% alcohol, 22 liters of water, 9 kg of sugar and 3 bottles of anise extract.

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You have to combine the sugar and part of the water into a syrup before adding it.
hierbas2.jpg


In the bottle on the left is 15 liters of anisette. It turned out surprisingly well! :cool:
The one on the right, still in progress.

hierbas3.jpg


I found a couple of recipes on the Internet and gathered most of the necessary herbs, although for about half of them we had to settle for dried versions. We also added a couple of typical Russian herbs, just to give it a local twist. :)

hierbas4.jpg


And here we go! 30 liters of Hierbas de Moscu :lol:

hierbas5.jpg


Now the waiting begins! It's supposed to sit for at least 6 months but we need it for an event mid-July so it'll have to come sooner.
We've got 100-odd 250 ml bottles to put it in.

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With thanks to @McRackin for some advice (I hope we haven't done this totally wrong!)
 
I can see a few pics now! :)

morbs - I always leave my own home made hierbas sit in for 9 months at least. I'm really not sure how well it'll taste if you filter it mid july already, that'll be less than 3 months :( I'd definitely filter just a small quantity and leave the rest and give it the time it needs.
 
stivi said:
I can see a few pics now! :)

morbs - I always leave my own home made hierbas sit in for 9 months at least. I'm really not sure how well it'll taste if you filter it mid july already, that'll be less than 3 months :( I'd definitely filter just a small quantity and leave the rest and give it the time it needs.
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It's the party gift for guests at our wedding, so I can't really change the date! 9 weeks will have to do.
At the very least, they'll get a nice anisette liqueur with subtle notes of herbs :lol:
We will have 4-5 liters left over for ourselves which we'll leave to age longer.
 
craig72 said:
I can see the headlines now ,"Russian quests poisoned by homemade liquor at wedding in the US"..I thought this only happens in Russia :)
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It would be more like "American guests poisoned at wedding in Russia" since the event is here in Moscow :lol:

Edit: assuming my US invitees (incl parents & brother) get their visas :lol:
 
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So... I harvested the hierbas this weekend and it turned out absolutely amazing!
I can't brag to my friends about it since they're all getting a bottle as a gift in a few days, so I figured I'd come back here and do it :lol:

Here's the filtration process. Cloth and fine plastic mesh filters to get all the little organic bits out
hierbas7.jpg


Then I had to fill 105 250-ml bottles, which is a bit tedious
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The missus and I both did a blind taste test with our hierbas and my favorite Ibiceno brand. We both thought ours wins :cool:
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And here it is all ready to give out to guests at our wedding
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Best part is we've got five liters extra for ourselves. I'm enjoying some on the rocks right now. :D

I'm really surprised at how much flavor it has after ageing for only a little over 2 months. Maybe because we packed a lot of herbs in the bottles?
 
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Morbyd said:
...
hierbas9.jpg


And here it is all ready to give out to guests at our wedding
hierbas10.jpg

...
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fantastic :cool: :)

did you design the stickers on the bottles, too ?

and what about some of the herbs ... could you buy them in some store or did you collect them in russian woods ?
 
icebaer69 said:
fantastic :cool: :)

did you design the stickers on the bottles, too ?

and what about some of the herbs ... could you buy them in some store or did you collect them in russian woods ?
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Thanks :)

Yes, I designed the stickers, the bags and the little cards (which mainly explain what the stuff is and why we're giving it to them :lol:).

The herbs were store-bought. Unfortunately, for a few of them (juniper, chamomile, lavender, rue, helichrysum) we had to settle for dried. The rest were all fresh.

Edit: the cool thing is that, even with the ingredients, printing and bottles, it worked out to about $10 per guest so not bad for a party favor with personal significance :cool:
 
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