Well, I've exposed my naked, ill prepared self to the raw power of cold infusion and survived to tell the tale. Despite being int he middle of tearing apart and rebuilding my bathroom, or perhaps because of it, I've decided to begin flavouring my own liqueurs to suit my obscure and fickle tastes. (The bathroom is also what's been taking me away from both photography and posting on the site, btw).
If you're wondering, maceration is apparently the term for the cold infusion process (infusing something, like a tea, is done using a warmed/heated solvent). If nothing else I`ve expanded my vocabulary some.
Inspired largely by Talbot and his relentless quest for the perfect homebrew, and the unusual flavours of beer he has produced (still tastes like beer unfortunately and they don`t suit my palate, although some have been very close to drinkable even by this picky whiskey drinker) and partially from my desire to make something more then your average cocktail, I`ve been madly scouring and consuming all information on the web about how to go about producing these tasty tinctures.
The process itself actually seems reasonably simple. Take an alcohol and some fruit, stick them in a jar and wait anywhere from 10 days to a few months, strain, stick into another jar and let age until you`re ready to consume. Preferably months on that last part, not minutes.
Variations on the number of times each step is performed and what ratios of each ingredient are more abundant then seagulls at McDonald's, leaving lot's of room to play and fiddle.
The process is time intensive perhaps but not exactly rocket science.


My largest problem has been locating decanters that are:

A) large enough, somewhere around 3L or 4L and,
B) water tight when inverted

Why invertable? According to some sites I've seen, fruit can become bruised during mixing and subsequently produce a more bitter flavour. A slow turn/inverting method will gently mix the flavourings, sugar and alcohol without damage. Other sites however, say 'mix vigorously for the first several days'. A bit of a discrepancy to be sure, but experimentation will tell.
Ultimately I was unsuccessful in obtaining such a vessel, dispite trips to hardware, kitchen and U-Brew stores. Apparently with the decline of home canning as a viable alternative to legitimate entertainment, these sorts of things are now special order in most places.
Frustrated, I contented myself with a valid second option. 1L Mason jars (they even say 'Mason' on the side of them!).
While not perfect, they have 3 immediate advantages over they're elusive and larger brethren.
They're easy to find, cheap and allow you to make a veritable pant-load of varieties, very cheaply at the same time, requiring little space and no special equipment.
Cheap is almost an understatement. You can get a dozen of these bastards for $10, including lids.
Even less if you're not terribly particular about having "Mason" or fruit printed on the side.
The particular variety I'm using had the added advantage of being the former home of some rather tasty pasta sauce I once enjoyed.
Slightly more expensive of course, but came with dinner.

On Wednesday, I'll run through the process I've gone through and the recipies I've used on my initial 3 attempted flavours. If anyone has suggestions or comments from their own trials, I'm all ears.