How to Make Homemade Liquors or homemade brandy. This homemade fruit brandy recipe is so easy & makes excellent gifts for the holidays or any occasion.
It’s now September, can you believe that? That means the holidays are literally around the corner. I can’t keep up.
However- I am doing little things like planning ahead on some things. I decided that I would start now & share with you all How to Make Homemade Liquors or sometimes called sipping brandy in a few of our favorite flavors. These make great gifts & I usually also use them in holiday recipes.
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You will love just how simple this is to do. But you have to start now so they are ready in time for the holidays.
It should be ready to strain & bottle just in time for the gift giving season. People are always so impressed when they find out its homemade liquor, which is why it makes a wonderful hostess gift for all those holiday parties or for handing out to the neighbors or co-workers.
How to Make Homemade Liquors
You can see I just used some painters tape on the top & wrote the date & a reminder of when the jar should be upright. This helps to remember if you have turned them each day or not- unless you forget for a couple of days 🙂
Keep in cool, dark place & just turn, turn, turn. You are just a couple months away from your own homemade fruit liquors.
I put these together the night before I took the pictures. As you can see the sugar had almost completely dissolved & the liquid had started turning color already. I’m really going to love watching this process over the next couple of months. I have between now & then to find some really pretty bottles for the finished product & I’m so excited.
Here are some commonly asked questions
Where can I find those bottles?
I completely understand your frustration in trying to find these bottles. I think I had picked these up at a craft store or something many years ago & can’t find the exact ones now.
However, here are some links to some similar ones & some other really cool ones that I have picked up since then when I make this for gifts.
They are all still cute, interesting & unique, making them so great for gifts. 17 Oz Glass Bottle Set with Swing Top Stoppers – Glass Beer Bottles with Swing Top Cap – Swing Top Square Glass Bottles – 16 oz Kombucha/Beer Glass Bottles Clear Leak Proof.
HOW DO YOU MAKE Homemade Liquors?
- Sterilize your jars & allow to cool.
- Fill with your fruit to the neck of the jar.
- Add sugar.
- Pour in your vodka- to the neck of the jar.
- Put on the lid making sure your seal is tight.
- Add a strip of tape & write the date on it.
- Store on the counter – does not have to be a particularly sunny or dark place.
- Flip every day for 3 months – once the fruit shrinks & is floating in the liquid it’s okay to just give it a good shake every day.
- When the 3 months is up- strain out the fruit pieces through a colander.
- To make the brandy more clear- strain again through a coffee filter.
- Transfer to airtight decorative bottles if giving as a gift.
How to Make Homemade Sipping Brandy
What is the best way to store homemade liquors?
Once you have transferred the final liquor into the bottles continue to store in a cool, dark place like a cabinet or pantry. This will help prolong the life of this recipe.
To make this recipe you will need…
- 2 pint jar- per flavor
- fruit of choice or enough to fill the jar
- *note- if making apricot brandy you can add the apricots whole- do not pit or skin
- granulated sugar
- Vodka least expensive- plastic bottle to fill
Products I love when making Homemade Liquors…
This Homemade Liquors recipe is so simple and delicious – and you probably already have many of these items on hand like I do! OR If you’ve never made liquors at home recipe before, you might be a bit nervous – but you’re going to love the how great these are for gift-giving season. I have made a list below of the things I absolutely can’t live without when it comes to making this delicious recipe.
- 17 Oz Glass Bottle Set with Swing Top Stoppers
- Glass Beer Bottles with Swing Top Cap
- Swing Top Square Glass Bottles
- 16 oz Kombucha/Beer Glass Bottles Clear Leak Proof
- granulated sugar
- jars
- measuring cups
- wet ingredient measuring cup
- measuring spoons
If you love this Homemade Liquors recipe, you’re going to love these other quick & easy liquor recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
easy homemade liquor
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How to Make Homemade Liquors
Ingredients
- One - 2 pt jar per flavor
- 2-1/2 cups fruit of choice or enough to fill the jar
- *note- if making apricot brandy you can add the apricots whole- do not pit or skin
- 12 tbsp granulated sugar
- Vodka least expensive- plastic bottle to fill
Instructions
- Sterilize your jars & allow to cool
- Fill with your fruit to the neck of the jar
- Add sugar
- Pour in your vodka- to the neck of the jar
- Put on lid making sure your seal is tight.
- Add a strip of tape & write the date on it
- Store on the counter - does not have to be a particularly sunny or dark place
- Flip every day for 3 months - once the fruit shrinks & is floating in the liquid it's okay to just give it a good shake everyday
- When the 3 months is up- strain out the fruit pieces through a colander
- To make the brandy more clear- strain again though a coffee filter.
- Transfer to air tight decorative bottles if giving as a gift.
Patrick Repp says
Thank you so much Gina for this great fruit brandy recipe! Last weekend, I put together quarts of raspberry, blackberry, plum, green plum, blueberry, peach, white peach, pear, apricot, rhubarb, strawberry-rhubarb, strawberry, cherry and mango. Thinking of trying also some apple and a couple of citrus, like orange and pineapple. My daughter suggested I try cucumber mixed with lemon. What do you think?
Jackie says
I was just wondering if you didn’t store it for the full 3 months, if it would still be ok, maybe just not as flavorful? I want to make some for Christmas gifts and if I started within the next few days if it would still turn out alright as its only a week or so short?
Barbara Ingram says
I used this recipe and used blueberries. It has been about a week but the berries don’t seem to be shrinking is this normal?
Gina Kleinworth says
It’s totally fine. Eventually, they will break down. A lot of that will depend on how fresh they are when starting out. This is why they have to sit for so long, to make sure they have adequate time to soak.
Barbara Ingram says
I have a question I used this recipes with peaches about 2 weeks ago. This morning when I flipped it the top had popped open ( broke the seal) leaked out so I opened it and put it in a new container. Is this going to be ok or is it bad?
Gina Kleinworth says
Hi there. I’m so surprised to hear that happened. Because it is no longer airtight, unfortunately, it probably isn’t good anymore. I’m so sorry to hear that happened, I have never experienced that in all the times I have made these.
Poonam says
I want to make a liqueur with fresh pomegranate juice? Will it work? Can i add some fresh mint sprigs?
Gina Kleinworth says
I haven’t tried it using juice and I’m not sure that would work if it has added sugar. I had someone try this with a flavored vodka (meaning it had added ingredients and sugars) and the jars fermented too much and popped the lid. She ended up having to toss it all out. You might be able to do it with fresh pomegranate seeds. Mint is fine to add, but I will say that when I followed a similar method to make mint extract it didn’t produce a very appealing color at the end. If you try it I’d love to know how it turns out.
Cynthia Malding says
How long will the blackberry Lacore last in the cabinet? I’d love to use up 4 gallons of blackberrys from the freezer. I’m enjoying the small batch I made before!
Gina Kleinworth says
So since it is alcohol, in theory – if they were kept in sterile containers in the proper climate, they would last indefinitely. But with our last batch, the containers that were still unopened were still good after 6-7 years. The ones we had been occasionally using lasted less time before I felt they should probably be tossed based on the fact that they had changed color. I think it really depends on how they are stored and how many contaminants get around the seal each time you open them. I ended up giving away the rest of what I had that was still good, so beyond that 7-year mark, I can’t say.
Aida says
Can I use fruit that has been frozen?
Gina Kleinworth says
You can use frozen fruit, but I recommend thawing & patting dry before adding them to the jar. Frozen fruits contain a higher moisture content that will dilute the mixture and give a different end result.
Aida says
Can I use frozen Blueberries
Gina Kleinworth says
You can use frozen fruit, but I recommend thawing & patting dry before adding them to the jar. Frozen fruits contain a higher moisture content that will dilute the mixture and give a different end result.