A week ago on that day-of-days known as MLK, I decided to make a drinkable hot toddy to combat the bout of cold that had overcome me. A bit of lemon, a bit of ginger, my go to Bourbon, and a jar were all that was necessary, oh and time, lots of time, like a week’s worth, before I could sample my infusion.

Well, that week’s worth of time has arrived and today I gave it a taste: not too bad, ginger presence is minimal, but the lemon presence is noticeable, especially on the finish. This is important since this infusion is meant to be a Potent, with a capital “P,” addition to a honey-tea to make that fabled panacea known as a “Hot Toddy.” This “lemony” characteristic had reached desired potency so it was necessary to remove the lemon pieces from the infusion.

Using a mesh sieve, I strained the liquid into another jar and removed the lemon pieces. After which, I  returned the ginger pieces to the jar to continue the infusing process for 3 more weeks. It will be necessary to make weekly tastings to track the ginger’s progress into the Bourbon and I will update this post accordingly!

Cheers!

Brett

UPDATE: 3 February 2014

Today I tasted my infusion to check the progress of the ginger and the result was lackluster. I can’t really make out much ginger presence within that tight bourbon “jacket.” As a proxy, I also infused a vodka-lemon-ginger version of this and when I tasted this, I did notice a small bit of ginger presenting itself in the neutral spirit. Granted, after 1 week, the strength of the lemon flavoring is quite high, almost like a limoncello but without the high sugar content. This small ginger presentation gives me hope that in another week or two I will have the desired flavor profile I had envisioned at the start of this endeavor.

UPDATE: 17 February 2014

Today I filtered and strained both the whiskey infusion and its clear analog, the vodka-lemon-ginger infusion. Unfortunately, the taste profile of the whiskey infusion is not as balanced as I would’ve hoped: Lemon immediately presents, with bright flavors, with bourbon rounding out the mid-palate with a slightly astringent ginger finish. Ginger intensity is not as I hoped and may improve with aging. A simple syrup and glycerin addition could mask the astringency and round out the flavor profile as could the additional infusion of nutmeg, clove, and other spices. The vodka infusion actually tastes decent, without too strong an astringent presence from the ginger but a delightfully bright, almost limoncello-esque lemon flavor. The addition of simple syrup and glycerin would round out the flavor profile.

All in all this wasn’t a bad first attempt at a drinkable hot toddy and this recipe will improve with time.

UPDATE: 17 May 2014

The bourbon infusion has remained sitting in my closet for months, gathering dust, and I’ve had great difficulty figuring out what to do with it. With my recent acquisition of chocolate shells  I decided to try another infusion, hoping that the shells would round out the ginger-lemon presentation on the finish. I added 1/4 cup of the shells and let them infuse for 12 hours. After straining/filtering I gave it a taste and was pleasantly surprised by a more rounded body, however the finish is still lacking. On my next attempt at this liqueur I’ll let the chocolate shells infuse until the finish has chocolate on the front end with a light, lemon-ginger presentation on the back end.