Alcohol of the Year 2022

Published on 2023-03-26 21:47:00+02:00

I was thinking about making some profound blog article about how creating any stuff not only hardware, software or art is nice and anyone can find a niche for themselves. Well, there you have it, until I finalize proper analysis of my writing habits and goals I don't think I want to write things like that. Instead, let's talk about alcohol.

Last year I did not do much. No brewing, no nothing really. The only thing I made was cherry nalewka[wiki]. Two kinds of it, both using the same resources. As always I used cherries from my own trees. Last year they were resting and did not produce as much fruits as in e.g., 2020. As for those that were available, seems the overall weather wasn't too nice on them, as quality, at least in my taste, could improve a lot. Still, I'm not an expert, I just know what I like.

I decided to make two kinds: one with maceration done first and the other one with sugar-first. For macerated-first I also used cherries without the seed. This created a lot of work. I forgot to add leaves to the first stage which made the taste a little off. It has a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but I like it. This year I plan to experiment with ratios and not forget about leafs.

As for sugar-first portion, it's OK, the quality is very consistent. However, it's not as aromatic and I always end up wondering whether it is a real nalewka or not, since it may ferment this way and does not go through long maceration.

To store them, I used some left over bottles from craft-ish beer. They have dark glass which is good as it blocks sunlight at least partially. It's good because nalewka may oxidize otherwise. For labeling I used a piece of paper and rubber bands.

I did not calculate or measure alcohol content due to technical limitations. Taste says around 60% maybe.