"Eliksir No. 1" has been prepared

The Banana Basil Aqua Vitae

One small banana, not too ripe, and a fistfull of fresh basil leaves. I
cut the banana lenghtwise added the basil plus a full bottle of
Svendborg Snaps. I'll leave it to mix for 4-5 days. Then I'll filter the
eliksir, re-bottle it and leave it to set another 1-4 weeks, depending
on how long I can resist tasting it.

Rest assured, you'll have my evaluation in due time - very exiting!

The Experimentation Commences

Today, I went to the supermarket and bought two rather neutrally flavoured bottles of Danish Akvavit. The first was a "Brøndum Klar" and the other a "Svendborg Klar". After a nosing and tasting of the two I felt quite pleased, because they both seemed suitable for making a nice dram, despite the fact that they are distinctively different.

The former "Brøndum Klar" is the least discrete of the two. Though it is light, it still tastes and smells of caraway. It will go well for making traditional Danish schnapps with herbs that are relatively more pungent and powerfull in flavour than most other herbs.

The latter "Svendborg Klar" is milder, rounder and sweeter. You can sense the original base ingredient through the drink. I believe it is based on potatoes, corn , wheet or a mix of those. It is quite light, so it will not overpower even fruit and light herbal flavours. I am going to use this for my experiment: Banana Basil Aqua Vitae.

Off to "The Lab"!

Experimenting with "Aqua Vitae"

"Tomorrow", I answered, when I was asked when I was going to start making my own kinds of akvavit as we call it in Denmark. So tomorrow I'll go get me a bottle of Svendborg Klar (a bland akvavit or Schnapps) ans spice it up myself. How does "Banana Basil" sound to you?

I'll let you know how I get on.

Share the eliksir of life!

I feel truly passionate about drinks. All sorts of drinks:

Whisky, Snaps, Calvados, Armagnac, Cognac
Madeira, Sherry, Port, Wine, Liquor
Lager, Ale, Porter, Stout

Here on the ELIKSIR-blog I hope to share my knowledge and passion with you, and hopefully you'll make me wiser too.

Cheers / Skål / Santé / Yammas / Prost / Gambei / Sláinte