A festive bottle is a present that’s never not welcome and, if you have had a hand in its making, the chances are that you’re going to make someone very happy. Sloe gin may be the classic homemade infusion, but there are many other big-flavoured transformations to try. Here are a few of my favourites, all of which ensure that, while it’s the thought that counts, it is the contents that count most.
Make the recipes exactly as they are first, to make friends of them, then treat each as a core around which to embellish: the warmth of the krupnik can come from star anise instead of cinnamon, say, or try the ’cello with pink grapefruit rather than lemon and lime; the aquavit, meanwhile, is differently delicious when made with black pepper rather than grains of paradise … and so on.
