Guss West Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 I've got some vanilla beans to infuse bourbon. Im going to use two whole beans split lengthwise into a handle of Barton. How long should it sit? Can the beans be reused? Any other specific bourbons that go exceptionally well with vanilla bean infusion? Going to vanilla infuse some rum too. Any other recommendations on best practices? Prost! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 After you split the beans use the tip of the knife to scrape out the seeds and add them to the bourbon. Then drop the pods into the bottle. I would let it sit for 4 - 6 weeks. You can use it after that. It will continue to get stronger the longer the beans are in there. There won't be a lot of flavor left in the beans but I just leave the old ones in the bottle when I add new ones. It's not going to hurt to do that. If you're going to use a handle I'd probably go with 3 to 4 beans. I made some for my kids for Christmas and I used 1 1/2 beans each for 16 oz. of bourbon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_Loblaw Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 I have limited experience, doing this twice. @0895is where I got the inspiration from and I believe does this regularly. I used two beans in a handle of Barton 100 for 8 weeks. However, I was using this specifically for eggnog so I did not care if the bourbon got too much vanilla flavor. I am doing another batch with Buffalo Trace this spring and plan on using two beans prepared as @CardsandBourbondescribed, rest for 4 weeks and then start tasting every week or so until it hits my palate. I won't re-use the Beans, but that is because I do not make the infusion often. As to recommendations. Buffalo Trace. The sample I tried was fantastic. Which is why it is next up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0895 Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 5 hours ago, Guss West said: I've got some vanilla beans to infuse bourbon. Im going to use two whole beans split lengthwise into a handle of Barton. How long should it sit? Can the beans be reused? Any other specific bourbons that go exceptionally well with vanilla bean infusion? Going to vanilla infuse some rum too. Any other recommendations on best practices? Prost! My typical approach is 1 bean for every 750ml of whiskey (so usually two for a 1.75ml). This results in a nice vanilla addition, without severely altering the original product. I prefer the beans from Whole Foods. The ones I ordered on amazon were not as fresh?/good? -Pull a small control sample from the bottle for reference. -Split the vanilla beans down the middle with a sharp knife and throw them in the bottle. -Date the bottle so you know when you started it. -Every so often (every few days) when you walk by shake the bottle up. I start tasting it around the 6 week make and usually end up pulling the beans out between 7-9 weeks, depending on how it tastes and when I'm happy with it. If you leave the beans, and take awhile to drink the whiskey, it starts to get overpowering and then not very good IMO. I drink it neat and also use it to make vanilla manhattans. Favorites so far: VOB 100p Buffalo Trace Old Forester 100p 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guss West Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 Thought the OF rye would work well too. I can't wait to try a vanilla rum painkiller in a couple of months! I'll check whole foods. Already received a dozen beans from Amazon. Will inspect them carefully before use. They smell incredible! Not many of them left, but this is my plan to soothe the clunkers as we start to go deep into the bunker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 I'm actually using mine as my vanilla flavoring, not as a vanilla infused bourbon. That's why I leave the old beans in the bottle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0895 Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 7 hours ago, Guss West said: Thought the OF rye would work well too. I can't wait to try a vanilla rum painkiller in a couple of months! I'll check whole foods. Already received a dozen beans from Amazon. Will inspect them carefully before use. They smell incredible! Not many of them left, but this is my plan to soothe the clunkers as we start to go deep into the bunker. Could just be that I got one mediocre bean one time, and my OCD has sworn me off forever. I thought about doing OF rye, but after drinking half a bottle, I've decided that I just don't really like OF rye. *gasp!* yeah, I know..... not the popular opinion, but that malt flavor just wore me down halfway through the bottle. I gave the rest away to a friend. I grew to loathe it. So I did a clunker handle of Ezra B 90 proof and I kinda regret wasting the vanilla on it. It was better than the Ezra by itself, but the Buffalo Trace was just 100x better and more worth the effort. Don't waste your time trying to make clunkers good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThirstyinOhio Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 I've got a bottle of HH 6yr BIB that has had beans in it for almost two years now. We use it from time to time for various dessert recipes when it calls for bourbon.....and sometimes even when recipes don't call for bourbon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 On 4/16/2020 at 7:29 PM, 0895 said: Could just be that I got one mediocre bean one time, and my OCD has sworn me off forever. I thought about doing OF rye, but after drinking half a bottle, I've decided that I just don't really like OF rye. *gasp!* yeah, I know..... not the popular opinion, but that malt flavor just wore me down halfway through the bottle. I gave the rest away to a friend. I grew to loathe it. So I did a clunker handle of Ezra B 90 proof and I kinda regret wasting the vanilla on it. It was better than the Ezra by itself, but the Buffalo Trace was just 100x better and more worth the effort. Don't waste your time trying to make clunkers good. You got some of that bad brown bean? You shoulda been listing to the PA. But it’s your booze... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_Loblaw Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 Circling back to this. I was at my height of barrel aging cocktail experimenting around the time the Parker's Heritage Orange Curacao landed. My initial impressions were less than favorable, it was just too sweet, and more of a dessert liquor than a whiskey. I immediately thought it could be a fantastic base for a cocktail and taken even further a great barrel aged one. Reality set in when I sat down to map it out and realized I was not that keen to drop $300 (at MSRP, so likely more) for the base bourbon. The topic came back up a few days ago while drinking all the Staggs with my friend. He also has a bottle that is 90% full and I have a third friend who has 1.5 bottles himself. Quick revisit and we all agreed we did not particularly care for the whiskey on its own and the plan quickly came together. Each of us will contribute one bottle of the Parkers to our project. (the guy with extra will top off the 90% bottle). I will infuse the three bottles with vanilla beans for 8 weeks give or take and then put everything into a 3L barrel with a bottle of vermouth and bitters for 2 approximately two weeks to barrel age. Everyone who contributed will get a full bottle of Barrel Aged Vanilla Orange Manhattans back. I am pretty excited and confident that the end result will be much better than the original whiskey. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richdel Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 On 5/5/2020 at 4:23 PM, Bob_Loblaw said: Circling back to this. I was at my height of barrel aging cocktail experimenting around the time the Parker's Heritage Orange Curacao landed. My initial impressions were less than favorable, it was just too sweet, and more of a dessert liquor than a whiskey. I immediately thought it could be a fantastic base for a cocktail and taken even further a great barrel aged one. Reality set in when I sat down to map it out and realized I was not that keen to drop $300 (at MSRP, so likely more) for the base bourbon. The topic came back up a few days ago while drinking all the Staggs with my friend. He also has a bottle that is 90% full and I have a third friend who has 1.5 bottles himself. Quick revisit and we all agreed we did not particularly care for the whiskey on its own and the plan quickly came together. Each of us will contribute one bottle of the Parkers to our project. (the guy with extra will top off the 90% bottle). I will infuse the three bottles with vanilla beans for 8 weeks give or take and then put everything into a 3L barrel with a bottle of vermouth and bitters for 2 approximately two weeks to barrel age. Everyone who contributed will get a full bottle of Barrel Aged Vanilla Orange Manhattans back. I am pretty excited and confident that the end result will be much better than the original whiskey. I love drinking manhattans in the fall at tailgates. Any update on this project? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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