Hop Vodka?

Hop Vodka I said!
I heard someone talking about this somewhere, basicbrewingradio? here in this forum?
So I picked up a 375ml bottle of Grey Goose, and tossed some hops in there.
I remember my unknown sorce saying that they added only a few hop flowers. For reasons not worth rehashing here, I cracked open a 3 ounce pack of Centennial (7.5%) pellets and tossed that in. It makes sense as you see vodka with everything else infused. At least I think it sounds tasty.
Has anyone else done this?
I poured 2 shots out of the bottle, and then poured in the hops. Both came right out of the freezer, and then once combined were left on the counter.
I'm planning on letting it sit for a few days at room temp to let the hop pellets break down, and then back into the freezer for a few weeks. Then at that point I'm going to strain the vodka with cheese cloth or something like that to get a less chunky liquid.
Pre-Shake

Post-Shake

(sorry if I posted this in the wrong place, I mean geez, I had to take those two shots....)

I'm thinking this is going to be a little intense. Let us know how it turns out.

rocketman768 said:

I'm thinking this is going to be a little intense. Let us know how it turns out.

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Yeah, I just looked at the bottle and as the hops are unpelleting they are expanding, and have taken up all of the vodka.
So I opened the bottle to see if there was much pressure, and there was some.
I put a drinking glass upside down over the bottle and then put that in the sink, just in case.
But while it was open it smelled very strong.
I will update.

When I hear hop vodka I think Dogfish Head 120.

Undrinkable is what you will have. Does the phrase "everything in moderation" ring a bell? I like this idea, I would try a few leaf hops in some cheap vodka for a few days.

Don't toss it out however, save if for filling your airlocks.

samc said:

Don't toss it out however, save if for filling your airlocks.

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That was my first though... "I'd never drink it, but wouldn't that smell great in an airlock!?"

samc said:

Undrinkable is what you will have. Does the phrase "everything in moderation" ring a bell? I like this idea, I would try a few leaf hops in some cheap vodka for a few days.

Don't toss it out however, save if for filling your airlocks.

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So you've not tried it before?

I have a feeling you'll be filtering this through a coffee filter and diluting it with more vodka. Or, after filtering, you could add it to your beer at bottling for hop aroma.

rocketman768 said:

I have a feeling you'll be filtering this through a coffee filter and diluting it with more vodka. Or, after filtering, you could add it to your beer at bottling for hop aroma.

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After reading the other replies, I figured I had gone too far.
So that actually was what I was thinking.
Filter thru coffee filter, dilute with more vodka, and then add to keg!

If you've ever tasted a hop cone or pellet, you know it's disgusting. I bet this vodka will taste the same. However.... I bet it will go marvelously as a dry hop substitute.

EvilTOJ said:

If you've ever tasted a hop cone or pellet, you know it's disgusting. I bet this vodka will taste the same. However.... I bet it will go marvelously as a dry hop substitute.

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Well, I don't think that hop pellets are disgusting...

More power to you, man, interesting experiment. What I would do: after you're done extracting, filter the vegetative matter out and taste it. If it's too strong, dilute a small portion of it down. If it's yummy, dilute the rest! If you get it down to an appropriate intensity level but it's just not very good, you still have the concentrated solution you could work with as a dry hop addition.

Yikes, you could have wasted cheap vodka, not the Goose.

I think the only thing this will be good for is to infuse your brews with hop flavor (and kick up the alc % at the same time)

Now I'm wondering if you could use it as a mixer, what kind of drinks would you make? A hoptini of course. What would the garnish be? A leaf hop on the brim of the glass? How about hopvodka and coke? Hmmm...maybe not. But seriously, I would love to try to make cocktails with that stuff. I'm thinking that you could substitute it for gin. So hopka and tonic? I like where this is going...

bwomp313 said:

So hopka and tonic? I like where this is going...

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This would definately catch my eye and i would give it a taste

well....dont hop oils break down in alcohol? so.....im guessing this is going to be really bitter, not just aroma/flavor.

well, I would guess that any time it was consumed, your dwelling would smell amazing if nothing else

I have heard sean paxton http://www.homebrewchef.com/index.html talk about making elixirs (I want to say he makes his with wine). I think he did a lecture at the last NHC on it.

This could be really interesting to experiment with, you could make any BMC taste like a hop bomb IPA!

With the high percentage of alcohol, you'll be extracting fats like chlorophyll from the hop pellets as well. If used as a dry-hopping elixer, you'll likely get get a "plant" or "green" taste as well as color added to the beer. Interesting though.

On the other hand, Hopsdirect sells Hop Tea, so this doesn't sound totally out of the realm of acceptability.

But that is going to be one WICKEDLY bitter beverage. I bet you'll be cutting it 3:1 or more just to get it drinkable.

Huh. We have the beginnings of a SHaSV here - Single Hop & Single Vodka!

Make a pale ale and throw some of that vodka in the secondary!

Verry interesting.... I've had experimented with brewing and making cocktails before. When we were making our brown ale, we kept the different grains in muslin bags. I then took the bags after use and, like the weirdo I am squeezed the remaining liquid in them into a bowl. I have to look at the recipe but it was probably crystal malt and chocolate malt. The resulting liquid was dark brown... somewhat grainy but it was okay. I then thought about adding something into it, with my cobrewer/bestfriend/etc's help we took that liquid and put it into a shaker with some ice and Van Gogh's Double Chocolate Vodka. Shook the hell out of that mixture and poured it into a chilled martini glass. The resulting liquid, after being shaken was still daaaark dark brown with almost a cappucino creme on the top of lighter brown. I believe we called it Black Gold... something of the sort. It tasted wonderful! Thought I'd share my adventure with liquor and brewing!!

On the Hop infused liquor. I've had Bison Grass infused vodka. AAAANND Nothing can be worse tasting than that... even someone who hates Licorice taste more than anything would prefer Galliano and Ouzo than that crap... (even though I love Jagermeister--straight, don't judge it is complex and yummy). I believe in a measured dosage and the right amount of time spent in the bottle, hops would be a great infusion into liquor. Like someone said before, in moderation. But try and try again, maybe another liquor-- white rum?? would do well. Who knows! Keep fighting the good fight and let us know what you've come up with!!

Prost!

dleonard said:

Well, I don't think that hop pellets are disgusting...

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I'm a hophead but I will never, ever, ever, eat a whole pellet again in my life.

Hops kind of remind me of vanilla extract. Great smelling, and great tasting in other things. But if you've ever tasted vanilla extract, you know that it tastes like the most terrible thing in the world. I think hops pellets are probably the second most terrible thing.

Good luck, though! I think it would be awesome to "dry hop" with it!

I vote hopka and tonic.

I'm thinking this would be very good with gin. Not quite as much hops. A few cones to extract some flavor and bitterness. A slight floral hoppiness would be great in gin and tonics. Depending on how bitter it gets, you might want to substitute tonic for soda water, since tonic can be kind of bitter too.

Another thought I just had is that you could add a little bit to the bottom of a glass and then fill the rest with whatever beer you want sort of as an "instant dry hopping". It would be a great way to judge if you want to try dry hopping the same recipe in the future or what have you. Or you could always buy cheap crap beer and add a bit of that for a bargain bin IPA.

Beens_Baxter said:

I've had Bison Grass infused vodka. AAAANND Nothing can be worse tasting than that... even someone who hates Licorice taste more than anything would prefer Galliano and Ouzo than that crap...
Prost!

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Blasphemy! Zubrowka is a wonderful vodka.

honestly, for all the skepticism I initially had, I'm definitely going to try this... subscribed

this is technically called "hop tincture"....and it will be very strong. But not all is lost; leave it in there for a month and you should have a great "hops adding" liquid to play with

OP, how long are you going to steep this bad boy?

Man, what if you did a cascade infustion then did Vodka and grapefruit juice with a shot of sparkling water.

YUM!

GNBrews said:

Blasphemy! Zubrowka is a wonderful vodka.

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The flavors just didn't agree with me is all >.<

HalfPint said:

Man, what if you did a cascade infustion then did Vodka and grapefruit juice with a shot of sparkling water.

YUM!

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me likey!!

wow, that is a crazy hoppy mixture. If you can somehow strain the liquid off I would think you will have a very bitter, flavorfull, but also powerfull and undrinkable (on its own) liquid....I bet you could literally add a dash of this stuff to the appropriate mixed drinks.....maybe it would add a nice herbal/floral kick to a specialized bloody mary. Also, just a dash in a martini I think might be amazingly good......

A similarly terrible concoction , Angustora Bitters, is commonly used in alco bevs. I would sure like to try to make something your vodka, but would sure like to hear how yours ended up.

I soaked a handful of cascades in a mason jar of vodka. It definitely has an intense hop flavor, not something I would drink more than a sip of. But turned out to be quite good when added in small amounts to a beer or as a hopka tonic.

Definitely interested in hearing how this turns out.

Yeah, bitters are basically spices for mixed drinks. I would guess this could be used similarly.

khiddy said:

On the other hand, Hopsdirect sells Hop Tea, so this doesn't sound totally out of the realm of acceptability.

But that is going to be one WICKEDLY bitter beverage. I bet you'll be cutting it 3:1 or more just to get it drinkable.

Huh. We have the beginnings of a SHaSV here - Single Hop & Single Vodka!

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I actually got all the flavors of hop tea they sell.
It was ok...
Very earthy and herbel. Not really my favorite. Also not really hoppy like I expected. I would probably not have known it was hops actually.

Alright,
First, the main problem here was that the pellets expanded and consumed all of the liquid except about an inch of vodka in the neck.
I drained that out, and it was mostly clear, I didn't a real need to strain that, but once that was out, basically no more vodka would come out. The hops mush and the vodka were at one. Further, it was so thick that it wouldn't run out of the bottle. I got a skewer and tried to dig it out, but that didn't work either. I think that you could probably pour vodka in there, and then slowly flush it out, but I might bail on this test.
As for the smell... Amazing! I really loved the smell, it wasn't too strong. I know that it wasn't too strong because that inch of green vodka in the neck? Yeah, I shot it! :rockin:
So bottom line, I'm trying it again, but with whole leaf not pellets. Thats what I wanted to do to begin with, but had a couple of beers and figured 'oh well'. I think that the flavor was good too. Several people guessed that that amount of hops would be too bitter, or too overwhelming, but that just wasn't my feeling. (again, I do admit that I've never found a beer that I thought was too hoppy though) As for the flavor, I loved the shot that I had. I really thought that the strong hop flavor and the strong vodka flavor went well together.
As for drinks to make with it... (assuming you got a used whole leaf hops and got a flavored liquid) I don't know, I don't really drink other alcohols other than beer, and almost never a mixed drink, so I don't have a guess there.
Some people also suggested that it would be a great addition to a secondary. (again I'm assuming that you're getting a hop flavored vodka) I also agree with this. I think that it would be great in a secondary, or even in a keg.
I used Centennial hops as they are my favorite type. I think that cascade and Amarillo would also be great choices. I think that the fruity notes in these hops work well in this application as a fruity flavored vodka isn't strange.
So back to my LHBS, and then to the liquor store for some more vodka!