Homemade Fisherman's Friend Vodka

Weekend is around the corner, which is really great! I don't have many plans for the weekend, maybe a trip to the countryside, but the main thing is to release stress and relax with good food and drink. Maybe already on Thursday evening it's okay to write a post about an alcoholic drink. But remember to enjoy responsibly, if you decide to make this drink!

I have previously posted my Homemade Liquorice Vodka recipe and now I'm here to tell you that the Fisherman's Friend lozenges make a lovely vodka flavouring as well, especially the Salmiak (salty liquorice) flavoured ones. The vodka gets a really punchy flavour through this addition. These are the ingredients I used, but the amounts don't have to be that exact, it can be made stronger or sweeter. 

1 bag / 25 g Salmiak Fisherman's Friend

700 ml vodka

2-3 tbsp sugar

Pour a splash of vodka into a saucepan followed by the Fishermans. Heat them up and keep stirring until the lozenges have dissolved. Also add the sugar.

Let the mix cool down a bit and then mix the rest of the vodka into it.

Let it set in the fridge for a few hours and then serve cold.

Are you strong enough to try this?

Happy weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Homemade liquorice vodka

Salmiakki, salty liquorice, is a very popular flavour among the Finns and Scandinavians, so it's no surprise that even alcoholic drinks with this flavour have been created. Salmiakkikoskenkorva is a drink containing salty liquorice and Koskenkorva, a clear spirit. Now that I live in England I can't just simply go and buy Salmiakkikoskenkorva in the shops, so I've started making my own ”Salmari” of Tyrkisk Peber sweets (or extract) and vodka. I have to say that nowadays I prefer my own version to the original and hardly ever buy the ready made drink in Finland anymore.

Tyrkisk Peber sweets can be purchased in some speciality Finnish or Scandinavian shops in the United Kingdom and all over the world, and also ordered online from several suppliers. Apart from the actual sweets you can also use the Tyrkisk Peber extract or a regular liquorice extract to make this drink.

These are all the ingredients you'll need:

70 cl Vodka (whichever is your favourite)

150 g Tyrkisk Peber Original sweets

2 tbsp Water

½ dl Sugar

Heat the water in a pan and add the Tyrkisk Peber sweets in there. Stir constantly as the sweets get very sticky while they melt. When the sweets are fairly soft, add the sugar to it, let it dissolve and stir into an even syrup.

Mix this syrup with the vodka and pour it back to the bottle. Now you might need two bottles as you have slightly more liquid than what you started with.

Shake the mixture well in the bottles and let cool in the fridge by occasionally shaking in case not all of the Tyrkisk Peber has dissolved into the vodka.

The taste of this drink gets a little better when it rests a week or so, but if you simply can't wait, it's drinkable straight away once chilled. Serve it cold as a shot or sip it from a grog glass.

Let me know how you like the drink in case you try to make it, but remember that Salmiakki isn't for the faint-hearted! It tastes surprisingly smooth for a vodka drink, but it has a punchy salty liquorice flavour to it. That is just the thing I like and also the fact that I can normally shock my British friends with this one.

And if you got interested in the subject, here are other liquorice posts of mine:

Tyrkisk Peber Sunday sundae

Tyrkisk Peber muffins

Vegan liquorice panna cotta

Your VegHog