Berry Panty Dropper

About this recipe

Every drinks cabinet has one bottle that people come back to, quietly, after they have tried the others. Make this, and it will be the Berry Panty Dropper. It is the simplest recipe on the site - no fermenting, no maceration, nothing to wait for but the fridge - and very possibly the most popular.

What's in the glass

Cranberry juice gives it its colour and its backbone: tart, slightly tannic and refreshing. Raspberry cordial rounds that out with ripe, jammy sweetness, and a single tot of rosehip syrup adds something people can never quite name - a floral, faintly apple-like depth that makes it taste more expensive than it is. The white wine lends acidity and a little vinous length, so the finish is clean rather than cloying.

Holding it all together is a clean neutral spirit at 80%. Because it is so strong, a single bottle of it lifts more than two litres of fruit and wine to liqueur strength without diluting the flavour - and because it is neutral, it tastes of nothing but the berries.

How strong is it, really?

The 750 mL of spirit carries 600 mL of pure alcohol; the half bottle of wine adds about 45 mL more. Together, that is roughly 645 mL of alcohol in 2.275 L of liquid. Ethanol and water shrink a little when they are mixed - by about 1.5% here - so the batch settles at almost exactly 2.25 L, three 750 mL bottles, at about 28.8% ABV (58 US proof).

That places it with the stronger cream and fruit liqueurs, at around three times the strength of wine. A 50 mL pour holds about 14 mL of alcohol - as much as a 120 mL glass of wine - but it goes down like juice. The calculator below works it out for your own spirit and batch size.

About that name

The name is a joke; the strength is not. The fruit hides the alcohol so well that it is easy to pour, and drink, far more than you meant to. Serve it in small glasses, make sure everyone knows what is in them, and keep a jug of water on the table.

Ingredients and calculator

Method

1. Chill the ingredients. If you can, put everything in the fridge a few hours ahead. It mixes just as well at room temperature, but cold ingredients mean it is ready to serve straight away.
2. Start with the spirit. Pour the neutral spirit into a large jug or a jar of about 3 L.
3. Add the wine and juice. Add the white wine and the cranberry juice and stir.
4. Sweeten. Stir in the raspberry cordial and the rosehip syrup until evenly mixed.
5. Taste. It should be sweet-tart, with the alcohol felt as warmth rather than heat. For a sweeter liqueur, add a little more cordial; for a tarter one, a splash more cranberry. Either changes the strength slightly - the calculator shows by how much.
6. Bottle. Funnel it into clean 750 mL bottles - the calculator shows how many - then seal and refrigerate.

The spirit

Everything depends on a clean spirit, since there is nothing here to hide a harsh one. A sugar wash such as Birdwatchers or TFFV, run through a reflux still with careful cuts, is ideal. Dilute it to 80% before measuring, or set your own strength in the calculator: a stronger spirit makes a stronger liqueur unless you use a little less of it.

Distilling is legal only where it is licensed: check your local rules before making your own spirit.

Serving

• Neat and ice-cold, from the fridge or freezer, in a small liqueur glass.
• Long: 50 mL over ice, topped with soda water or tonic and a few frozen raspberries - a much gentler drink of around 8–10%.
• Sparkling: a splash in the bottom of a flute, topped with dry sparkling wine.

Shake the bottle before pouring: fresh juice settles a little as it stands. Kept in the fridge it lasts well, though the fruit is at its brightest in the first month or two.

Troubleshooting

It tastes hot or spirity.

Chill it thoroughly - cold softens alcohol a great deal. A day's rest in the fridge also helps the flavours knit.

It's too sweet or too tart.

Adjust with cordial or cranberry juice. Fruit juices and cordials vary from brand to brand, so trust your palate over the recipe.

There's sediment in the bottle.

That's the fruit settling, and quite natural. Shake before pouring, or decant the clear liqueur off the sediment.

Variations

• Rosé in place of the white wine gives a softer, pinker drink.
• Blackcurrant cordial in place of raspberry makes a deeper, more cassis-like liqueur.
• Lighter: replace some of the spirit with more cranberry juice. Every 100 mL of spirit swapped for juice takes it down by about 3.5% ABV.

Rate this recipe

From the forum