An elderly gardening friend of mine gave me gobs of huckleberries last fall. A friend suggested making brandy with them, but he does not remember how his dad did it, except that there was vodka in it. Can anyone help? I think it would make great Christmas gifts & want to pacakge it in bottles that are unique in shape/color. Thanks, Jane

-- Jane Gauch (Sewbears4u@il.freei.net), May 15, 2000

Answers

Real brandy would be distilled from a fermented product- in other words, you could make wine from your berries, and distill that, and that would get you a stronger alcoholic beverage (not a real brandy) and also get you in jail if you were caught distilling an alcoholic beverage. If the product you want to make contains vodka, then it is some sort of flavored vodka, which can be fun to make and drink, but not a real brandy.

-- Jim (jiminwis@yahoo.com), May 16, 2000.

Years ago I made something similar with cranberries and white wine. Sugar, too, I think. I might have gotten the recipe from Martha Stewart, so you could ask on her web site. I'm sorry I can't remember the details, but it was a fairly easy process.

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), May 16, 2000.

I can give you directions to make wine from nearly anything, although old appliances and used softballs are particularly challenging. After you have the wine, you may be satisfied to stop there. If not, you can increase the proof with vodka or 180 proof alcohol. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), May 20, 2000.

The book "Possum Living" by Dolly Freed has instructions in it for making a still from a pressure cooker - don't know if you could make mash out of huckleberries (or softballs, either, Brad!) or if you would end up with the type of product you are seeking. I'm not much of one for hard liquor, so didn't try the instructions, but my Dad seemed to think the design would work. He used to sit lookout for the "Revenuers" for his Grandpop's still down in So. Illinois, where we all came from. (Yep, good old Southern Illinois white trash to the bone!) The book is an entertaining read, in any case.

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), May 20, 2000.

Like the first dude said first make a wine out of da berries. You can then distill it. K, i'm 14 and i know how to make my own grog. To make a distiller u need to get a normal pot drill a large hole in it and run a copper tube in. Get a plastic bottle and cut a hole in it near the base. Run the pipe through here and in to a jar. You may want to seal the pipe and pot lid with some simicone. In the bottle put your wine, put the lid on(with the pipe) put ice in the plastic bottle. It's not hard takes 10 min's to make and an hour to distill.

-- Kiss-My-Ass (kissmyass@hotmail.com), September 15, 2001.