GLWhiskeyKitchen

Pantry · · By Ashley

Master Vanilla Extracts: Traditional and Signature Editions

Twenty minutes of work and a year of waiting. Open it early and it tastes like raw moonshine. Open it at twelve months and it is smooth, thick and deep.

Jump to recipe
Prep
20 min
Cook
—
Total
12 months
Serves
Four 8 oz bottles
Level
Easy
A bundle of dark Madagascar vanilla beans tied with twine on a pale wooden board

Where the time goes

12 months, mostly waiting

  • Hands-on
  • Hands-off
  1. 01Hands-onClean and dry the bottles5 min
  2. 02Hands-onSplit the beans10 min
  3. 03Hands-onPack and submerge5 min
  4. 04Hands-offAge in a dark pantry · shake weekly for the first month, then monthly12 months

The story

These are the pure, unadulterated baseline recipes. They are designed to showcase the clean, raw flavor of the Madagascar bean fusing with high-quality spirits over a full year, without any extra distractions.

Traditional Bourbon Vanilla

Made with Grand Teton Bourbon. Classic, rich and heavily caramel-forward. The natural oak and vanilla compounds from the bourbon barrel match the deep creaminess of the Madagascar bean.

Best for: bread puddings, classic chocolate chip cookies, fudge and pound cakes.

Traditional High-End Rum Vanilla

Made with a premium aged rum such as Mount Gay, The Real McCoy or Papa's Pilar. Incredibly clean, sweet and velvety. The sugarcane base of the rum coaxes a bright, marshmallow-like sweetness out of the beans with zero harshness.

Best for: homemade whipped cream, vanilla bean ice cream, fruit tarts and crèmes brûlées.

Then there are my signature editions. These add a few subtle touches that match my rugged, autumnal cooking roots, and they make something you can’t buy in a store.

The Woodsman’s Grand Teton Bourbon Vanilla

Deep mahogany in the bottle. The nose leads with charred oak, wood smoke and dark tobacco, rounded out by a heavy, buttery vanilla finish.

Best for: pecan pies, apple crisps, homemade BBQ glazes, a splash in the venison chili, and dark chocolate tortes.

The Buckeye Orchard Premium Rum Vanilla

Bright amber-gold. The sugarcane base of the rum lifts the floral vanilla cream, backed by a warm, spiced orchard finish.

Best for: sugar cookies, glazed pastries, snickerdoodles, pumpkin bread and eggnog.

Ingredients

Serves Four 8 oz bottles

Tap an ingredient to check it off.

Traditional Bourbon

Traditional High-End Rum

The Woodsman’s Grand Teton Bourbon

The Buckeye Orchard Premium Rum

If you haven't got it

  • toasted white oak — 1 toasted pecan half

Method

Tap a step number to mark it done.

  1. Prep the bottles

    Thoroughly clean and dry four 8 oz dark amber or cobalt blue glass bottles. Swing-tops or tight screw caps work best.

    Dark glass blocks out light, which keeps the delicate vanillin from breaking down.

  2. Split the beans

    Slice each bean down the center lengthwise to expose the tiny caviar seeds inside. Leave an inch connected at the top and bottom so the beans don’t fall apart into a messy pulp. Snap them in half if they are too tall for your bottles.

  3. Pack and submerge

    Drop the beans into their bottles, along with the twists for the two signature editions. Use a funnel to pour the spirit over the top.

    The golden rule: every solid ingredient must sit completely below the liquid line. That is what keeps the aging safe and mold-free.

  4. Age them

    Store the bottles in a completely dark, cool cupboard or pantry, away from any stove heat. Shake them hard once a week for the first month to wake up the seeds, then once a month after that.

  5. Wait the full twelve months

    Opened at 2 to 3 months, the extract tastes harsh and sharp, like cheap vodka or raw moonshine, because the alcohol hasn’t bound to the vanillin yet. At 12 months the bite is gone, and it melts into a smooth, thick, deeply complex extract that ages like a cellared wine.

Things worth knowing

  • Label each bottle with its edition and the date you made it. A year is a long time to remember which amber bottle is which.

Credits and sources

Ingredients · 12 months · Serves Four 8 oz bottles

Traditional Bourbon

  • 8 ozGrand Teton Bourbon
  • 7Madagascar vanilla beans

Traditional High-End Rum

  • 8 ozpremium aged rum
  • 7Madagascar vanilla beans

The Woodsman’s Grand Teton Bourbon

  • 8 ozGrand Teton Bourbon
  • 7Madagascar vanilla beans
  • 1 small striptoasted white oak
  • 1-inch stripdried orange peel

The Buckeye Orchard Premium Rum

  • 8 ozpremium aged rum
  • 7Madagascar vanilla beans
  • 1 sliceHoneycrisp apple
  • a micro-pinchfreshly grated nutmeg

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