How to bottle homemade butterscotch schnapps as a gift
How to bottle homemade butterscotch schnapps as a gift
One bottle of essence makes about 1.125 litres of finished schnapps, and that's the bit nobody plans for. You've made a litre and a bit of something sweet and dessert-like that you're never going to drink on your own, and it's sitting in a plastic demijohn looking like homework.
Split into small bottles it turns into four or five presents instead, and a homemade liqueur is a genuinely good thing to give somebody. This is how to do that part properly, because the bottling is where a good batch gets let down.
Why butterscotch suits being given away
Still Spirits Butterscotch Schnapps 50ML lands on a flavour almost everybody recognises, which matters a lot when you don't know what the person drinks. It's brown sugar and butter, near enough. It goes in coffee and over ice cream and into hot chocolate, so even somebody who isn't much of a spirits drinker will find a use for it.
A dry gin liqueur or a herbal one is a gamble on somebody's taste. This one really isn't.
Get the batch right before you think about bottles
Mix it with a base rather than a guessed sugar syrup, so every bottle out of the batch tastes the same. Still Spirits Schnapps Base 300g is made for this, and Liqueur Base A does a similar job if that's what you've got.
Then leave it alone for a couple of days somewhere dark before you bottle anything. A liqueur bottled the same hour it was mixed tastes rougher than the same liquid does two days later, and you don't want somebody opening yours on the worst day of its life.
Bottling, the bit that gets rushed
Use glass, and clean it properly
Small clear glass bottles show the colour off, which is most of the appeal with a butterscotch. Wash them in hot soapy water and rinse them out with a no-rinse sanitiser or a splash of the spirit itself, then let them drain upside down until they're dry.
Fill to the shoulder, not to the brim
Leave a bit of headspace under the cap. It looks deliberate, and it gives the liquid somewhere to go if the bottle warms up in a car. It also makes the thing easier to pour without dribbling down the side.
Seal it so it survives a handbag
A screw cap is the safe option. If you're using a cork, push it in properly and lie the bottle on its side for a minute to check it holds before you wrap it. A leaking liqueur in somebody's bag is a memorable gift for the wrong reason.
Label it with the things a person actually needs
Name it and say what's in it, with the rough strength on there as well. Add the date you made it, because you'll want to know that yourself later. A strip of brown paper and a good pen beats a printed sticker that peels at one corner.
What to say when you hand it over
Tell them what to do with it, because most people receiving a homemade liqueur have no idea. A line on the label or a tag saying "good in coffee, better over ice cream" is the difference between it being drunk and it living in a cupboard for two years.
And keep one bottle back for yourself out of every batch. You made it, and there's no sense giving the lot away and then wondering how it turned out.
The licence bit, said plainly
Owning a still is legal in Australia and so is buying one from us, and that's where a lot of posts stop. Distilling spirits at home needs an excise manufacturer licence from the ATO, and sorting that out is on you before you run anything through it. Flavouring a bought base spirit with an essence is a different job again and it doesn't need a licence at all.
Shop related products
- Still Spirits Butterscotch Schnapps 50ML. The essence the batch is built on.
- Still Spirits Schnapps Base 300g. Keeps every bottle out of the batch tasting the same.
- Still Spirits Liqueur Base A. The other way to build the sweetness and the body.
- Still Spirits Cream Liqueur Base 400g. If you'd rather give away a butterscotch cream than a clear schnapps.
Did you know we keep bottles, caps, sanitiser, and a good part of the spirits range in the shop without any of it appearing online. Ring us on (08) 8536 4333 and we'll check the shelf before you come in.
Brewhilder is our homebrew adviser if you want help planning a batch, or come in and we'll work out how many bottles you'll get from it.
There's more in the Still Spirits range and across the wider homebrew section.
Read next
- Still Spirits Butterscotch Schnapps, a sweet finish to any spirit
- Why the liqueur base matters more than the essence
- How spirit essences work, and how to pick the right one
I'm useless at labels, so mine tend to go out with masking tape and a marker and a fair bit of optimism.
Cheers,
Candeece
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