Krupnik (Polish Honey Vodka)

I’ve written before about how awesome our landlords are, and not much has changed. Last month, when we went to pay our December rent, they invited us in for cookies and their holiday tradition of spiced vodka, served in thimble-sized cups because it was 192-proof. I tried my best not to sputter and cough while our landlords sipped with all the casualness of afternoon tea, but I was still schmammered after two servings.

The next day the bf couldn’t stop raving about this awesome new drink. Our landlords weren’t sharing their family recipe and a quick turn through the Googles looking for “Polish honey spiced vodka” brought up recipes for something called krupnik. I made a batch, stuck it in the fridge to infuse, and pretty much forgot about it until we went to pay our rent for January.

While dropping off our check, I made an off-hand comment about how I’d attempted my own version of her special holiday drink. Our landlady let me know in very clear terms that krupnik is the drink of wusses and her stuff is much better thank you and just to spite you here’s a bottle. Well shit. I still don’t know exactly what they made us drink, but krupnik? That stuff is just as dangerous – maybe even moreso, since you can’t taste the burn.

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Recipe: Krupnik (Polish Honey Vodka) (adapted from here, here and here)
Makes 1 quart

Ingredients
1.5 cups honey
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
1 lemon, rind (use a vegetable peeler) and juice of
1 orange, rind and juice of
1 quart (750ml) Polish vodka, the higher the proof the better

1. Combine all ingredients except vodka in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and lower to the barest of simmers for ~20 minutes. Turn off heat and allow mixture to cool to room temp.

2. While mixture is cooling, pour out two cups of vodka. Save for later or make a nice martini for now.

3. When mixture is cool, strain through a cheesecloth or fine strainer to get the bits out. Add the now-strained mix to the vodka, cover and shake, then refrigerate for at least one week. After a week you can run it through a cheesecloth or strainer one more time to get rid of the sediment, but it’s not necessary. Serve cold, room temp, or hot (with tea, or not). Sip slowly, no matter how easy it goes down.