Rock and Rye vs. Swine Flu (Round 1)

A panacea dating back to the late 19th century, Rock & Rye is a liqueur made from rye whiskey flavored with fruit or juice including citrus, sweetened with rock candy and often bottled with sliced fruit.  Oddly, I couldn’t find a recipe online, but with all this talk of N1H1, I thought it might be time for some old school snake oil to soothe the throat and weary soul.  Here’s the recipe for my first batch and a picture of it macerating.

Rock &Rye

1 lemon
1 pint rye whiskey
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup rock candy

Thinly slice one half of the lemon and zest and then juice the other half.  Add slices, juice, zest, rye and raw sugar to a glass jar.  Swirl daily for 1-2 weeks, until the sugar has dissolved.  Add rock candy to jar.

Note: Commercial rock candy has odd flavors, so I use a more traditional rock sugar.  It’s the kind used to make umeshu and can be easily found at Asian grocery stores.