Infuse your booze: Making your own flavored vodka and rum

My inspiration for this project came to me while perusing the aisles at a liquor store, debating on what to bring to a friend's upcoming party. There are countless flavored liquors available now days, from passionfruit to pomegranate and even sweet tea flavored, but many of them are marked up in price simply due to their fancy additions. Why not just infuse some yourself with fresh ingredients? All you need is a bottle or two of your chosen libations, whatever flavoring ingredients your heart desires, and some clear glass bottles in which to serve them.

When purchasing your base liquors, do yourself (or recipient) a favor and stay away from the cheap stuff and don't purchase potato or rye-based vodkas. This is meant to be enjoyed straight or on the rocks and no amount of flavoring can mask the taste of cheap booze. You don't need to splurge on the top-shelf stuff either because the mid-range brands are perfectly sufficient (I used Smirnoff and Captain Morgan).