I had used the last of the vanilla so I ventured out to the store to get some more. I don’t mean to shout but, WHY IS VANILLA SO DARN EXPENSIVE? Anywho, the point is moot because I decided to make it myself (after I purchased vanilla, I mean this stuck takes some time to come together. I used 80 proof alcohol, I had some amber glass beer bottles from a previous project and some grade B vanilla beans from Madagascar that I had ordered from Amazon.
I slit the vanilla beans down the middle and slid the knife down the length of the pod, to get all of the wonderful vanilla innards. I scooped out the vanilla in the bottle and cut the bean into thirds and put those in the bottle as well. I filled the bottle up to the top with the alcohol which resulted in 2 2 2/3 bottles of vodka vanilla and 1 bottle of bourbon. I will put the bottles in a cool dark place for a couple of months which will result in some awesome vanilla as a finished product. Is cost effective? For me, heck yeah. I drink soooooooo, the alcohol was already on hand so my only task was buying the beans which was around $15. Please note, 2 ounces of vanilla in the supermarket is about $9 so I am ahead of the curve.