Liqueur update: Advocaat and Fresh Mint-Infused Creme de Menthe

Some of my homemade liqueurs are starting to mature now. I made some Advocaat a while ago, and it's finally reached drinking time. I poured the half gallon (that's a full dozen eggs' worth) into two bottles, one for me, one for Julian. There happened to be just about one liqueur's glass of leftovers, so I had a taste.

All I can say is that it's Super Eggnog. Sweeter, thicker, more alcoholic (depending on how you mix your nog). Deadly addictive. I mourn the fact that currently my Advocaat is in my fridge in the Bay Area, and I am on a business trip in Dallas.
There will be another batch of this, although it's more of a fall/winter drink than a summer one. And I will use brandy instead of vodka as the spirit.

Also, time came to strain and filter the fresh mint infusion version of my homemade Creme de Menthe trials.

I was a bit disturbed by the color. It had taken on a deep greenish gold color that did not lessen with filtering. The extract itself smelled mostly of alcohol, with some mint and some....vegetable smell. The vegetable smell and color makes me worry a bit. But since the commercial mint extract version I made was clear, I think that making this version green Creme de Menthe was the correct thing to do. I added green food coloring to a simple syrup batch, and added this to the infusion. Now this needs to mellow for a while. Then I'll taste test vs. the extract one. I also made a small bit of half-and-half (given that both batches didn't quite fit into their bottles).

Speaking of bottles, if you need some neat ones on the cheap, check out American Science and Surplus. They have decorative bottles, lab glass, and corks for topless bottles you might already have. I bought a variety of sizes and types. All I can say is make sure you match the collective volume of your bottles to the volume of your liqueurs--I think I way under-ordered.