Highly Commended – traditional

Quardrum Plum Vodka

Judy Venables

An early fruiting Mirabelle plum tree provides the necessary fruit for my Plum Vodka.

I make three demijohns a year and the picking-up teams love it.

If you bottle it in early November it can be drunk by Christmas, but leaving it for a year alters the colour and produces a plummier taste, although it often doesn’t survive that long.

My recipe is technical and requires great expertise and careful measurement!

■ Mirabelle plums (I fill a demijohn one-third full with fruit from the tree in my garden)

■ Caster sugar (add enough to fill the spaces between the plums and to form a thin layer above them)

■ Vodka (enough to fill the demijohn)

The demijohn is shaken weekly and decanted into bottles after about four months.

The Field’s Hip Flask Championship 2013

Winner – Traditional: Raspberry Gin

Winner – Off-piste: Beetroot and horseradish vodka

Highly Commended – Off-piste: Toffee vodka

Highly Commended – Traditional: Chilli Sloe Gin

Highly Commended – Traditional: Quardrum Plum Vodka

Highly Commended – Traditional: Gooseberry Gin