Mrs Butler was experimenting with flavoring some vodka at home. She recently read a recipe for using fruit to flavor the vodka.
She took 1# of cranberries, mixed with sugar, and boiled. The contents were then added to a 1.75L of vodka. The vodka tastes great, but we were wondering if it needed to be refrigerated? (It takes up a bit more room than we’d like in the fridge.)
I think no, she’s not sure, and we certainly don’t want to run afoul of any wee beasties that might be able to survive there.
The cherry-infused liquer I made last year (name is something vaguely along the lines of cigliocello) is just mashed cherries, simple syrup and vodka, and the recipe says to cap the bottle and stash it in the back of the liquor cabinet for a few months to age. No refrigeration.
The alcohol and sugar will preserve the fruit completely. You should keep it in a dark place, or it could discolour, but it doesn’t need refrigeration - in fact refrigeration could retard the processes of infusion. Once it’s been soaking for as long as it takes for the flavour to infuse, then you could refrigerate it before serving, if you wanted to drink it that way.