Luthuanian Spirits

 The Spirits are everywhere.

The Ghosts.

I began researching my family history, starting with the 22 hand written pages my grandmother gave me. 

I was amazed at the Irish side.
They were the famous people. Hotel owners, and Hollywood big shots. Writers, and activists. They married other famous people. Some immortalized in more print and photographs than I can sort through. Detailed histories and newspaper columns that chronicle some of the faintest minutia. 

“Mrs. McHenry returned home today after a week-end at their cabin in Santa Cruz”

And then there are others who are hardly mentioned, even by their own wives and children.  Ancestors are long dead, and now only live in a few dwindling memories.

The Lithuanians.

As Dan Bern wrote, in his song “Lithuania” (and I am paraphrasing)
“The Black and white two dimensional ghosts…These are my ghosts…uncles and aunts, grandparents… none of whom I have ever met… my only link to them was my dad, who knew them, and he knew me, and now he’s gone too”

 Mine is the same story. My dad never really talked about his dad, and neither did his mother.
No one did
22 pages of Irish history. 

And the only mention of the Lithuanian side is a few sentences about my grand father…

 “I married him in April, 1938”
“He worked at Hendy’s in Sunnyvale
“He enjoyed being a grandfather”
“He died suddenly of a heart attack”

 I met my Lithuanian grandfather, great-grand parents, aunts, uncles and cousins through a few lonely documents. Census reports, marriage and birth reports, obituaries, a couple arrest reports, and about a half dozen photographs.

 These are my ghosts.
Their absence haunts me.

I don’t have them.

but,
I have their Spirits

Krupnikas,

 Baron (Baronas) Family Recipe

(This makes two 750 ml bottles)

There is a little planning involved, because you will need two sterile bottles to put the Krupnikas in. You will already have the one that the everclear came in, but you will need another the same size (750 ml) that has been washed and sterilized.

 

8 whole cloves

3 cinnamon sticks

10 cardamom pods, cracked

1/2 whole nutmeg, cracked

5 allspice berries

1/2 tsp fennel seed

1/2 tsp caraway seed

1/2 tsp Chinese five spice

8 thin slices fresh ginger

The peel of 1 orange

The peel of 1/2 a lemon

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 lb honey

4 cups water

750ml 190 proof grain alcohol, like everclear

 
First, in a large pot bring the honey and water to a simmer.
Skim off any foam that surfaces. Prepare orange and lemon peel by scraping away as much of the pith (white part) as you can
Add in all the spices and peels (everything except Everclear) to the pot. Measure it with a wooden spoon by puting the spoon in the pot and seeing how "deep" it is.
Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

check the depth with the wooden spoon and add water to bring it back up. return to a boil, but then turn off heat.
Now THIS IS IMPORTANT! Move well away from any heat or flame!
Add the Everclear to the still-hot mixture, stir to combine, and then strain the mixture. i have found coffee filters work well for this.

Pour into sterile bottles, set aside and allow to "age" for at least two weeks (or up to a year).

 While Krupnikas is ready to drink just two weeks after you make it, the drink mellows and becomes even better six months to a year later. You can still drink it well beyond that time - there's no expiration date on the drink.