How to Make and Distil Your Own Gin Recipe

Do you ever wonder how gin recipes are crafted? In today’s post I go over the methodology behind how gin recipes are designed and why certain botanicals are used more often than others. You’ll learn how to make your own gin recipe and distil it yourself in this guided gin experience with me.

Please note that all of the suggested botanical amounts assume that you are charging the still with 1L of 40%abv spirit. Approximately 700mL of 45%abv gin will be produced.

Crafting Your Gin Recipe

At the distillery, we have a botanical grouping chart that our gin experience guests reference when creating their gin recipes. This guide groups botanicals into essentials, citrus, fruity, floral, spicy, sweet, nutty, and herbal.

Essentials

Essential botanicals include juniper berries, which a gin must have to be considered a gin. Juniper berries are tart and sharp, with a resinous piney flavour and a hint of citrus. We recommend putting 25-35g of juniper berries in your recipe. 25g of juniper berries will give you a lighter style of gin whereas 35g will give you a heavier style of gin.

Coriander seeds are earthy, tart, and sweet, and have a floral aroma. They counter-balance the juniper berries, so if the amount of juniper berries is high then the amount of coriander seeds should be low, or vice versa.

Orris root and angelica root both act as fixatives, so they fix, or preserve, the other flavours in the gin so that they do not evaporate out of the bottle. Orris root is better suited to lighter styles of gin, whereas angelica root is more suited to heavier styles of gin.

The Essentials	Description	Quantity
Juniper Berries	Tastes of Gin	25-35g
Coriander Seed	Lemon and subtle spice	2-5g
Orris Root	Fixative-used to hold flavour within the spirit. Light slightly perfumed parma violet.	¼ teaspoon
Angelica Root	Fixative-used to hold flavour within the spirit. Deep, earthy, musky.	1g

Herbal

These include herbs such as lovage, sage, and rosemary. They provide an earthy note to your gin

Herbal	Description	Quantity
Rosemary (fresh)	Savoury and strong	0.5-1g
Sage	Savoury and strong	0.5-1g
Lemon Balm	Lemon and herbal	1-2g
Lovage Seeds	Strong bold thyme flavour with a hint of spice	0.5-1g
Mint	Fresh and strong in flavour	A tiny pinch! Max 0.5g
Thyme	Delicate background herb	0.5-1g
Hops	Dry	2-6 pieces
Bay Leaf	Subtle savoury	¼ to ½ leaf
Tarragon	Slight aniseed	Max 0.5g
Lemon Verbena	Lemon with herbal notes	Up to half a teaspoon

Fruity

This includes fruits such as apples, blackberries, currants and mangos.

Fruity	Description	Quantity
Mulberries	Sweet and tart	1-4 berries
Blackberries	Rich and a little sharp	3-8 berries
Raspberries	Sweet and sharp	2-4 berries
Apple	Sweet and more subtle	A small slice
Currants	Sweet	2-6 currants
Mango	Sweet and tropical	2-4cm

Spicy

This includes black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and cubeb for a bit of heat.

Spicy	Description	Quantity
Cinnamon	Subtle sweetness	0.2-0.4g
Cardamom	Strong in flavour	0.1-0.2g
Nutmeg	Warming and spicy with subtle sweetness	0.2-0.4g
Mace	Milder version of nutmeg	0.2-0.8g
Ginger	Warming	0.2-0.4g
Black Peppercorn	Hotter than cubeb	1-2 peppercorns
Pink Peppercorn	Mild pepper spice	1-3 peppercorns
Cubeb	Mild pepper spice, similar to allspice	1-4 pieces
Cumin	Strong fragrant spice	0.1-0.2g

Nutty

This includes almonds, walnuts, and pecans. They give a slightly waxy and oily mouthfeel to gins while enhancing other botanical flavours. Allergens are not transferred over in the distillation, so if you have a nut allergy it is okay to include nuts in your gin recipe.

Nutty	Description	Quantity
Chestnut	Dry and nutty	1 nut
Walnut	Savoury, smooth, and buttery	1 nut
Hazelnut	Stands up well to other strong flavours	1 nut
Almonds	Sweet and nutty	Up to ½ teaspoon

Sweet

This includes honey, liquorice, and vanilla for a bit of sweetness.

Sweet	Description	Quantity
Liquorice	Subtle sweetness	2 to 4 pieces
Honey	Adds a lovely mouth finish (TIP: add directly into the still)	¼ to ½ teaspoon
Vanilla	Strong flavour, go easy!	Tiny piece 3 or 4 mm

Floral

This includes flowers such as ross, chamomile, lavender, and elderflower. They will give a slightly perfume-like quality to the gin.

Floral	Description	Quantity
Rose Petals	Epitomises floral	0.1-3g
Chamomile Flowers	Subtle floral and dusty	¼ to ½ teaspoon
Lavender Flowers	Fragrant but powerful	0.1-0.2g
Elderflower	Floral but quite powerful so go easy	¼ to ½ teaspoon
Marigold Flowers	Floral and mild in flavour	1-2 flowers
Heather Flowers	Floral and mild in flavour	¼ to ½ teaspoon

Citrus

This includes grapefruit, lemon, orange and lime peels.

Citrus	Description	Quantity
Lemon Peel (Dried)	Concentrated flavour so don’t need to use much	4 to 10 pieces
Orange Peel(Dried)	Concentrated flavour so don’t need to use much	4 to 10 pieces
Lime Peel	Citrus	2-4cm
Grapefruit Peel	Citrus	2-4cm
Lemon Peel (Fresh)	Citrus	2-4cm
Orange Peel (Fresh)	Citrus	2-4cm

When you are developing your gin recipe you should think about what style of gin you are looking to make. Based on what flavour profile you like, you will pick some botanicals to be the leading notes in the gin recipe. We incorporate botanicals from the other categories so that your gin will have a good balance. We recommend always adding a citrus note and a spicy note to your recipe as it creates more complexity in the gin. We also recommend picking 8-10 botanicals in total for your gin recipe. So you will have 3 botanicals from the essential category, and 5-7 botanicals from the other categories.

Distilling Your Gin Recipe

1. Measure 1L of 40%abv neutral grain spirit (NGS). If you don’t have NGS you can also use a bottle of cheap 40%abv vodka. Then measure out your botanicals.
2. Put your botanicals into the pot of the still. Then, put the top of the still on and screw the lyne arm of the still to the condenser recipient.
3. Turn on the heating element. My heating element goes from 1-6, so I set mine to a heat level of 5.
4. Put a beaker underneath the spout to collect the gin. It takes about 15-20 minutes for the still to heat up. Make sure that the bottom of your still is touching the surface of the heating element, otherwise, the distillation will take a lot longer to run. As the liquid heats up, there is a phase transition as it turns from a liquid to a gas. The gas rises and is funneled into the lyne arm. It starts to cool down as it moves down the copper coils. When it reaches the water in the condensing element the gas will condense and turn into a liquid. This distillate will continue to get cooler as it goes through the condenser and is collected into the glass beaker below.
5. After 20 minutes, the distillate will start to come out of the spout. Turn on the water to the condenser unit.
6. Collect 20mL of distillate. These are the foreshots (containing methanol) and heads, so discard this portion of the distillate just to be on the safe side.
7. Collect approximately 425mL of gin hearts. The hearts are the good part which will become the gin.
8. Turn off the heating element and turn off the water valve from the condenser.
9. Dilute gin with reverse osmosis water, or distilled water, until it reaches 45%abv. You should have approximately 700mL of gin.
10. Let the gin rest for 1-2 weeks for the best flavour. Enjoy.

Watch it on YouTube Below

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