We had a gin lab at the distillery in Wales where I worked. Visitors would often come in for gin experiences where they were able to select their own botanical blends, and distil their very own bottles of gins. They oohed and aahed over how pretty and shiny our little copper stills were, while remarking on how much artistry was involved in distilling gin.
It always looked like they had a great time with these gin experiences, so I was quite pleased when I was given a chance to distil my very own bottle of gin too. It was my first time creating a gin recipe, and I had no idea how to go about it, or what the quantities of each gin botanical should be.
Developing my Gin Recipe
I decided that the most logical thing to do was simply choose a few botanicals that I liked and distil them together. After perusing the botanical room I decided to use a cherry blossom tea blend, papaya, lime, sichuan peppercorns, pink peppercorns, and juniper berries in my recipe.
I hadn’t had any gin making experience up until that point, and was surprised to discover that making gin was an extremely simple process. First I charged the still with 46%abv neutral grain spirit and a selection of botanicals. The botanical flavours infused into the spirit and the liquid was then heated until it boiled. The alcoholic vapours rose up and went through a condenser where the vapours condensed back into liquid form. Then the resulting liquid, or distillate, was collected. Lastly, the distillate was diluted with de-ionised water to bring it down to the right alcoholic strength. Then voila the gin was complete!
After a few weeks had passed I tasted my bottle of gin. I found it to be too floral for my taste, which I attributed to adding too much tea blend to my recipe. If you are curious about my first ever gin recipe, I’ve included it down below.
My First Gin Recipe
Yields one 700mL bottle of gin at 43%abv
Ingredients
- 7.3g of Juniper Berries
- 6 Sichuan Peppercorns (0.01g)
- 8 of Pink Peppercorns (0.01g)
- 2g Japanese Cherry Blossom Tea Blend
- 4.9g Dried Papaya
- 1.7g Lime
Method
- Measure out the botanicals.
- Charge the still with 1L of 46%abv alcohol and your botanical blend.
- Collect the distillate until it no longer tastes nice coming off of the still.
- Add reverse osmosis water, or bottled water, to the distillate to dilute it down to 43%abv.
- Bottle and let rest for 2-3 weeks before enjoying.
Watch it on YouTube Below
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