How is gin made ?
What is gin ?
To understand the process of how gin is made, we must first understand what it is.
Gin in Europe, must be made from juniper berries and neutral based spirits, these 2 ingredients are necessary to make gin but other ingredients can be added. For reference neutral based spirit, is an alcohol made either from fruit or grains which has been purified, removed mostly of its flavour and has an alcohol content of 96% ABV.
Types:
Currently in Europe 3 major classifications of gin exist:
- Gin
- Distilled Gin
- London Dry Gin
For each particular type the process of fabrication varies.
How is gin made ?
- Gin (Bathtub Gin)
This is an infusion gin also know as bathtub gin. This type of gin dates back from the prohibition times, when the quality of alcohol used was poor and in order to cover up the bad quality juniper berry infusion were done. The infusions were conducted in bathtub hence the name bathtub gin. This gin does not get distilled, it is only produced through infusion of botanicals with predominantly juniper berries.
- Distilled Gin
This gin is made through infusion and distillation. First of botanicals are infused in a neutral spirit such as juniper berries and orange. Then the infusions is distilled and the gin is then reduced to a lower percentage of alcohol, it cannot go below 37.5 % ABV (alcohol by volume).
The gin can then be altered after distillation via infusions for example colouring (rose gin). The juniper taste must be leading the gin.
- London Dry Gin
The most known appellation for gin, was developed in London in the 19th/20th century. The process is very similar to distilled gins, such as an infusion of juniper berries and other botanicals are to be made in a neutral spirit. Then follows the distillation, however during the distillation the distillate must be above 70% ABV. The distillate can only then be reduced with water to achieve the ABV desired but with it being higher than 37.5% ABV.
Homemade Gin / Bathtub Gin Recipe
Ingredients:
- Bottle of Vodka (grain alcohol vodka) 70cl
- Juniper berries 11 to 15 g
- Hyssop flowers 2 to 3 g
- Lemon Verbena leaves 5 to 6 g
- Hibiscus petals 3 to 4 petals
Recipe:
Take your neutral alcohol (e.g. vodka)
Crush the juniper berries roughly in a pestle and crush the hyssop and verbena leaves between your fingers. Put all the berries, plants and hibiscus petals directly into the bottle of neutral alcohol.
Leave to macerate for 24 to 36 hours. Once the maceration time is done, filter your gin with either a sieve or coffee filter. Leave your gin rest for 12 hours before drinking.
Cocktail to try with this recipe.
G&T Summer Edition – The grapefruit tonic and melon ice cubes make this cocktail very refreshing for summer heat waves.
Enjoy your gin with a tonic or gin cocktail of your choice 🙂
