Having a longtime desire to create my own homemade, or bathtub, gin, I finally got a-making and there’s no turning back now.
Gin is a neutral spirit with a predominant flavour of juniper berry, and then whatever combination of botanicals you desire. For those of us who do not have our own stills (sigh) buying a good quality bottle of vodka serves as the base for the gin. Never cut costs with spirits. You certainly get what you pay for and if it’s cheap and nasty, then your gin will be cheap and nasty also. I used Russian Standard Platinum which is clean and smooth.
Stage one is infusing the spirit with juniper berries. I only made about 350ml of gin, and I used a tablespoon of berries. Let these infuse for a good 24 hours.
Stage two is the addition of botanicals. This is where you can achieve all sorts of various results depending on the flavours you choose and what style of gin you prefer. I wanted to create a very herbaceous gin with a lot of freshness on the palate.
The botanicals I used were: fresh basil, coriander, rosemary (not pictured), dried ruby red grapefruit rind, lavender, pink peppercorns, green cardamon pod, all spice berries, coriander seeds, dried thyme, bay leaf and clove.
I only let these infuse for about 12 hours. The longer is not always the better as the spirit is a very efficient flavour extractor, so you don’t want to go too far. Go and sniff your gin to see how it’s doing, or dip your finger in. It’s all up to your palate.
The gin will turn yellow, and end up looking like a big jar of wee, this is due to the botanicals imparting their colour into the mix. Don’t worry. It’s what it tastes like that is most important. Strain your gin through whatever means you have – a fine sieve or muslin cloth – and then chill.
I served mine with tonic and a slice of cucumber… The verdict? Awesome. Mr H approved too, and suggested that from now on we should just make our own. Why not? It possesses a charming rawness, is full of flavour and is interesting. What more would one want in a drink?
