how to make flavoured gin

It’s still one of the trendiest drinks in town, so here’s how to put your stamp on it…

Making craft gin is easy and fun to do. In fact, for such a nuanced spirit, in its basic form gin is pretty, well, basic: a neutral base spirit, usually made from grain, such as vodka, which is flavoured with botanicals (especially juniper berries). It must be at least 37.5% ABV. Traditional gin-makers extract flavours from botanicals through distillation, and at home you can steep botanicals in a base spirit like vodka to make ‘bathtub gin’ (known as compound gin).

Gin pros recommend choosing a clean, unfussy vodka for the base spirit. You’ll also need at least four tablespoons of juniper berries (gin’s main botanical). After that, choose botanicals to match the flavour profile you want to create. Damson, rhubarb and sloe gin are tasty recipes for winter.

Cardamom pods and star anise are popular spicy choices, with chamomile and lavender loved for their delicate floral profiles. Other common botanicals include angelica, cassia bark, cinnamon, coriander, lemon and orange. For your first batch, it might be easier to buy a specific botanical blends kit, rather than heaps of individual ingredients that may not go well together.

Pour, in fuse, ENJOY

First, thoroughly sterilise an airtight, one-litre mason jar with boiling water, adding in botanicals – juniper berries are your base botanical– but excluding any fresh citrus peel at this stage. Next, pour in 70cl of vodka, seal the jar and gently shake it to mix up the botanicals. Now leave your mixture to infuse in a cool, dark place for 24 hours.

Once that time has passed, add fresh citrus peel (if desired) to the jar, plus extra amounts of any particular botanical you want to be the dominant flavour-taste it first to make sure your chosen dominant botanical actually needs enhancing. Leave the mix to infuse for a further 12-24 hours.

Shake the jar to mix up the botanicals one last time, then take a sip. Once you’re happy with the flavour, sieve out the botanicals. If your gin has a yellow or orange tint, pass it through a water filter jug to boost the clarity.