Ask the Expert

Our gin expert, David T Smith, is on hand to answer all your juniper related questions. Tweet us or email for a chance to feature

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Plymouth is a city with a naval port and a really old distillery. Did other naval ports, such as Portsmouth, have distilleries too?

ABBY,

A great question and one that’s really close to my own heart. Having a dockyard in your town or city was a great asset for the local economy – providing supplies for a ship, including spirits, was big business!

Distilling in Portsmouth goes back to at least 1747 (for reference, the current Plymouth Distillery was founded in

1793), when Pike, Spicer & Co. purchased a distillery in Queen Street from the Ribouleau family.

The distillery was run by Samuel

Spicer, who was related, by marriage, to company founder William Pike. An invoice from 1761 details purchases of juniper berries, cassia bark and other botanicals that indicate that the distillery was producing gin. Records show that the distillery closed in 1824 following Samuel Spicer’s death.

Gin distilling has recently returned to Portsmouth, with the new Portsmouth Distillery Company, based in Fort Cumberland: a pentagonal Georgian fort in the south-east of the island. Founded by two ex-navy servicemen, the distillery makes gin as well as fermenting and distilling their own rum.

With all the boutique gins being produced, are they made to the same quality and standards of some of the more traditional ones?

JOHN,

Ultimately, there is little difference in how gin is made, whether that be by larger firms like Tanqueray, Beefeater, or Bombay Sapphire, or a small, new start-up with a 100 litre still. They all make their cuts by nosing the spirit – there is little automation – and all of the best distillers, regardless of the size of the distillery, have an eye for detail and sourcing quality raw ingredients.

The distillers at bigger distilleries have a couple of advantages due to scale. Buying botanicals in large quantities means that they have more buying power; Beefeater and Plymouth analyse over 80 samples of juniper, before deciding which to use. Larger distilleries have the capacity to store distillate from various runs – up to 80,000 litres – and blending these to make their gins can help to smooth out any fluctuations in flavour profile and increase consistency.

When it comes to smaller distilleries, most spend the time to research and perfect their gins before releasing them, although some may launch with teething problems (most of which are quickly resolved). When you’ve been making gin for 250 years, like Gordon’s Gin, you’ve had plenty of time to perfect your recipe!

Bottles of wine are stored lying down. Should I store gin in a certain way?

LIZZI,

Thanks for your question. Fortunately, gin is not as fussy when it comes to storage. Wine is stored lying down to stop the cork from drying out, although there is even some debate on this.

The thing to watch out for with regards to gin storage is the evaporation of the alcohol and the volatile botanical oils that give the gin its flavour and aroma. Storing a gin upright is best, especially once opened, as the surface area of the gin that is in contact with the air is smaller than when the bottle is stored on its side. This helps to reduce the impact of evaporation. Making sure that the top/closure of the gin fits tightly and is properly secured, is also important.

In terms of conditions, it’s also advisable to keep gin away from heat sources such as a radiators or incandescent lighting and out of direct sunlight, as these can all have a negative impact on a gin’s longevity. When it comes to cold temperatures, there is no problem with storing a gin in a fridge or freezer as long as the gin doesn’t freeze.

Finally, if there’s just a bit of gin left in the bottle, say an inch or two, it’s better to finish it before opening a new bottle as the intensity of the gin’s character will quickly fade.