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DIY Gin

winters860

winters860

Super Member
I never had a taste for gin until I had Hendrick's.

Hendrick's is a small-batch Scottish gin with the distinction of a light cucumber flavor. It's been called "gin for people who don't like gin", but it got me started as a gin drinker, and now I'll happily drink many kinds of gin, mostly as G&T's, gimlets, and bucks.

The only problem is that cheap gin still tastes terrible to me, and we don't have the budget to browse the top shelf as often as we'd like.

Our solution has been to go DIY. Gin is the original flavored vodka, and you can make a perfectly acceptable gin yourself by infusing ordinary neutral grain spirits with the right botanicals. The whole process takes about fifteen minutes of work and two days of waiting.

The result will be be a yellowish liquor called "compound gin". A clear commercial gin has undergone a final redistillation after infusion.

We continue to refine our cucumber-infused recipe, but after several batches, the results have been quite encouraging.

Ingredients:
750 mL vodka
2 tbsp juniper berries
3/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp fennel
1/4 tsp rosemary
3 green cardamom pods
2 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/8 lime peel (fresh or dried)
1/2 cup fresh cucumber (peeled, cored, and diced)

Don't spend too much on vodka. Luksusowa or Smirnoff are fine. If you're feeling fancy, run the vodka through a Brita filter once or twice before using it.

All spices should be whole, not ground. Finding them all can be expensive or outright impossible at the supermarket. Instead, visit local Middle Eastern and Indian groceries for vastly cheaper spices.

One night, pour the vodka into a large glass or stainless steel container and add the juniper berries. The next morning, add the rest of the ingredients. Stir occasionally.

The next night, a full 48 hours after adding the juniper to the vodka, funnel it back into the bottle using cheese cloth as a filter. Cotton cheese cloth can be bought inexpensively at the hardware store.

The gin is then ready to enjoy in a mixed drink or sip over ice. Ours tends to disappear startlingly quickly.
 
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winters860 said:
I never had a taste for gin until I had Hendrick's.

Hendrick's is a small-batch Scottish gin with the distinction of a light cucumber flavor. It's been called "gin for people who don't like gin", but it got me started as a gin drinker, and now I'll happily drink many kinds of gin, mostly as G&T's, gimlets, and bucks.

The only problem is that cheap gin still tastes terrible to me, and we don't have the budget to browse the top shelf as often as we'd like.

Our solution has been to go DIY. Gin is the original flavored vodka, and you can make a perfectly acceptable gin yourself by infusing ordinary neutral grain spirits with the right botanicals. The whole process takes about fifteen minutes of work and two days of waiting.

The result will be be a yellowish liquor called "compound gin". A clear commercial gin has undergone a final redistillation after infusion.

We continue to refine our cucumber-infused recipe, but after several batches, the results have been quite encouraging.

Ingredients:
750 mL vodka
2 tbsp juniper berries
3/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp fennel
1/4 tsp rosemary
3 green cardamom pods
2 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/8 lime peel (fresh or dried)
1/2 cup fresh cucumber (peeled, cored, and diced)

Don't spend too much on vodka. Luksusowa or Smirnoff are fine. If you're feeling fancy, run the vodka through a Brita filter once or twice before using it.

All spices should be whole, not ground. Finding them all can be expensive or outright impossible at the supermarket. Instead, visit local Middle Eastern and Indian groceries for vastly cheaper spices.

One night, pour the vodka into a large glass or stainless steel container and add the juniper berries. The next morning, add the rest of the ingredients. Stir occasionally.

The next night, a full 48 hours after adding the juniper to the vodka, funnel it back into the bottle using cheese cloth as a filter. Cotton cheese cloth can be bought inexpensively at the hardware store.

The gin is then ready to enjoy in a mixed drink or sip over ice. Ours tends to disappear startlingly quickly.
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Being a Gin drinker, and a Vodka hater, I just cannot envision, in any way shape or form, and no matter what you add, will somehow magically convert a Vodka into a real acceptable Gin.
 
markd51 said:
Being a Gin drinker, and a Vodka hater, I just cannot envision, in any way shape or form, and no matter what you add, will somehow magically convert a Vodka into a real acceptable Gin.
Click to expand...

Huh? That's like saying as a Kool-Aid drinker, and a Water hater, I just cannot envision, in any way shape or form, no matter what you add, will somehow magically convert a Water in to real acceptable Kool-Aid. :D

Basically you like your alcohol to have some flavor. Probably not a fan of straight Everclear either. fwiw, I only found Everclear acceptable with grape koolaid mixed in huge quantities, 30 years ago in college. ;)
 
markd51 said:
Being a Gin drinker, and a Vodka hater, I just cannot envision, in any way shape or form, and no matter what you add, will somehow magically convert a Vodka into a real acceptable Gin.
Click to expand...

Every drop of gin you've ever consumed started out as a neutral spirit - vodka, essentially.

Your inability to wrap your head around that fact doesn't make it any less true. You're falling prey to a logical fallacy called "argument from incredulity".

Your loss. :D
 
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A large part of why vodka is such a big seller is that it doesn't really taste like much of anything. Its effectively a flavorless drunk that tastes like whatever you mix into it. In this case you're mixing in the stuff to make a gin-flavored mixed drink without anything to cut it.
 
gadget73 said:
A large part of why vodka is such a big seller is that it doesn't really taste like much of anything. Its effectively a flavorless drunk that tastes like whatever you mix into it. In this case you're mixing in the stuff to make a gin-flavored mixed drink without anything to cut it.
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I knew a few flavorless drunks in my time...
 
winters860 said:
Every drop of gin you've ever consumed started out as a neutral spirit - vodka, essentially.

Your inability to wrap your head around that fact doesn't make it any less true. You're falling prey to a logical fallacy called "argument from incredulity".

Your loss. :D
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That's perhaps true, but as you and others know, every spirit, every Gin, and every Vodka has it's own character, and flavor.

I've tried numerous Vodkas over the years, yes Vodka Martinis I've tried, the last being with Tito's Vodka, and had to chuck it down the sink. Gave the Bottle away. To me, it seems no matter what, no matter what I mix, or try to mask such character, I cannot get past drinking it.

I have a German friend, who has gone to Russia often. He once told me the difference between true Russian Vodka dranken there, and what we seem to get here are night and day.

Of course I cannot confirm such myself, and I've never tried some of the many small batch Vodkas out there such as Grey Goose, etc.

Never took a liking to rum much either.
 
Nice experiment, glad it worked out. I see you use Luksusowa as a base, that is my house vodka. Perfect for Bloody Marys, Sea Breezes, etc. Very good quality for $22 per 1.75ml bottle.
 
RT Fan said:
Nice experiment, glad it worked out. I see you use Luksusowa as a base[...]. Very good quality for $22 per 1.75ml bottle.
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And even better for the $14 we pay in Ohio!

Our most recent gin batches have used Russian Standard, which we tried on the advice of an alcoholic friend, but I'd rather have Luks any day of the week, and think it holds it's own against competitors costing over twice as much.

Smirnoff was my value choice before I found Luks.

After running the Russian Standard through the Brita (for whatever difference it makes), even that makes a decent enough compound gin. The G&Ts we had last night tasted like... well... good G&Ts.
 
Do you think this would work starting with everclear?

Where did you find that recipe? I'm not really a Hendricks fan; I prefer Plymouth or Bombay. I'd love to find a recipe closer to that taste profile...
 
winters860 said:
The gin is then ready to enjoy in a mixed drink or sip over ice. Ours tends to disappear startlingly quickly.
Click to expand...

This is very interesting. How long does the "compound gin" last in the bottle? And does it just revert back to tasting like regular vodka or what?
 
There's lots of recipes out there, and I'm sure the idea could be tailored to just about any taste. If you're not a Hendrick's fan, start by leaving out the cucumber.

I'm sure Everclear could be used as a base, but I'd probably dilute it down to 80 proof.

As far as shelf life, I have no idea, as I don't think any of our gin has lasted more than a week. Heat, light, and air would obviously be the factors I'd worry about, but my gut instinct is that it's fairly resistant to spoilage. It certainly wouldn't change back into vodka, but the flavor profile might change with age.
 
As long as you keep the lid on, it should keep as long as a store-bought bottle of gin. Essentially the same thing, except it hasn't been re-distilled. Only difference that would make is that any bacteria on the spices aren't left behind. But, they are instantly murdered by the alcohol anyway.

I think it's a great idea. I love that Bombay Sapphire, but it's too expensive for me.
 
According to Wikipedia, as long as the dominant flavor is juniper, this would qualify as "compound gin", which is sold as "gin", but not "distilled gin". :dunno:. The list of botanicals there is:

citrus elements, such as lemon and bitter orange peel, as well as a combination of other spices, which may include any of anise, angelica root and seed, orris root, licorice root, cinnamon, almond, cubeb, savory, lime peel, grapefruit peel, dragon eye, saffron, baobab, frankincense, coriander, grains of paradise, nutmeg, cassia bark, and/or others.
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I might give this a try sometime. I can't stand vodka / ethanol water, but I like booze, and this sounds fun.
 
dumptruck said:
I might give this a try sometime. I can't stand vodka / ethanol water, but I like booze, and this sounds fun.
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It is fun! And the quality of the final product certainly took us by surprise.

When our infusion is finished, we put it up in a case gin bottle that would have been new in about 1890.

I certainly wouldn't mind trying redistillation of the finished product into a "real" distilled gin. Too bad it's illegal. :sigh:
 
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I doubt that would actually be considered illegal, because you're not starting with a low-alcohol mash and concentrating it by distillation. Actually, distillation itself is not illegal, but federal law requires liquor taxes be paid. In order to pay the tax, you have to have a producer permit. And that's where the fun begins. Anyway if you bought a bottle of vodka and re-distilled it, you not only haven't produced anything new, you've already paid the tax on the original bottle!

Furthermore, I suspect the regulators aren't too excited about Joe Martini making a bottle or two for himself anyway. You start selling it (bootlegging), that's a different deal. Discrete, personal use (or shared with a friend or two while playing some tunes), no sales, doubt there would be a problem.
 
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