Gin recipes collected from various sources

[Bushman]

I found this tonight in my notes. Before posting I want to say that I collected this information from various sources and I believe a member on another forum and put it together. Thought some might find it useful and wish I could site my source(s) but over time I added other information.

10 BASIC GIN RECIPES
Bob Emmons, in “The Book of Gin & Vodkas,” provides nine basic recipes in g/l measures:

Recipe 1 – BASIC GIN
* Juniper 22.5g
* Coriander 11.5g
* Cassia 2.5g
* Angelica root 2.5g
* Lemon peel 0.25g
* Cardamom 0.25g

Recipe 2 – BRITISH GIN
* Juniper 15g
* Coriander 15g
* Bitter almonds 12g
* Angelica root 0.25g
* Licorice root 1g

Recipe 3 – CORDIAL GIN
* Juniper 10g
* Coriander 7.5g
* Bitter almonds 1.5g
* Orris root 0.25g
* Angelica root 0.25g
* Cardamom 0.06g
* Licorice root 1g

Recipe 4 – CORDIAL GIN
* Juniper 10g
* Coriander 7.5g
* Orris root 0.25g
* Angelica root 0.125g
* Calamus root 0.25g
* Cardamom 0.05g

Recipe 5 – FINE GIN
* Juniper 10g
* Coriander 0.5g
* Grains of paradise 0.5g
* Angelica root 0.5g
* Orris root 0.25g
* Calamus root 0.25g
* Orange peel 0.25g
* Licorice root 10g (optional)

Recipe 6 – LONDON GIN
* Juniper 10g
* Coriander 10g
* Bitter almonds 1g
* Angelica root 0.25g
* Licorice root 1g

Recipe 7 – BASIC GENEVA
* Juniper 10g
* Coriander 12g
* Cassia 0.6g
* Angelica root 0.5g
* Calamus root 0.6g
* Bitter almonds 1.2g
* Cardamom 0.05g

Recipe 8 – PLAIN GENEVA
* Juniper 10g
* Coriander 10g
* Calamus root 0.25g
* Bitter almonds 0.5g
* Orris root 0.25g

Recipe 9 – FINE GENEVA (highly recommended)
* Juniper 20g
* Coriander 8g
* Angelica root 1g
* Calamus root 0.25g
* Bitter almonds 3g
* Cardamon 0.125g
* Grains of paradise 1g

Recipe 10 – ENGLISH GENEVA (from “The Household Encyclopedia”)
* Juniper 35g

Note that not all these recipes follow the pattern mentioned earlier, but have variations from which specific notes are brought forward according to the blenders’ tastes.

Some notes concerning botanicals:
* • Purchase organic materials whenever possible. Spray-on insecticides and fertilizers can add unpleasant tastes and unwanted (and potentially toxic) chemicals to your finished product.
* • Wash or thoroughly rinse all fresh botanicals to remove dirt, dust and insects. Citrus, unless picked locally, is usually sprayed with water-soluble, edible wax to prevent the fruit from drying too quickly and may cloud the finished product.
* • Citrus peel and bitter almonds contain oils which can cloud the beverage when water is added, whether from mixes or ice. If this is a problem, filter the gin through a paper coffee filter to absorb the oils before bottling. This usually helps, but not always. Ethanol dissolves most oils but, when diluted, the oils may come out of solution.
* • Citrus “peels” are the top layer of skin from the fruit, sometimes referred to as “zest.” The best way to remove this is to use a vegetable peeler (stainless steel or ceramic is best) and remove only the outermost layer. The white, spongy inner layer, or pith, can be quite bitter and leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
* • Fresh materials are always superior; however, recipe weights are for dried materials. Use a food drier to dry your botanicals, then use as quickly as possible to obtain the full flavor.

Botanicals
These are the principal botanicals used in production of gin (alphabetical):
* Common name - Botanical name
* Angelica root - Archangelica officinalis
* Aniseed - Pimpinella anisum
* Bitter almond - Prunus dulcis, amara
* Bitter orange peel - Citrus aurantium
* Calamus root - Acorus calamus
* Caraway seed - Corum carvi
* Cardamom seeds - Elettaria cardamomum
* Cassia bark - Cinnamomum cassia
* Cinnamon bark - Cinnamonum zeylanicum
* Coriander seed* - Coriandrum sativum
* Cubeb berries - Piper cubeb
* Fennel seed - Foeniculum vulgare
* Grains of paradise - Afromomum melegueta
* Juniper berries* - Juniperis communis
* Lemon peel - Citrus limon
* Licorice root - Glycyrrhiza spp.
* Nutmeg - Myristica fragrans
* Orris root - Iris pallida
* Sweet orange peel - Citrus sinensis
* *primary flavorings

Gin can be as simple as juniper berries steeped in a liter of 80% neutral for as little as an hour or for as long as a week. However, a fine gin typically contains 6 to 10 botanicals, although the Dutch Damask Gin has 17 and the French Citadelle Ginhas 19.

Botanicals are, of course, the herbs, fruits, nuts/seeds, roots, bark and berries used for a specific flavor. Generally, they are dried and rehydrated by the spirit.

The total amount of botanicals used is approximately 20-35 grams/liter of 80-proof gin. If we take the dominant botanical juniper as 'x', the proportion of the botanicals used is:
* X = juniper
* X/2 = coriander
* X/10 = angelica, cassia, cinnamon, licorice, bitter almonds, grains of paradise, cubeb berries
* X/100 = bitter & sweet orange peel, lemon peel, ginger, orris root, cardamom, nutmeg, savory, calamus, chamomile.

If we use X = 20g, then X/2 = 10g, X/10 = 2g, X/100 = 0.2g (200mg). Multiply by the number of finished liters. Using only one of each division provides 32.2 grams/liter, leaving considerable room for adjustment and addition.

This is only a guideline, so keep in mind that variations to this pattern bring out different flavors and back-flavors, a different nose, a different aftertaste and mouth-feel. Also remember that the spirit, regardless of the distillation method used, must be as clean as possible (absolute minimum heads and tails) because re-distillation is for the purpose of adding the botanicals, not fixing the wash.

Making gin can be as simple as adding gin concentrate to a bottle of clean 80 proof vodka or neutral spirit, or as complex as steam distillation of a grain-based ferment with the addition of juniper berries and a range of botanicals added to the wash before distillation.

There are three basic ways to make gin:
* 1. Distillation – where the botanicals are added directly to or just above the wash prior to distillation or placed in the distillate vapor stream during distillation.
* 2. Infusion – where the botanicals are steeped in the spirit for a period of time (cold compounding).
* 3. Blending – where a distilled concentrate of mixed botanicals is added to the spirit.

Distillation
For a gin to be considered “distilled,” the botanicals must be added to the wash, suspended above the wash in the boiler, or placed in the vapor flow during the process of distillation. When gin became popular as a beverage, the botanicals were added directly to the wash and the resultant output was diluted with water. There’s no doubt experimentation was done to reduce the overwhelming flavor of juniper to palatable levels. This was likely done in a relatively small quantity over an open fire or small furnace, in a sand-heat furnace, or in a bain marie or double boiler.

Where the possibility of scorching the botanicals existed, they were placed loosely in a tied muslin bag and suspended in the wash above the bottom of the boiler or above the wash in the raw vapor above the surface of the boiling wash. Later, it was found that placing the botanicals in the vapor stream just before the condenser effectively eliminated the need for later removal of botanical oils that break down at the temperature of boiling water but not at the lower temperature of vaporized alcohol. All three methods are recognized by law as a “gin distillation” and can use the description “distilled gin” in labeling and advertising.

When the botanicals are placed in or just above the boiling wash, care needs to be taken to “taste test” the distillate and discard the small amount of harsh flavored distillate at the beginning of the distillation. This is not dissimilar to the removal of heads in the initial distillation, but the amount is considerably smaller. When the botanicals are placed in the post-reflux vapor flow, such flavors can be minor or nonexistent but, in fact, every still is different, so check the distillate flavor to determine if some of the initial output needs to be discarded. Remember to dilute the sample to 40% abv before tasting.

Infusion
The dictionary defines infusion as – the act of steeping or soaking a substance in liquid so as to extract medicinal or herbal qualities. It is also known in some circles as cold compounding. Regardless of what it’s called, it’s a method of letting the alcohol solution absorb the aromas and flavors of the various botanicals that constitute the beverage known by many as gin. It’s not that different from making tea except that it’s an alcohol solution rather than hot water.

If the total amount of botanicals used is approximately 20-35 grams/liter of 80-proof alcohol, this can be placed in a large teabag, and allowed to steep in a tightly covered wide-mouth jar. The jar is to be shaken or stirred every hour or so until appropriate level of flavor is reached, the teabag removed and the gin bottled and capped.

The botanicals can also be added loosely (without benefit of a teabag) and filtered through a paper coffee filter at the appropriate time, bottled and capped. This method is generally used for larger quantities.

Blending
Blending is the addition of a predetermined amount of botanical concentrate to a fixed amount of 80-proof alcohol. This concentrate can be purchased or it can be made using an herbal extract stove-top still.

The extract still can be as simple as a glass coffee carafe with a cork stopper and small diameter copper tubing leading to a Liebig condenser and collection jar. Extract stills can also be purchased through some of the larger herbal chain stores and through mail-order scientific supply companies.

While the blending of a concentrate with an 80-proof alcohol is simplistic, the extraction of the concentrate itself can be considerably complex, dealing with a wide range of variables. It is left to the reader to obtain further information concerning materials and equipment necessary to create botanical concentrates.

[fizzix]

Your timing is uncanny as I'm looking at doing more and more gins.
Many of the gin botanicals I order come in excess quantities, and I still have a few gallons of neutral,
so this post is going to come in handy. Bookmarked.

[JellybeanCorncob]

Thank you Bushman: My next endeavor in spirits is gin. Between this post and Oden’s “easy gin” I feel confident that I will be making a fine gin here in the near future.
JBC

[TDick]

@Myles is a frequent Contributor and produced a "Compilation on Gin" which, with his permission, I edited a bit and saved as a PDF.

If it meets with Admin approval and if someone tells me how, I would be glad to attach it and make it available.

[fizzix]

Since I'd never heard of "bitter almonds" that so many of Bushman's recipes here use, I thought I'd pass along the info I found about them
in case someone is just as clueless as I was. Apparently we North Americans are not going to get the real thing because of their toxicity ban.
But don't fret, other stone fruit seeds like apricot make a reasonable substitute.

First is from our own site: Bitter Almonds
Second is a very short web article: The Study Of Booze; Almonds
And last: What to Use When You Can't Get the Real Thing

[Bushman]

Since I'd never heard of "bitter almonds" that so many of Bushman's recipes here use, I thought I'd pass along the info I found about them
in case someone is just as clueless as I was. Apparently we North Americans are not going to get the real thing because of their toxicity ban.
But don't fret, other stone fruit seeds like apricot make a reasonable substitute.

First is from our own site: Bitter Almonds
Second is a very short web article: The Study Of Booze; Almonds
And last: What to Use When You Can't Get the Real Thing

Thanks fizzix for doing this research

[Durhommer]

Ugh someone please tell me how to bookmark this topic still trying to figure out the updated platform

[The Baker]

Of course apricot kernels also contain cyanide but they are unlikely to poison you unless you eat them by the handful.

The almond flavoured liqueur amaretto is, I believe, usually made with apricot kernels not almonds; and it does not usually kill people.

Geoff.

[NZChris]

I don't have access to bitter almonds so I use apricot kernels and loquat seeds. They both contain cyanide precursors, as do apple pips and lots of other things including most stone fruit, but you would have to do something really silly, or be be very determined to poison yourself, in order to extract enough cyanide from any of them to get symptoms of poisoning from a distilled gin. Free cyanide has a very low boiling point, making it even more difficult to capture a significant quantity in your collection jar. If you stick to the quantity suggested in most botanical bills and get rid of a tiny foreshot, I doubt cyanide would ever be a health issue in a gin.

[Rochdaleguy]

@Myles is a frequent Contributor and produced a "Compilation on Gin" which, with his permission, I edited a bit and saved as a PDF.

If it meets with Admin approval and if someone tells me how, I would be glad to attach it and make it available.

Would love a copy if you still have it

[8Ball]

Thanks for posting. I have some heads that need to be turned into something more palatable.

[hartmanhooch]

The provided ratios and amounts are based on final product, not wash volume?

[subbrew]

Thank you Bushman. Your contributions have greatly helped my education

[Bushman]

Thanks for reviving this thread I think I collected some good information on proportions and reminds me of some different botanicals I would like to try in the future.

[Royalwulf]

Yes, thanks for reviving this thread. What do people use to measure the botanicals? How do you measure 0.5g?

[zed255]

Think electronic jewellers scales. Cheap as chips and able to measure tiny amounts.

[howie]

Yes, thanks for reviving this thread. What do people use to measure the botanicals? How do you measure 0.5g?

if you're doing small runs you'll need a scale with 2 decimal points, one of of mine is 0.00 - 500gms scale.
as Zed said, kitchen jewellery scale is the go, just watch out for the different ranges.

[Bushman]

Yes, thanks for reviving this thread. What do people use to measure the botanicals? How do you measure 0.5g?

Here is a photo of the scale I use with a small tray that I tare out for measurements.
viewtopic.php?f=106&t=80441&hilit=Bushman+gin

[Stonecutter]

What an amazing post! I’m sure it was truly a labor of love to bring so much info into the forum.
Thank you for taking the time to put this together Bushman.

[subbrew]

If you don't have a jewelers scale but are a reloader it is easy to convert grams to grains. I use my reloading scale.