Ageing of gin

[Rod]

I make small batches of gin from spirit made from sugar wash

I make a 2 litre batch with 2 litres of 86% spirit and botanicals ( a mixture made up from several recipes from this site ) and steep it for about 4 days

I then dilute to 5 litres and run it though a 5 litre still spirits still without any packing to about 20% using a parrot , discarding the first 10 ml to remove some of the oils

mix it all up and dilute to 40%

gives me about 6 bottles

depending on how much SWMBO , and a few others , drink it lasts less than a year

I store in 2 litre flagons and decant into a serving size bottle as needed

when my last serving size bottle was decanted and I made the next batch I gave it a bit of a taste

do not drink much myself , but it tasted OK

My tasting friends are always after some and maybe being polite tells me its not a bad drop

should it be drunk fresh or should it be aged , the new batch is about 6 to 8 weeks old before it is drunk , usually with tonic .

ie make a bigger batch so it will age for a longer time

thanks to my gin friends on the forum for the information to make what appears to be and acceptable drop

[Odin]

5 weeks of rest is fine. 43% is usually better than 40%.

Odin.

[Rod]

I was coming from the other direction in that it would not age well because the botanicals would lose their floral notes etc