Separate botanical distillation

[artooks]

Hi,

I have come a cross some videos in YouTube that some craft gin distillers are distilling the herbs separately like just juniper just coriander and etc, after that they blend and try to create a recipe, do you guys share this procedure, it will take longer to achieve this I guess but is there any advantage to do it what do you think ?

[MartinCash]

A few people here do that. I'm sure he'll chime in, but if I recall correctly, NZChris does either that or a variation of it. Another way to go that is a bit less work is to create a base with the ingredients that you'd normally always have there more-or-less in the same proportions (juniper, probably coriander and or others), then do single-botanical distillations for the ingredients you plan to vary in proportion.

[Demy]

You can do it. There are many ways to aromatize alcohol, this is one. For example you can make a very concentrated herbal infusion, distil this to get a concentrate that you will then mix to your gin.

[howie]

some gin companies also do this for a particular botanical that is seasonal.

[ginfitz]

I’m a hobby distiller with a thirst for gin. I recently distilled 21 isolates using a 3 gallon still, some in straight potstill mode and others using a Stilldragon gin basket. Most were done by macerating 50 grams of botanicals overnight in 1L of 60% neutral, then diluting down to under 30% before running through the still. The gin basket isolates were not macerated and I simply threw 3L of 20% neutral into the boiler with 50 grams of botanicals in the basket. A friend also distilled some in his 2.5L copper alembic. So now we have a gin library of 21 individual botanical isolates.
For me this has been very educational:
1. Big help in creating new gins. You can make one from scratch by mixing isolates.
2. You can tweak gins or individual drinks by adding small amounts of an isolate. An eyedropper is handy.
3. Increased my understanding of botanicals and their flavors. One surprise is that licorice root does not taste at all like the licorice taste in candy.

[Broadfield78]

I’m a hobby distiller with a thirst for gin. I recently distilled 21 isolates using a 3 gallon still, some in straight potstill mode and others using a Stilldragon gin basket. Most were done by macerating 50 grams of botanicals overnight in 1L of 60% neutral, then diluting down to under 30% before running through the still. The gin basket isolates were not macerated and I simply threw 3L of 20% neutral into the boiler with 50 grams of botanicals in the basket. A friend also distilled some in his 2.5L copper alembic. So now we have a gin library of 21 individual botanical isolates.
For me this has been very educational:
1. Big help in creating new gins. You can make one from scratch by mixing isolates.
2. You can tweak gins or individual drinks by adding small amounts of an isolate. An eyedropper is handy.
3. Increased my understanding of botanicals and their flavors. One surprise is that licorice root does not taste at all like the licorice taste in candy.

An old thread I know - but just wanted to say this post has been really helpful for me. After trying a fair few recipes over the last few months, moving to this method has really helped me learn the complexities of different botanicals and how they work (or don’t!) together. Thank you

[Bolverk]

Todd Leopold of Leopold Brothers does his gins this way

[SouthwestAl]

Quite a few of the Japanese Gins I have tried have done it this way too - partly because of seasonal ingredients, and partly because it is perhaps 'easier' to dial in the flavour profile you want. It is also a good way of maintaining consistency between batches for smaller commercial distilleries. You calculate how much you need of each distillate for the year, and distill it when the product is season, and at its best price and freshness. Taking it one step further, you can take the best part of each botanicals distillate too - the higher abv flavours that come out in citrus, or the lower in some herbal notes. You can macerate at optimal abv/proof for each botanical, even using hot water as an extraction 'solvent' for some (either as a 'tea' or in a sous-vide bath for longer macerations at a fixed temperature, as done by Campari for some of their botanicals), and blending with alcohol before distilling.

There's a lot to be said for this method - if you are commercial, and depending on where you are producing (not sure about US regs) the finished product is not categorised as London Dry Gin, but can be Dry Gin or Distilled Gin, however, given the good Gins that exist like Roku, Hendricks, and some of the less good London Dry Gins, I think consumers are less concerned by how a Gin is classified and more interested in the taste.

[jonnys_spirit]

One benefit of making single botanical concentrated essences is that when you're bartending you can mix each drink how you like into straight neutral. 1 drop of this, 10 drops of that, etc...

Maybe even some water based extractions for a variety of "proofing waters".

Cheers,
jonny