Stubbydrainers Gin Recipe

[Saltbush Bill]

This recipe has been around now for some years, it’s been made by many, and tasted by even more.
The recipe was originally formulated and posted by “stubbydrainer” on Empty Glasses forum.
The majority of those who taste it give it the thumbs up.
This is my favourite Gin recipe and I think it’s good enough that it should be shared and that it deserves a place here on Home Distiller.
I in no way take any credit for the formulation this recipe.

Stubby’s Gin Recipe
Recipe and method as written by stubbydrainer

For a 2L boiler charge you need these ingredients

30g of juniper berries
15g of coriander seed
2g of angelica root
2g of Cassia bark ( not cinnaman sticks )
2g of liquorice root
4-6 drops of almond essence
2g of grains of paradise
2g of cubeb berries
0.2g of lemon/lime zest
0.2g of orris root powder

Grind the above in a spice grinder ( medium to course )
place grounds in 1 ltr of GOOD CLEAN neutral that is 45%abv. ( I do it in a 5 lltr demi-john ) for 24 hrs , shaking it up occasionally
after 24 hrs add another 1 ltr of the neutral ( @ 45% abv. )
Give it a bit of a shake up , pour into the boiler and distil.

Chuck out the first 50-75 ml and collect the rest, cutting off when the oily streaks are visible in the distillate and before the oils start to make a cloudy appearance in the jar ( small jars are good for this )
Dilute it down to 43%abv. bottle it , and sit on a shelf until it clears ( it can get a cloudyness to it when first broken down ) this can take up to 3 weeks ( well it has for me anyway, and it's like most things , leave it longer and the better it is, but I have a minimum of 8 -10 days , it is a lot smoother than consumed straight away )
Once clear , enjoy it any way you like , I like it in tonic with a slice of lime and plenty of ice :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Yummyrum]

Thanks for posting this recipe Salty .
Like you , I didn’t realise it wasn’t already here .
Made it a few times and it’s a great Gin .
Also drunk a lot of Salt bushes over the years

+1 on the small jars .

I like it in tonic with a slice of lime and plenty of ice

Me too

[NZChris]

The herb bill and ratios are very close to what I often use except that I use stone fruit pits rather than almond essence.

The steep time and distilling protocol is a little different, but not much.

I'll try this when I make my next gin and see what the girls think of it.

Thanks for the "heads up".

[Dancing4dan]

Quick question.

After steeping you are pouring the botanicals into the still?

[Saltbush Bill]

Correct D4D, everything goes into the boiler.
The minimum amount that I can personally do is 4L.
I can do that in my stock standard T500 boiler, without trouble.

[Saltbush Bill]

I've Run a fair bit of this Gin over the past ten years or so. From time to time I will edit this post to add Information that I think may be useful to others.

Cinnamon and Cassia
For those who don't already know, here is a link which shows how to tell the difference between Cinnamon and Cassia when buying it.
It also explains the taste differences.
This recipe uses cassia.
https://www.differencebetween.info/diff ... and-cassia.

STILL
I use this still when making Gin, a simple pot still head mounted to a T500 boiler.
The minimum amount I can run in this boiler is 4 Liters, Ive done that many times without a problem.
Any pot still will do.

RUN SPEED
Run speed is going to be an individual choice.
I've seen people suggest running Gin at super slow speeds, others at medium, and yet others quite fast.
I'm in the fast group and choose to run mine as quickly as the T500 boiler can push it out.......this makes for a pretty quick run.
I've watched stubby run this recipe in person, and he runs his fairly quickly to from memory.
A short video below as an example of how mine runs.

[howie]

looks nice, very similar to a couple of my recipes.
never used almond essence though.
for 2L, i usually toast 3gm (1.5gm per litre) of slivered almonds in the oven at 180°c for 5-7mins (watch them, they burn real quick), then into the mortar & pestle.
i wonder if there's much difference in the final taste?
i must get some cassia and try that instead of cinnamon.

NB always toast more almonds than needed, they're very tasty.

[NZChris]

Swapping out one ingredient for a similar one won't make a huge amount of difference unless you get the ratios too far out of whack.

That said, I've never tried using cinnamon in a gin. You might get away with it if you use a lot less, but I keep my apothecary well stocked with cassia because I know that cinnamon isn't a popular gin botanical and isn't used by any of the commercial producers that make gins that I like enough to buy.