Hendrick's Gin, anyone?

fahdoul · Post by **fahdoul** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 5:17 am

A buddy who is obssessed with Hendricks cucumber gin, a very good but equally expensive gin from Scotland has been tryin to find out what is in it, and sent me this which he got from Hendricks, which I thought worth sharing:

Each stimulating and worthwhile in its own right, the true magic of our 11 botanicals is the way they mix to create a flavor infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. Although we are happy to reveal some of the ingredients, the actual proportions and precise method of layering our botanicals together is a closely guarded secret:

Meadowsweet – A flower which wafts warm fresh green notes. Found in Northern Europe.

Coriander – When crushed (or bitten) these tiny, chestnut-colored seeds release their flavor, which evokes ginger, lemon and sage. Our coriander comes from Eastern Europe or Morocco and is highly aromatic.

Orris Root – Aged 2 to 3 years, our Peruvian or Moroccan Orris is lusciously fragrant and tastes of violet, tea and earth. It helps bind with the other flavors to create a seemless yet intricate blend.

Juniper – From Italy and Serbia, these jewel-like, deep purple berries carry and exotic, fragrant, spicy, bittersweet taste that’s reminiscent of a Celtic forest.

Angelica Root – Musky and sweet with a piney, dry edge, Angelica is also known as the archangel root and considered by some to have healing and guardianship powers. Imported from France and Belgium.

Orange & Lemon Peel – We use the peels rather than the flesh because that’s where the oils reside. We go out of our way to find bitter Spanish oranges because their oil is the most intense.

Cubeb Berries – We use cubeb berries to impart a spicy, peppery taste. Imported from the Spice Islands and Indonesia.

The botanicals are instilled during distillation. We then add two curiously marvelous ingredients into the flavor basket, Bulgarian Rose, hand-picked in May and June and the coupe de grace – cucumbers from Holland.

Our little friend, the Carter-Head still ensures these two marvelous ingredients nestled in the flavor basket are bathed in the vapors rather than boiled alive.

There are two interesting discrepancies in the account, but I will leave it for someone else to point them out.

hornedrhodent · Post by **hornedrhodent** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 5:44 am

Nothing to do with 'Jimi' then?

duds2u · Post by **duds2u** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:09 am

I guess they really do keep their recipe secret, what's the eleventh spice?

vinifera · Post by **vinifera** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:50 pm

Hendrick´s gin is a very mild balanced gin with only traceable amounts of rose petals and cucumber - if you know it's in there. I've done some experimenting on making a copy. Didn't have all the ingredients but I made a fair copy.

Step one:
Juniper berries 50g
coriander 50g
bitter almonds 5g
angelika root 2.5g
liquorice root 5g
Lemon peel 1 g
Bitter orange peel 1 g

These herbs were macerated in 50% alcohol and disitilled in an essence distiller made of a pressure boiler(?) and a liebig condensor. The essence is mixed with alcohol to 5 liter, 40%. Good copy of Tanquerey gin, BTW.

Step two:
I didn't read the Hendrick´s recipe too good so I distilled three small cucmbers in alcohol and got an essence that will last a while. It's very intence but quite nice.

I did the same with rose petals but the rose bouguet doesn't seem to be soluble in alcohol so good. The lychee/rose smell came first when the alcohol level dropped.

Anyway, mixing the gin with some more alcohol to make it less aromatic plus adding some drops of cucumber essence and more of the rose essence made it taste quite close to Hendrick´s. Not identical but good enough for me.