Making your own gin
Discussion
I thought you'd enjoy this topic...
Gin is my favourite spirit but I don't drink vodka. I have a half-bottle of vodka going spare.
The theory is this. Vodka is basically just alcohol and water, whilst gin has juniper berries and other 'botanicals' in it. So the plan is to stick lots of botanical stuff into my bottle of vodka and make it into gin (not unlike making sloe gin or rumtopf)
So, what do I need apart from juniper berries? In fact I don't have a juniper but can probably lay my hands on some Leylandii berries. This is going to be interesting.
Gin is my favourite spirit but I don't drink vodka. I have a half-bottle of vodka going spare.
The theory is this. Vodka is basically just alcohol and water, whilst gin has juniper berries and other 'botanicals' in it. So the plan is to stick lots of botanical stuff into my bottle of vodka and make it into gin (not unlike making sloe gin or rumtopf)
So, what do I need apart from juniper berries? In fact I don't have a juniper but can probably lay my hands on some Leylandii berries. This is going to be interesting.
Juniper berries would be the main one for me, though there are loads more, some of which look difficult to get hold of. Angelica?
Mobile Chicane said:
Juniper berries would be the main one for me, though there are loads more, some of which look difficult to get hold of. Angelica?
The Welsh distillery we visited put about 10 ingredients in their gin. On the bottle listed what they use.
Custard Test said:
Chilli's. MadBadger does a very fine chilli vodka. 
Ooh. Now you're talking. I'd go with this suggestion personally rather than try and turn vodka into something it aint.Or, try marinating cherry tomatoes in the vodka (stabbed all over with a cocktail stick), with a dash of Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, a few chillies and a few sprigs of thyme. These are deadly, but great fun.
Mobile Chicane said:
Custard Test said:
Chilli's. MadBadger does a very fine chilli vodka.
Ooh. Now you're talking. I'd go with this suggestion personally rather than try and turn vodka into something it aint.Or, try marinating cherry tomatoes in the vodka (stabbed all over with a cocktail stick), with a dash of Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, a few chillies and a few sprigs of thyme. These are deadly, but great fun.
Or pieces of melon or strawberry if you like fruit.Call into a brew shop and pick up a small bottle or sachet of gin essence. It is usually added to neutral home distilled spirit but you can add any of the various flavour essences to Vodka to make up anything you want.
Although why you would add say Whisky essence to Vodka, when you could just buy Whisky instead of Vodka in the first place I haven't worked out
Some of them are a bit poor, whilst others are just ridiculously good in combination with alcohol produced by an obsessive like me, triple distilled and ten times filtered.
Although why you would add say Whisky essence to Vodka, when you could just buy Whisky instead of Vodka in the first place I haven't worked out
Some of them are a bit poor, whilst others are just ridiculously good in combination with alcohol produced by an obsessive like me, triple distilled and ten times filtered.
Bill said:
Erm, isn't that illegal? If not, and you don't mind sharing, this is a whole new thread IMO
The shop we get our wine stuff from (yeast, pectin, nutrient etc etc) sells this kit:http://www.stillspirits.com/wawcs016154/ln-the-sti...
£150 a pop for the still.
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