Home Gin Infusion

Those of you that follow me must know by now that I'm a fan of bespoke and customized clothes, so why not follow that enthusiasm in to my other passion in life – cocktails. 

I'm no novice when it comes to infusing vodka with a variety of different flavours, from my first baby steps of Skittle flavoured vodka in to more advance botanicals. With a little inspiration from a friend and colleague I thought why not have a crack at making my own gin infusion - and that is exactly what I have done.

Gin is a neutral spirit that has gone through a second distillation of botanicals, predominantly juniper. The word gin is derived from genièvre (French) and jenever (Dutch), which means juniper, this essentially makes gin a juniper flavoured vodka. If I've blown your mind, good – you've taken your first step into the rabbit hole.

Whereas it is illegal to distil spirits in the UK without a license there’s nothing stopping you infusing a spirit to make your own bespoke gin. So where to start, that is the question?

You’ll need some basic equipment such as a funnel, strainer and contain for infusion. I have a large tea infuser that works very well. 

Secondly you’ll need to choose your base spirit, namely vodka. Don’t make the mistake of buying a cheap and nasty vodka, this will almost certainly produce a cheap and nasty gin. I myself went for a premium Russian Standard.

Thirdly you’ll need to pick your botanicals, this is where is becomes bespoke. The only unchanging element is that the predominant flavour should be juniper, but other than that let your imagination run wild. Traditionally coriander, angelica and orris root, whichhelps to combine the flavours and various citrus fruits are used, here as follows is what I tried –

Juniper berries - 22g
Angelica root – 2g
Coriander seed – 8g
A few fresh basil leaves
A sprig of rosemary
Lime peel

I left this to infuse for around 24 hours and the spirit was left with a pleasing slight gold colour. So how did it taste? The gin had a nice peppery kick with a mild juniper taste and works very well in the traditional gin and tonic. Next time I think I would add more juniper and lime peel and perhaps some elderflower to give it a more sweet edge. This is certainly a work in progress and I will continue to refine the recipe.

Why not have a go yourself and let me know how you get on!

The SilverFox