How Is Gin Made?

Gin is defined as follows, an organoleptically suitable spirit derived from an agricultural origin, it must be predominantly flavoured in juniper and have an alcoholic content of no less than 37.5%, in more consumer friendly terms Gin is made up of three main building blocks; Spirit, water and botanicals. Juniper berries are the only legally required botanical to be used in Gin, after that the choice of botanicals is unlimited.

In order to make gin we need to combine these three main building blocks through a process called distillation. Here at G&J Greenalls our Master Distiller Joanne Moore describes the basic principles of the process and explains where the Science meets the Craft.

The basic principles of distillation is based on the fact that the two different liquids (spirit and water) have different boiling points. Essentially this is a separation technique. The water boils at 100C and the spirit (also known as ethanol) boils at a slightly lower temperature of 78.50?.

The Process:

The diagram below shows a simple schematic of the distillation process, if you click on each step it will tell you more about how the Gin is made.

Step 1:

The spirit & water are measured out and pumped into copper pot stills along with a specific weight of botanicals which is required for each individual Gin recipe.

The botanicals are allowed to “Steep” in the spirit and water mix prior to heating the copper still which helps to awaken the wonderful flavours from the botanicals.

Step 2:

The Copper still is then heated by the means of a steam jacket that cups the bottom half of the still.

Once the temperature inside the still reaches 78.50? the ethanol will start to boil. As the ethanol boils the vapour will rise up the neck of the still and as it does this it will take with it the different flavours from the botanicals which are inside the still.

Step 3:

The vapour will continues along the swan neck of the still until it reaches a part of the distillation equipment called a condenser, once the vapour hits the cold temperature of the condenser it changes the vapour back into a liquid again.

Of course the various flavours from our botanicals are not all removed at the same time and so the distillation continues until the right amount of flavours are removed. This provides each gin with its own unique aroma and taste profile. It’s important to understand that the mixture of the botanicals used is an integral part of any Gin recipes and so will be closely guarded secret know only by a few individuals.

Step 4:

The best part of the distillation is middle often refer to as the hearts this is what we use for bottling. The start ( known as the heads) or the end ( known as the tails) of the distillation, are discarded as they are not considered pure or clean enough for consumption and so are sent to the feints tank.

Step 5:

As for the heart of the distillation, this will then be left to rest, so that the flavours settle together with the spirit. Our Master Distiller likes to refer to this period as the time whereby the flavours find their pecking order within the flavour profile before it is reduced with water and made ready for bottling.