The Different Ways To Make Gin: Extraction And Production!

Posted by Michael Griffin on October 14th, 2019

Before getting into the technical stuff about the production of gin, it is worth defining what is gin first! To be called what is gin, the spirit must have a predominant flavor of juniper. Gin in colorado, have one thing which is common in all the different styles of its production. Any Gin starts its life first a neutral which is often grain-based spirit. It’s essentially pure ethanol, and then the flavors are added through a process called re-distillation.

The Methods of Distillation:

There is not one but various methods of distillation, where each can be used to create different flavors of gin. Broadly speaking about it, there are two most common and major forms for extracting flavors from botanicals that are:

  1. Steeping of the botanicals: This is the traditional method that is being used when the base spirit is placed in a still pot vessel which holds the liquid when it is heated. These can be steeped for long about 48 hours, although some producers will distill the liquid almost immediately. Once it is completed when steeped, water is added to reduce the distillation to increase bottle strength.
  2. Vapor infusion of the botanicals: In this process, botanicals never come to direct contact with a neutral base spirit. First, they are placed in the basket then, the base spirit followed by boiled vapors when risen up. This method is said to give a more gentle flavor to the spirit and is used by various producers for the production of gin in colorado. These methods can also be combined.

Every Gin Has Its Unique Recipe:

This is not the only one where botanical flavors make their way into a specific gin, which affects its flavor. Every gin is made to a specific recipe with specific numbers and weight of different botanicals.
While the flavor of one batch is made by steeping and boiling will be totally different from the other one is made using the vapor infusion method, in order to have different results.


The Distiller Plays A Key Role!

It is the job of the distiller to ensure the botanicals are used in gin are treated in a way where results are in the same flavored product, despite using different crops of berries or herbs over the course of a brand’s particular time. Variance does occur naturally, so this is the up to the distillery to taste a number of samples from which each crop of the botanical ensures the consistency of the flavor.

New Gin Production Methods Are On The Rise!

Considering the recent years, there has been a rise in the methods of production of gin, which are more unusual, as the producers try to develop new and unique styles of flavors to push into the category and find a niche for the need of trying new methods of extraction of flavors as well as to use more unusual botanicals which have now fully grown.
Considering unusual ways, one such way is the vacuum distillation method, wherein producers are favored by brands such as sacred gin, Cambridge dry gin and/or victory gin. Vacuum distillation is a method as the name suggests, it accounts for redistillation of botanicals as they take place in a vacuum. Here, we can discuss a bit of science and technology as the lower boiling point for ethanol is somewhere around 85-90 degrees centigrade and the lower temperature clearly means that botanicals are essentially cooked less than they should, which results in a more fresh flavored gin at the end of the procedure.


So the next time you are about to have a gin, you know you are drinking about all the individual botanicals that have made into your glass of gin, thinking about its method of creation and production and of course, the distiller who would undoubtedly spend months trying batch after batch, to get that recipe spot on.

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Michael Griffin

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Michael Griffin
Joined: May 16th, 2018
Articles Posted: 174

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