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coop

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We are looking for some Botanicals for making gin. Just wondering where you Gin makers are getting yours. Are you able to purchase pre-made up packets? Thanks, coop

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We are looking for some Botanicals for making gin. Just wondering where you Gin makers are getting yours. Are you able to purchase pre-made up packets? Thanks, coop

Hi Coop,

I wish it was that simple. We buy botanicals from 3 suppliers, as no one here in Australia offers the full range, and if they do, sometimes the quality of each batch varies greatly. Gin formulations are highly subjective and proprietry, it took me about 12 months and over 400 trials to get the spec right, for two reasons;

  • Gin is not Gin, there are many types and sub classes of Gin, you need to understand the market you are hitting (predominatly mixers, or straight drinkers) For instance the new Hendricks is considered by most Martini drinkers to be too aromatic, but fine for a G&T. Pick a gin you like and emulate that.
  • The flavour statement in every batch of corriander and juniper varies greatly depending on the season, origion and freshness. We buy 200kg lots of juniper three times a year, and we blend from each, trying to get some consitenecy, sort of a solero system, adding at the back and working through. Junipers store brilliantly, if the conditions are correct. No so for corriander, we now have a reliable source of locally grown, so I can be sure of the seed quality from batch to batch, but even then we allways trial a new crop.

I have scoured the world for pre-packed botanicals, but they do not exists (probablyf for the reasons I have stated above). I have found a number of poor escenses, but using them would disctate your product being a compounded, not distilled Gin under EU law, not sure about the US regs in this space.

Gin is actually hard work to get it perfect, but when it is, its phenominal. Happy to ask any questions at all except what is my formulation (apart from 2:1 juniperto corriander) :-)

rich..

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Hi Coop,

I wish it was that simple. We buy botanicals from 3 suppliers, as no one here in Australia offers the full range, and if they do, sometimes the quality of each batch varies greatly. Gin formulations are highly subjective and proprietry, it took me about 12 months and over 400 trials to get the spec right, for two reasons;

  • Gin is not Gin, there are many types and sub classes of Gin, you need to understand the market you are hitting (predominatly mixers, or straight drinkers) For instance the new Hendricks is considered by most Martini drinkers to be too aromatic, but fine for a G&T. Pick a gin you like and emulate that.
  • The flavour statement in every batch of corriander and juniper varies greatly depending on the season, origion and freshness. We buy 200kg lots of juniper three times a year, and we blend from each, trying to get some consitenecy, sort of a solero system, adding at the back and working through. Junipers store brilliantly, if the conditions are correct. No so for corriander, we now have a reliable source of locally grown, so I can be sure of the seed quality from batch to batch, but even then we allways trial a new crop.

I have scoured the world for pre-packed botanicals, but they do not exists (probablyf for the reasons I have stated above). I have found a number of poor escenses, but using them would disctate your product being a compounded, not distilled Gin under EU law, not sure about the US regs in this space.

Gin is actually hard work to get it perfect, but when it is, its phenominal. Happy to ask any questions at all except what is my formulation (apart from 2:1 juniperto corriander) :-)

rich..

Let me assure you and any one else that I had no intentions of using any ones formula for the gin. I just was looking for some one place that would have everything I would need. The only thing we have locally is the juniper berries. We have millions of trees right here and I just go out in my own yard a just pick what I need. Always fresh but we have nothing else. Thanks for helping me. Coop

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The only thing we have locally is the juniper berries. We have millions of trees right here and I just go out in my own yard a just pick what I need. Always fresh but we have nothing else. Thanks for helping me. Coop

Be very careful of 'wild' junipers, there are about 20 cultivars that I am aware off. Only 1 is suitable for Gin, and that is Juniperus communis subsp. communis var. communis (known as the European cultivar). From what I know, the US grows mainly Juniperus communis subsp. communis var. depressa. Although almost identical, I know that the main UK Gin distilleries will not accept the var. depressa berries, as they state they are too astringent. I import only var. communis from Scotland and Italy. I know a couple of US Distilleries are using var. depressa with excellent results, so the UK experience may be unfounded, they pioneered the stuff (please note I did not say invent).

Ironically, Junipers for Gin should not be used fresh, the general rule is they need to be 'aged' for at least 6 month, preferably in wood. We used old oak wine barrels with the head knocked out and turned into a lid, an airtight seal is not required, in fact opening them up once a month helps to stop them sweating. If picking your own, make sure they have started to shrivel on the tree first, to reduce the water content and helps prevent spoilage mold in storage. Fresh junipers (you know they are too fresh when they macerate up with a green/blue rather than yellow tinge, impart an astringent/green/leaf sap quality to the Gin. Aging appears to allow this compound to break down into less volatile chemicals. Juniper Berries if picked fresh and stored correctly, will age and maintain their Gin quality for up to 2 years. Junipers sold for dairy, cooking & food use, the opposite applies, the fresher the better.

The rest.. I would be very surprised if you could not get the coriander seed in the US locally, as well as the lemon and sweet orange peel. Bitter orange peel is only available from Spain. The nutmeg, mace, cloves, white/pink pepper and cardamom are only grown in the tropics, mainly India and Sri Lanka. As you need so little of these, again you should be able to source them locally (take a trip to Little India in any major city, these are all very common ingredients in Indian cuisine) The rare ones like bitter almonds, Cubeb berries, Grains of paradise, sea mint, etc are almost impossible to get reliably, and I challenge anyone to identify their benefit in a good gin, they are more an issue of tradition, rather than essentials. Always buy whole, never powder or ground, and crush your own.

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We are looking for some Botanicals for making gin. Just wondering where you Gin makers are getting yours. Are you able to purchase pre-made up packets? Thanks, coop

Coop, there are tons of suppliers in the US- I'm sure there's got to be a few in Colorado. We get ours from http://www.thespicehouse.com/ excellent service and excellent selection, you may find better prices but they happen to be about 3 miles from us so when we run out of something it's only a 20 minute trip. There are several others we've used including http://americanmercantile.net/ , http://www.spicebarn.com/ ... all have been good. A google search either for spices in general or for a particular botanical should yield tons of results.

No premade packets, but we started with a typical recipe and added our own touch to it with uncommon (at least for gin) ingredients as we developed it. Takes quite a bit of time and a lot of tossed batches but when you hit it right you'll know it. Good luck!

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