"Oaked/Barrel Rested" Gin?

[BraedenB]

I was wondering if anyone out there has tried to make any barrel-rested/oaked/aged gin? As both a whiskey and gin lover I really like some of the products out there (Corsair, Smooth Ambler, Waterloo). The trend seems to be expanding over the last year or two and we are about to do some test runs. However we are a small scale distillery and don't really have the overhead to be experimenting with a ton of our base product.

I was wondering what barrels people are using. It looks like the larger brands are all over the map in terms of using new casks as well as used bourbon, rum, sweet and red wine barrels. I realize that it all depends on the taste profile we are aiming for but it would be nice to know if anyone has tried something that has not worked.

Also what proof are people aging their gin at? Any dilution necessary?Size of barrels and time aged?

Any advise would be appreciated, have experience aging out our whiskeys but these oaked gins are brand new to me.

[Micah Nutt]

At Copperworks we have a Barrel Aged Gin program. It seems that just about everybody that is resting gin in wood uses ex-bourbon barrels. So, we decided to put our gin in everything we can get a hold of except (for the time being) ex-bourbon.

Gin goes in at 53% abv.

I've put gin in (all 200 liters except where noted):

New American (#3 & #4 char) -- 3 months

Ex-Gin (the above New American #3) -- 3 months

Ex-Malt Whiskey -- 7 months

Ex-Peated Malt Whiskey -- 8 months

Ex-Rum -- 9 months

Ex-Port (Fr. Oak, 220 liters) -- 4 months

Ex-Oloroso (Fr. Oak, 250 liters) -- still aging at 5 months

Ex-Mescal -- 5 months

Ex-Tonic -- 3.5 months

I've got a 300 liter Ex-Cognac that will be filled soon.

So, as you can see, there is no set aging time. We sample periodically and to decide when to rack off.

The Ex-Tonic was original a Heaven Hills bourbon barrel, then Ben at Captive Spirits put gin it, then Brad Feather put some of his Kina Tonic syrup in it, then we put our gin it. Afterwards we gave the barrel to Elysian Brewing and they aged beer in it.

Every single barrel aged gin has been radically different. I would say the least interesting were the ex-gin barrels and the ex-malt. Though the later closest to what folks "expect" of an aged gin.

As for now, we are not altering our gin recipe for barreling. The barrel takes a toll on the juniper perception. In time, the juniper might be increased for barrel aged gin to make it a bit more prominent. But for now, let the experiments continue...

[BraedenB]

Wow, thanks Copperworks that is incredibly detailed and helpful. So cool to hear about reusing a barrel 5 times, I bet the flavor on that Elysian beer was unreal.

We will continue the experimentation and let you know how it turns out.

[bluestar]

We use a range of used 10g Black Swan Honeycombs that were first used for our Bourbon Spring™ whiskey. But we use 2nd, 3rd, and 4th use, with prior uses being one-time bourbon, second-use corn whiskey, second-use gin, third-use corn-then-gin, corn-then-corn, and gin-then-gin. And then we age from 4 months to a year. And then we choose from 4-6 barrels, and blend to taste. More fun that way ;-)

[BraedenB]

Thanks for the info Blue Star, i bet the taste profile of the 4th round gin is insane. It sounds like its time to run some experiments...

[chinookpilot77]

I dont normally drink Gin on a regular basis, but I went to my local drinksmiths today and tried 4 different barrel aged gins, as I was inspired by this thread. All were really good. I was impressed, and will be drinking more aged Gins in the future!