Gin from sugarcane?

[chinookpilot77]

I've not drank much Gin, or been interested in making Gin as part of my business until I had a few wonderful barrel aged Gins a few nights ago.

My business plan and proposed building will be focused primarily on Rum. I will not be making Vodka initially, as I will not have the equipment to do so out of the gate.

I do not want to source totes of alcohol from ADM or ultra-pure. The customer base and local "mixologists" in my immediate area are quite educated in distilled spirits and frown on this process.

So my question is, is it in compliance to to take a sugar-based spirit, distilled well under 190proof, (ie, Rum), add my juniper, and then call it Gin? I have not read in the BAM or the CFR that it has to come from neutral spirits, just be lead by juniper flavors. However, in the "Distilled Gin" category, it does state that gin is "Distilled from mash".

Somehow I doubt that "Juniper Flavored Rum", would sell very well. haha

So, I guess my question is how I'd go from Rum, to Gin, and then what category would I be in, ie, Distilled or Re-distilled?

[bluestar]

if you add to your rum, it is compounded gin. yuck, generally.

if you redistilled from your rum with juniper and botanicals added to it in the still, it is redistilled (labeled distilled) gin. this can be a very nice product, if you do a nice match up of the base spirit flavor with the botanicals. and you will need a formula approval.

if you read the CFR section on gin carefully, you would see it is quite explicit there.

[chinookpilot77]

I wasnt planning on compounding. I was going to install a gin basket on my pot still...do a stripping run, on my sugar wash, then a spirit run with the botanicals in the basket.

Thank you Blue star. Your posts are always very informative.

[Falling Rock]

Rum to vodka, vodka to gin.

You would not be the first to make vodka and then gin from sugar cane. Jamaican distilleries have been doing it for ever...in fact a guest speaker at 2014 ADI conference described it with humorous stories of their process.

How you turn the vodka to gin is your choice. To over simplify there are three processes...

Distilled- botanicals in the pot.

Vapor infused- Botanicals in a chamber the vapor passes through

Compounded gin- Vodka macerated with botanicals.

A lot of famous brands are compounded...

[chinookpilot77]

But thats exactly me question...can I get to Gin, from Rum, without first hitting 190 proof?

Do I NEED to hit 190 at some point in this process, or can I go to, say, 170 on the second, vapor infused, spirit run?

[Falling Rock]

As I read Chapter 4, you only need 190 ABV if you are Compounding.

http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/bam/chapter4.pdf

Others will be by...

[Silatjunkie]

You are not required to have a neutral spirit base to create gin but it is commonly done that way. Most gins are re-distilled.

[lokibrew]

Check out Downslope Distilling in Colorado.  They make a rum, vodka and gin all from the same sugar cane base.  It's not a traditional gin, but it's tasty and sells.   

Mitch also does a great two day class that's a great starter and consults.   Not sure how often he'said on here though.