Gin number 6

Here is the latest in the gin creation mission. My original 5 bases had the residual botanicals infused for another 2 days with another 100ml of vodka each and the resulting gins sampled and then blended with the original ones. Tasting and retasting, I came to my hypothesis of what I wanted my gin to taste like - all recorded in my Gin notebook, of course. What I was supposed to do is take one of the bases and modify it one bit at a time. But from my repeated tastings I knew that I needed to combine some of the best of each to get where I was wanting to get to.

My target recipe was guided by..

• Less of the Allspice/Cloves notes of Gins 1 and 2
• Yes keep some liquorice
• Yes keep a bit of whole cardamom but a lot less than Gin 4
• Have plenty of citrus but not as much as Gins 2 and 5
• Keep some peppercorn from Gin 1, but try my pink one
• Replace the powdered cassia bark from Gin 5 with some (non-powdered) cinnamon bark, and a bit less of it
• Keep some Angelica root - Gin 3 rather than Gin 5 level
• Add some floral top notes with some rose petals
• Add some root ginger for a more gentle spiciness

This was my resulting recipe:
Juniper                                   9g
Coriander                               5g
Angelica                                 1g   (these 3 are from my Tanquerey inspired base)
Cardamom (whiole)               2g   (although I note none of the commercial gins described in the book use it)
Lemon                                    4g
Orange                                    4g   (a little less than Gins 2 and 5 and matching lemon and orange)
Liquorice                                1g   (as in Gins 3 and 4 - and it's in the blend for Tanquerey)
Root Ginger                            1g   (new)
Pink Peppercorns                    1g   (instead of black peppercorns)
Cinnamon bark                        1/2g (instead of cassia)
Rose petals                              2g   (new)

So how did it turn out?

After 30 hours infusion I filtered off the gin and put the botanicals back in the jar to infuse for another 2 days in 150ml more vodka.

Just one sniff and  little taste and... wow!

Nose: Sweet and herbal
Taste (neat) :  Sweet citrus and perfume
Aftertaste : Very long finish with a slight spicy woodiness from the ginger and liquorice.

50:50 with water: The liquorice and angelica come forward but a long, sweet and light finish with just a little woodiness at the end.

And here it is with ice and tonic. Better than any of the others....

Doesn't that look pretty? Well that's because it is infused not distilled with colour from the pink peppercorns and rose petals. Dawn was pretty impressed too. The floral notes shine through but there is still a firm junipery base with some woody depth and the same long finish.

We had some during our family Zoom quiz yesterday afternoon.

Delicious and already unique. I'm not going to rush it, but will take a few more tastings before tweaking the recipe. I think I might ditch the cardamoms altogether and add a little more ginger and maybe some Hibiscus. More anon.