It seems like Gin labeling is all over the place. I've seen - American , Indian , Whatever location I've seen - Gunpowder Irish Gin, Dry Rye etc TTB is giving us grief about the ingredient descriptions in the label. How do they get away with something like the dry rye or gunpower without having to call it X flavored (which is long and a little less pleasing to read)   ..read more

Hey everyone, I'm hoping to gather some intel on distilling cucumber. I would like to make a small amount of cucumber distillate to add to an existing gin and/or trial some flavoured vodka recipes. We have a small copper pot still that is suitable for small-volume distillation. Hoping some of you might have some advice! Couple questions: Should all parts of the cucumber get used? ie seeds, skin, and flesh? Have you macerated the cucumber before distillation? If so, do you leave the cucumber in the liquid or remove before distillation? What ABV do you macerate at? My current plan is to shred ..read more

Hey everybody, We have a persistent problem with gins produced on an R&D still (20L copper alembic). After years of using this still successfully to make great product, we have recently found that gin produced on this still has a "wet dog," "skunky," or sulfur-y aroma. I'm out of ideas for what the source could be so I'd love to get some more suggestions! Our process is as follows: Cut neutral from 95% to 40% Macerate botanicals for ~24 hours. Total botanical load is approximately 25 grams botanicals per liter of 40% spirit. Run pot still with botanicals inside Take a small (~0.5% of sti ..read more

Has anyone been to, or have pictures of, botanical storage rooms that the big guys use, like the Bombays of the world?  I understand that everything should be in a conditioned space and in air-tight containers, but I'm looking for a scalable solution.  Sometimes friends have the most interesting and creative ideas! ?  ..read more

Hey peeps, I am after some safety advice. Does anyone use centrifugal pumps for transferring NGS? Our gin distillery is very small and we dont treat it as an ATEX zone as its fairly well ventilated and the volumes of alcohol are small. We need a transfer pump but I dont see the point in getting an air operated diaphragm pump, which is more expensive than the centrifugal pump i am looking at. Should I be stumping up for the diaphragm pump? Thanks, SGF ..read more

Hi, Is there any advice that the folks here can give to keep the nose on the gin? What I mean is that the nose seems to degrade overtime for the gin I am making. I use spruce tips and in the first few days the pine/citrusy characteristics are all there. give it a week and it all but disappears. The palate still has intense spruce flavors so I am not worried about that but the nose is just flat. I know a lot of this depends on the botanicals so I am asking a more general question. Has any of you run into the problem of your gin being flat on the nose but great on the palate. How did you solve i ..read more

Is there any necessity that the base spirit for Gin be a "Neutral"?  The way I read it, it can be basically anything "distilled from a base of grains."  It doesn't say anything about proof.  I figure somebody here will know.   Thanks!! § 5.144 Gin. (a) The class gin. “Gin” is distilled spirits made by original distillation from mash, or by redistillation of distilled spirits, or by mixing neutral spirits, with or over juniper berries and, optionally, with or over other aromatics, or with or over extracts derived from infusions, percolations, or maceration of such materials ..read more

Hey Folks, I had a new recipe in my still. 3 days maceration, a lot of crushed juniper, all distilled in the pot with some reflux in the column. We diluted to drinking strength at 45% ABV. It got immediately cloudy. Right now we are discussing the best way to get rid of the louche before we bottle the gin. Adding neutral at the same ABV might be a way. But the dilution we need seems to be to high. We tested and the results are that we need 2 parts neutral at 45% ABV to 1 part of the gin at 45% ABV to get rid of the cloudiness. We are wondering if filtering might be a solution? Has anyone exper ..read more

I’d love to have a chat with anyone running Gin on a 500 or 250 gallon vendome pot still with a 4 plate column. We are having real issues and I have some specific questions for distillers using this equipment thanks ..read more

I went overseas and visitied a distillery. I really liked their gin. When looking at their equipment I saw that they had a small simple still over to the side. When talking to the distiller he explained that they used it to make "gin concentrate" He wasnt really the talking type and I totally respect peoples right to their  recepies, procedures  and other secrets. From what i gathered  the method they used was something like.. 1. They added  some botanicals and 95% GNS to the still pot 2. 12 hrs later they proofed still pot down to 40% and added the other botanicals 3. Afte ..read more