Homemade Flavoured Gin 8 Easy Recipes
Flavoured Gin Recipes - Flavoured gins are now very fashionable and popular in bars, but try making your own at home, revamp that bottle of forgotten gin sitting at the back of your cupboard and turn it into something special.
To make your homemade flavoured gin, take a sterilised (dry) jar or bottle and simply add your chosen fruit(s), herbs and/or spices to your gin and leave the mixture to infuse. It really is as easy as that! To turn it into a gin liqueur, simply add sugar.
What should the fruit to gin ratio be - There is no real hard and fast rule here but the best ratio is 300g produce for every 1 litre of gin.
What gin is best to use? Use a decent quality gin such as Beefeater, Gordon’s, London or Tanqueray, don’t use a gin that’s already flavoured artificially (that sort of defeats the object). Try not to use the really cheap stuff either as no amount of added fruit will rescue a cheap gin.
To store your homemade gin infusions, keep in a cool dark place with a tightly sealed lid and they will last for several months.
What equipment do I need? Glass Jars, big enough to hold all the ingredients and ones with a good seal so you can give it a shake without it leaking everywhere.
Bottles to decant if you wish.
NOTE - You can also use Vodka for any of these recipes
Here are some of our favourite Flavoured Gin Recipes to get you started
Seville Orange Gin
6 Seville Oranges
1 Litre Gin
Sugar syrup made from 100g Caster sugar and 100mls water.
Method
Remove the Zest from the oranges, the coloured part, (not the pith which is the white bit underneath and is bitter). The best way to do this is to use a paring knife.
Place the zest into the sterilised glass jar and top up with the Gin.
Place the jar in a cool dark place and shake every 2 - 3 hours, allow to infuse for around 72 hours but how long you leave your Seville orange gin to infuse is down to your own taste.
Once its infused to your liking, strain into a clean glass jar or jug.
Heat the caster sugar and water until it dissolves into a sugar syrup and use to sweeten your bitter orange infusion, add more or less to your own taste.
Pour into clean, glass bottles and label, this gin should keep for at least a year if stored in a cool dark place.
Lemon and Ginger Gin Liqueur
70cl bottle of gin
2 - 3 lemons, zest and juice (no pith)
150g ginger sliced with the skin on
200g caster sugar
200ml water
Method
Make a syrup from the sugar and water by simmering in a pan on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and you’re left with a smooth syrup. Leave to cool before using.
Zest the lemons, making sure none of the bitter white pith is used
Pour the lemon zest, juice, ginger, syrup mixture and gin into a resealable bottle or container. Seal tightly and leave to infuse in a cool, dark place for two to three weeks, shake gently every few days to encourage the flavours to infuse. (You could drink it after a few days but the flavours would quite weak, so its best to be patient as the longer you leave it the stronger the flavour will become).
Taste your liqueur occasionally to see if it has reached the taste and consistency you like.
Before drinking, strain the liquid into a new bottle.
Serve over ice, or topped up with soda, ginger ale, lemonade, or tonic.
Flavoured Gin Recipes
Toffee/Caramel Gin
150g bag of Werthers Originals the hard sweets not the ones with soft centres
70cl gin
Large glass jar, with tightly fitted lid
Recipe for Caramel Vodka can be found HERE
Method
This one is so easy, Add the sweets to a food processor and blitz to a powder or place in a bag and bash until will broken up.
Add the gin and toffee powder to the jar and give it a good shake.
Place in the fridge and shake every so often until all the sweets have dissolved and and voila, it’s ready to drink.
Serve over plenty of crushed ice.
Mediterranean Gin
Simply add a bay leaf, a sprig of rosemary, a few whole peppercorns and a couple of sun dried tomatoes (make sure they’re not full of salt by checking their ingredients) and leave in the sunshine for a few hours. Serve tonic, plenty of ice a sprig of rosemary.
Pink Raspberry or Strawberry Gin
70cl Gin
200g fresh raspberries or strawberries
1 vanilla pod split in half
100g caster sugar
Method
Combine the raspberries/strawberries, gin, vanilla pod and sugar in an airtight jar, close and shake well. Store in a cool, dark place for two weeks.
After 3 - 4 weeks, strain the gin through a sieve or though a double layer of muslin or cheese cloth.
Serve with tonic or lemonade and fresh fruit to garnish.
This gin will keep its vibrant pink colour for a few months and will be drinkable for up to a year.
Cherry Gin
500g Cherries
70cl Gin
150g caster sugar
Method
Wash the cherries well, discarding any that are bruised, remove any stalks or leaves. Put the whole cherries (including stones) into the large jar, along with the gin and sugar. Seal the lid, and shake until most of the sugar dissolves. Reserve the gin bottle if you’re planning to decant the liquor back into it later.
Keep in a cool dark place, and give the jar a shake every day,. The cherry gin will be ready after three weeks, but can be kept for up to three months with the cherries in for a stronger flavour. (Don’t keep the cherries in the gin for any longer than three months or the flavour will start to deteriorate). The cherries will lighten in colour as the gin darkens and takes on the flavour.
Decant a little into a glass, and taste. When you’re happy with the flavour, strain through a fine mesh cloth or muslin, back into the original, or another, clean bottle, discard the fruit. The flavour will keep developing over time, store in a cool dark place.
Serve on its own over ice, mix with tonic, or top up with sparkling water and a slice of lemon.
Sloe Gin
500g sloes, fruit from the blackthorn bush
70cl gin
250g caster sugar
Method
Clean the sloes to remove any stems, discard any that are bruised and place them in the freezer overnight.
Place the frozen sloes into a large airtight jar. Add the sugar. Pour in the gin.
Keep the jar in a cool dark place, for the first week or so bring it out and turn the jar over a few times before replacing it. Once all the sugar has dissolved, leave it in the dark for at least three months.
After three months strain the mixture through some muslin and into a clean bottle.
Serve on its own or make a sloe fizz, pour 25ml of sloe gin into a tall glass and top with prosecco.
Unfortunately for those of us in Spain Sloes are not readily available.
As you can see from the recipes above almost any fruit can be used and the method more or less the same, so have fun experimenting.
STERILISING JARS:
Wash them in boiling water, dry them, and put them in the oven at 100C for 10 minutes.
The lids of the jars you put in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes not in the oven
