Gin mix and matching

Ever fancied mixing your own gin? Well now you can thanks to Sacred, which is launching no less than 28 different distillates ranging from traditional gin botanicals such as coriander and juniper to wormwood and aniseed.

Distilled under vacuum by Ian Hart at his micro-distillery in north London, they’re all 40% abv so you can, in Hart’s words, ‘literally mix them in a shot glass intuitively and go straight for the jugular’. Alternatively Hart is producing a short manual with guidance on how to get the best results based on the experience of creating his own gin and botanical vodka (an extract of this document is reproduced below).

A neutral grain spirit is also on the cards to make it easier to adjust aromatic power. ‘The possibilities are endless,’ as Hart says.

RRP £12.95/20cl. Gerry’s Wines and Spirits, 020 7734 2053. It will also be available to taste at the Imbibe 2010 show on 13^th & 14^th July at Earls Court

Individual Botanical Distillates from Sacred Microdistillery
Ian Hart

How to use these distillates:

You should taste the botanicals straight to start with. They have all been vacuum distilled at low temperature and blended to a 40% alcoholic strength, at an aromatic intensity suitable for drinking straight – at room temperature, or from the freezer. The difference when drinking from the freezer is that your mouth and nose become a biological fractionating column, so that highly volatile ethers and esters distil into your nose first, followed by the higher boiling point (lower vapour pressure) terpenes and alcohols as your mouth warms up. Hence drinking these distillates from the freezer lengthens the aromatic profile, whereas drinking at room temperature delivers all of the fun at once.

At the moment there are around 28 different botanicals available – see list at end of Appendix below, though this list will grow, and some will become available in organic versions. Looking at how to combine 28 different botanicals (one shot of juniper mixed with one of lime and one of cassia etc.) there are 28 factorial possible cocktails! 

That is 304,888,344,611,713,860,501,504,000,000 cocktails – certainly more than I can handle in an evening (or even a weekend...)

My solution is to look at old recipes, and follow hunches when creating new drinks. When using these botanicals I suggest using sets of 7 at a time, and working out the combinations that you find appealing. If you want to create a gin, for example – start with a shot of juniper, up to half a shot of citrus, and then teaspoon (approx 1ml if you have a pipette) quantities of angelica, orris, cardamom, licorice, nutmeg, coriander, cassia, cinnamon, star anise, etc. Stop after each addition, and have a tiny sip to understand where you have got to. At some stage you will create something wonderful – note when that is, and write down the recipe. When you get to this stage, the next typical occurence is that you will add something to spoil it. Don’t worry! Put it to one side, and start again with larger quantities – but stop when you have your wonderful gin – and don’t add the spoiler. This is your first unique gin.

Of course these botanicals can be used to create many other classics, including vermouths, absinthe, flavoured vodkas – or simply to create unique cocktails. There is no other product currently on the market that empowers you to create your own cocktail in this way.

Appendix – an incomplete list of known aromatics in various botanicals:

Orange
a-pinene, sabinene, myrcene, limonene, linalool, citronellal, neral and geranial

Lemon

Limonene, Citral, Geranial, Citronellyl Acetate, Pinene Lime a-pinene, B-pinene, sabinene, myrcene, limonene, y-terpinene, terpinolene, octanal, nonanal, tetradecanal, pentadecanal, trans-a-bergaptene, caryophyllene, B-bisabolene, geranial, neryl acetate, geranyl acetate, a-terpineo, linalool

Juniper

pinene, myrcene, sabinene, limonene, cymene, terpinene, thujene, camphene

Cinnamon

cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, benzaldehyde, cuminalddehyde, pinene,

Cassia

cinnamic aldehyde, cinnamyl acetate, benzaldehyde, linalool and chavicol

Clove

Eugenol, acetyl eugenol, beta-caryophyllene and vanillin; crategolic acid; triterpenoids like oleanolic acid, stigmasterol and campesterol; and several sesquiterpenes

Black Peppercorn

piperine, which is found both in the outer fruit and in the seed. Refined piperine, milligram-for-milligram, is about one percent as hot as the capsaicin in chilli peppers. The outer fruit layer, left on black pepper, also contains important odour-contributing terpenes including pinene, sabinene, limonene, caryophyllene, and linalool

Cumin

cuminaldehyde (4-isopropylbenzaldehyde), beta-Pinene, Cuminal, Gamma-terpinene

Vanilla

vanillin

Cubeb

cubebene

Coriander Seed

borneol, linalool, cineole, cymene, terpineol, dipentene, phellandrene, pinene and terpinolene.

Nutmeg

Terpinen-4-ol, Pinene, Sabinene, CineoleCamphene, Limonene, Myristicin, Alpha Terpenene

Angelica

β-terebangelene, and other terpenes,  β-terebangelene, methylethylacetic acid and hydroxymyristic acid.

Plumstone

benzaldehyde

Pink Grapefruit

Limonene, Geraniol, Citral, Citronellal, Neral

Star Anise

anethole, phellandrene, safrole & terpineol

Aniseed

a-pinene, camphene, b-pinene, linalool, cis-anethole, trans-anethole, safrole, anisaldehyde and acetoanisole

Wormwood

thujone

Fennel

a-pinene, myrcene, fenchone, trans-anethole, methyl chavicol, limonene, 1,8-cineole and anisic aldehyde

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