What is gin made from?

Gin is made from a neutral base spirit that is re-distilled with botanicals — and by law, juniper must lead. At Humdinger we use a sugar-cane base spirit and distil in small batches in Geraldine, New Zealand, growing our own sloes at New Zealand's only sloe orchard. Here's how it works, step by step.

The short answer

Gin is made from four things:

• A neutral base spirit. Almost pure alcohol, distilled from a fermented crop: usually grain such as wheat, barley or maize, sometimes sugar cane, grapes or potatoes. Ours is sugar cane.
• Juniper berries. The one botanical every gin must have, and the flavour that makes it gin.
• Other botanicals. Seeds, roots, peels and spices chosen by the distiller, such as coriander seed, citrus peel, orris root and nutmeg.
• Water. Added after distilling to bring the gin down to bottling strength.

How to make gin the Humdinger way

The one core ingredient that our Humdinger Gin is made from is the humble juniper berry. This is what gives all gins their signature botanical flavour. Juniper is the fundamental botanical — you cannot have gin without it.

Fun fact: a juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by various species of juniper. It's not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy, merged scales, which gives it a berry-like appearance. Juniper berries are among the only spices derived from conifers, so the berry (or cone) has a slightly piney flavour with a touch of both fruitiness and pepperiness.

Botanicals

Every distiller has their own secret recipe! Some have been years in the making, while other distillers like to experiment with new combinations. At the Humdinger Gin Distillery, we like to give our loyal customers consistency with our signature gins, such as the award-winning Dry Gin and Citrus Gin. The recipes of these two gins need no further tinkering.

However, we do like to keep our gin interesting by producing new flavours. This is achieved by endless trialling, testing and tasting of various botanicals — ginger, nutmeg, orris root and coriander seed, to name a few. Just as well we are gin lovers too!

As Humdinger Gin is owner-operated, we are involved in every step of the process, and being perfectionists helps. Authenticity and consistency count, and quality ingredients are essential to a quality gin.

How gin is made — three vital steps

1. Maceration

Humdinger uses the cleanest neutral base spirit we can get our hands on: a neutral cane spirit. By legal definition, this must be at least 95 or 96% pure ethanol, depending on the country. Clean alcohol is critical for a clean-tasting gin.

Just like artists need a clean canvas, our neutral cane spirit provides an extremely clean base on which to layer deliberate botanical flavours. Our botanicals are precisely weighed and steeped in this alcohol for a day and a night, enticing out elegant flavours and aromas in preparation for distillation.

2. Distillation

This is the fun part, where the gin reaches its full potential in our beautifully crafted stills. Exacting ingredients are added that complement each other and bring out the different notes of the botanicals we use. The proportions? Top secret — you'll be hard-pressed to find any distiller who gives up their recipe!

3. Proofing

A fundamental step! We use pristine water from the upper Orari River's aquifer to dilute the gin off our stills down to bottling strength.

We don't rush this. We proof each gin down to its "sweet spot" — still full of flavour, yet smooth enough to enjoy neat, if you're that way inclined.

Quick questions

Is gin made from ginger?

No. The name comes from juniper, by way of the Dutch word genever. Ginger is sometimes used as one of the botanicals, and there is a hint of it in our Citrus Gin, but it is not what gin is made from.

What is gin distilled from?

Gin starts as a neutral spirit distilled from a fermented crop. For a distilled gin like ours, that spirit is then distilled again with juniper and the other botanicals, which is where the flavour comes from.

Now taste it

That's what gin is made from — and (sort of) how to make it. The best next step is a glass in hand: we offer gin tastings at our cellar door in Geraldine, or you can see the still up close on a guided distillery tour.

Taste the theory in practice with our classic Dry Gin, or browse the full gin shop — we recommend the Citrus Gin, or as we like to call it, "our gateway gin".