Gin Tincture Formula
Added 2023-03-09 21:36:25 +0000 UTCBelow is a recipe from the Source Book of Flavours (1981) for a gin recipe that makes roughly 1000 litres. I've reduced it to roughly 750 mL for a small batch gin and for convenience as well as converted it to metric and rounded the numbers. For the tincture reduce the alcohol to 120 mL. There is lots of room to play with, as you can increase or decrease the amounts of any botanical. Currently, the total botanical weight in this formula is 13 grams. I'd keep the botanicals to a maximum of 25 grams total, but you could make even more concentrated gin tinctures if you wish, and it suits your application.
To make the Gin Tincture (4 oz) simply percolate or macerate the botanicals in the recipe below in 120 mL of gin, navy strength is better but 40% abv gin will work well too. You can also cut the recipe in half or double it.
The recipe attached below also has an essential oil formula (MF316) and I assume it makes 1000L as well. The Source Book of Flavours is a university textbook which hasn't had a new edition in decades and it is a bit wonky with the formulas, and it often doesn't tell you how much a given formula makes. You can back-calculate using ppm if you want.
And if you have any questions, post them below.
Gin Tincture Formula (120 mL)
9.0 g Juniper Berries
1.2 g Bitter Orange Peel
1.0 g Coriander Seed
1.0 g Angelica Root
0.40 g Sweet Orange Peel
0.20 g Orris Root
0.10 g Licorice Root
0.05 g Cassia
0.05 g Cardamon
Comments
can’t wait to get the recipe for this one with the essential oils and also using the new information you have on emulations
Brent Barcelona
2025-03-05 10:24:37 +0000 UTCA percolator has much better solvent/spice contact due to the shape of the percolator. In maceration, the spices/herbs will float on the solvent, limiting the contact unless shaken. Both will work fine, but for convenience and efficiency a percolator just works better.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2025-02-12 13:28:59 +0000 UTCHello! You mentioned that you just crush the juniper berries in the perculator as well as in the maceration method. This and the alcohol to spice ratio was the differencce to an essence. What is the reason that it takes so much longer when mescarting? I thought the time difference was the particle size when finely ground. Thanks!
Matthias Maschek
2025-02-11 19:59:30 +0000 UTCI haven't done an essential oil version yet.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2024-09-23 22:08:39 +0000 UTCHello Darcy. I would like to make the gin tincture using essential oils but I can’t find that recipe on your site. Can you post it or tell me where to look? Thanks.
Kristine
2024-09-22 03:47:35 +0000 UTCFor juniper I just crack them in a mortar and pestle, but don't grind them. But do crack them as it will help with extraction. Better yet, do a comparison between cracked and ground and see if you can notice a difference. And yes, you need at least cotton wading to help filter out small particles as well as prevent it from plunging the stopcock.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2024-08-13 15:39:06 +0000 UTCHey Darcy! I just ordered the botanicals to try this out and had a few questions. In your Extract video you said to grind your herbs/spices to about the size of coffee, and use cotton and sand in the percolator for filtration. However, your gin tincture is clear and in that video I noticed the botanicals weren’t as finely ground. For the gin tincture, do you recommend grinding to coffee ground size or leaving the spice larger but still homogenous? I know you mentioned juniper can become bitter when ground so I was thinking of leaving that whole, and maybe just making everything else about the same size. And if this would work, would I still need the sand or would cotton do? I appreciate all the info! It’s been great!
William Remillard
2024-08-12 22:25:56 +0000 UTCNo problem. The level of flavour compounds is low enough that it is unlikely to affect the overall flavour profile. Due to their higher use level, the added components will take center stage. Using gin can help round out some of the flavours, but it would stay firmly in the background, and you are unlikely to detect individual components in the gin at that level. And when it doubt, just don't use a gin you don't like.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2024-06-23 14:36:49 +0000 UTCNew member - sorry to comment on an older post! I notice you suggest using gin rather than neutral alcohol in the recipe. Is there a reason for this? Just thinking if using gin that contains flavour profiles that are different to what you are trying to create, could that cause unexpected results? A neutral would ensure flavours only come from the botanicals would it not? I am sure as a newbie I am missing something
ed coppard
2024-06-22 06:48:00 +0000 UTCFor maceration, 5 to 10 days is recommended, just remember not to make a fine powder out of your herbs/spices as that makes it difficult to filter. Coarsely ground stuff works but that is why it takes a little longer to extract.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2024-03-09 14:44:01 +0000 UTCIf you are going to try this out with the maceration method (I really want to buy all this lab stuff, but one thing at a time!) how long do you suggest you leave it sit?
Amanda Harasty
2024-03-07 04:00:16 +0000 UTCI've made it both ways (extract and oils) and the extract version does come out darker (expected) but I've found in the small amounts used it doesn't really effect the flavour. If you want gin-like clarity you'd have to use essential oils.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-10-21 17:11:02 +0000 UTCI finally got around to making the tincture. It came out very dark and cloudy, versus the clear version you show in your video. Did I not filter it well enough (I used the dropping funnel technique in your extract video) or did you use essential oils for your version? Additionally, It's somewhat astringent. Would filtering it more remove the astringency?
Trey2099
2023-10-18 23:41:27 +0000 UTCHello Randy, thanks for sharing this and I'm glad it worked out so well. As for whisky, that one is a bit harder but there are many companies working on similar products. The key missing ingredients seems to be whisky lactones, which smell somewhere between coconut and vanilla, most people just think vanilla, but smell some Buffalo Trace bourbon and you get coconut. Anyway, because the botanicals in gin are known and can be used you get good results, whisky and other spirits are distilled and have a wide range of chemical compounds that make up their flavour but they are hard to reproduce with commonly available ingredients, but at some point I'll give it a try and make a video about it.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-08-20 19:58:30 +0000 UTCI just made my first gin tincture. I have a bunch of different craft gins so I wanted to try varying the flavor profile a bit. I went with 17 g juniper berries (not crushed) 2 g dried lavender buds 2 g star anise, crushed open 1 g cardamom seeds 1 g caraway seeds 1 g crushed cinnamon stick (cassia) This I dampened with alcohol for about 30 mins before adding to percolator, 24 hours, 120 ml (give or take) of a cheap local gin that I bumped above Navy Strength using a bit of Everclear (3 oz gin@40% + 1.5 oz everclear@95% = 4.5 oz gin @58.3%). I know, mixing metric and imperial. Sorry. Result: it’s a fantastic tincture! As Darcy demonstrates, one pump in the glass followed by tonic and ice (I use house tonic syrup using the quinine tincture method and proportions in Morgenthaler’s book). Then a spritz on top. Amazing. It really does carry the full flavors/aromas of a craft gin and most people would be very hard pressed to tell it’s NA. Ok, so did a side-by-side with the actual gin I used and I aside from a slightly cinnamon-heavy flavor profile, the real difference between my NA G&T and an my actual one is that the real one comes off as sweeter. This can be adjusted in the NA glass obviously, so I will try again. Conclusions: This is amazing. My recipe above worked great and it was so easy I will try more. Maybe swap out the caraway for coriander, maybe a little less cinnamon—but the extra juniper totally plays as does the lavender. My botanicals came in under 25g that Darcy suggests as a possible maximum. I was definitely wanting those flavors to pop—especially the juniper if possible. I think it worked. Will add a quarter ounce or so of simple syrup to the NA version of the cocktail next time. Thanks, Darcy! QUESTION: Can we make a whiskey tincture with charred oak and vanilla? What about agave? I want these for all of my spirit groups!
Randy Hanson
2023-08-15 23:31:26 +0000 UTCIt can depend on the quality, age and source of your ingredients. And this is just an example recipe, so feel free to adjust it. If you want more juniper flavour you can add a few a drop or two of Juniper essential oil.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-07-17 12:34:48 +0000 UTCI just finished trying this through a percolator as suggested and it came out very woody and bitter. I did a 24 hour infusion and extracted at 1 drip per second. I was hoping for something with stronger citrus/piney/juniper flavours. Has anybody else had any luck or made adjustments with success?
Alex
2023-07-14 21:39:08 +0000 UTCHey Edwin, the problem with juniper oil is that it is practically insoluble in water so using a lower abv would just cause the oil to separate. I will be doing a video on emulsions in about a month which may offer some help in getting low abv products.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-07-10 10:54:00 +0000 UTCHey Darcy! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. How would you go about creating a non-alcoholic (by which I mean very low-ABV) gin with this MF316 formula using essential oils? Can we adjust the amount of overproof alcohol and water to make the final product come out to 0.5% ABV, or will there not be enough alcohol to keep the essential oils in solution?
Edwin Jain
2023-07-10 03:11:20 +0000 UTCHello Shawn, and yes, I'm a fellow Canadian. The best source in Canada is Sunrise Botanics (Toronto) https://www.sunrisebotanics.com and I pretty much order everything from there, they have an excellent selection and sell in reasonable quantities. And for essential oils, they are a good source as well. Cheers
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-07-03 18:33:41 +0000 UTCHi Darcy- definitely going to give this a shot. I think you are also a Canadian (hello from Halifax), but just wondering if there is a specific online store you use for herbs. My local home brew store has some and I see a plethora of Etsy shops in Canada selling this stuff, but just figured I’d ask. Thanks!
Shawn Martin
2023-07-03 16:44:15 +0000 UTCHard to say, each one will contribute some bitterness, even juniper. Distillation removed the bitter alkaloids. Using essential oils can solve the bitterness as well.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-05-07 13:40:27 +0000 UTCWhich of the botanicals do you think most of the bitterness is coming from? If you were to replace some of them in your recipe, which would be the top ones to replace?
Brandon
2023-05-06 21:22:44 +0000 UTCPossibly too long and it depends on what type of botanicals you used. With the extraction method, you will always get more flavour (bitterness) than the distillation method. The distillation process leaves many of the bitter alkaloids behind. It is a bit of a balance. You can used distilled essential oils for some of the botanicals if want to avoid the bitter extracts. If you want to share the botanicals I can give you some guidance. Are you interested in a video about making a distilled gin concentrate? I've been thinking of making one, I might bump it up in the queue.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-04-15 13:34:55 +0000 UTCI made this last week and I wondered if I did it correctly. It came out very dark. Did I do something wrong? I use 75 grams of botanicals following the recipe above and a 750 bottle of Plymouth Navy Strength Gin. The aroma seems okay but when mixed with tonic it finishes a little bitter. I did leave it in the percolator for closer to 48 hours. Was that too long?
Guy Jackson
2023-04-15 05:38:54 +0000 UTCI made this tincture and it is amazing, also made my own tonic, but that still needs work, I hope you do a video on tonic soon
Gordon VanHoutan
2023-03-26 17:34:52 +0000 UTCThere are a number of non-alcoholic Campari-like bitters on the market, just search for a non-alcoholic amaro. I don't have a Campari formula yet, but it can be done. The bitter compounds in gentian root are water soluble, so it making non-alcoholic bitter flavours is relatively easy.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-03-20 13:44:08 +0000 UTCCould you do something similar with Campari? I’m guessing the ABV would be a problem. Would love a low-alcohol Campari to go with a low-alcohol gin.
Jay Watson
2023-03-19 16:02:00 +0000 UTCIt never occurred to me that alcoholic drinks like gin were just methods of dissolving botanical oils. That by using a tincture as you presented would make the alcohol unnecessary. This is absolutely wonderful, thank you.
Trey2099
2023-03-19 02:50:16 +0000 UTCWhen these non-alcoholic products are first distilled, they have more flavour but as they sit, the oils start to gather at the top (coalescence) and that's when they become a bit flavourless. Also, as the oil gathers at the top the product smells more intense in the bottle than in a drink. These are known problem, so fresh is best. As for viscosity, they must be using glycerin or propylene glycol, which definitely helps keep the oils in solution, though you need a fair amount of it. Seedlip doesn't add either. And when I find a bottle of Pentire, I will let you know what I think.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-03-10 19:55:47 +0000 UTCI definitely want to try this as gin was my go to before I stopped drinking… though you might have been a bit harsh and over general that they all lack flavor. I’ve been extremely disappointed by Lyres, but was surprised by Ritual being so alpine forward… actually reminded me of some small batch artesian gins. My go to NA spirit is Pentire. Both Adrift and Seaward are shockingly flavorful, heads and shoulders above the others. I’d be really curious what they are doing differently, it’s not nearly as viscous as Ritual. Seedlip was what started the NA spirit market, not even sure it could be classified a gin alternative, but I’d really be curious on your take of Pentire. Neither exactly a gin alternative, but so far, the best I’ve found flavor wise… by a considerable amount.
Serious Fondue Rodeo
2023-03-10 17:24:01 +0000 UTCYou are correct, gin does not need to be distilled. Historically, essential oils were simple added to neutral grain spirit to make gin, or just making an extract of botanicals works as well. A number of small gin producers do it this way, because it is easier.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-03-10 12:35:03 +0000 UTCCognac oil is an ester distilled from the lees/yeast after primary distillation and is used for flavouring spirits. The chemical name is ethyl heptanoate.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-03-10 12:33:02 +0000 UTCWhat is "cognac" in the recipe? Actual cognac, or something else?
Shale Lewis
2023-03-10 06:52:25 +0000 UTCHey Darcy, It seems that gin is neutral alcohol with aromatics dissolved in it and like you wrote, you can macerate or percolate the aromatics into it. So does gin need to be distilled at all or what is the purpose behind it? Thanks for sharing.
Janne Goman
2023-03-09 22:23:09 +0000 UTC
