Contact Us

Various

Juniper Berries/Gin

Juniper, a highly aromatic blue-green fruit is the fundamental ingredient in gin production however the base distillate may contain maize, wheat, barley or rye. For some types of gin molasses and rice may be used. As for most other spirits, gin was also considered a medicinal tonic at first. The Dutch dubbed it "Genever”, the name they still use today. Some time later this drink was introduced to England and they abbreviated the term to gin. It was first sold in pharmacies as a relaxing tonic.

The making of gin is attributed to a Dutchman, Francisco De La Boe who elaborated a drink from the juniper berry as a diuretic. The Italians also lay claim to being the first to produce a spirituous juniper drink.

Gin production starts off with the boiling and fermentation of mixed cereals that will make up the mash. A strong, colourless distillate with an alcoholic volume of 90% or above is obtained after distillation in column stills.

After the initial distillation the aromatic botanicals are added for a second distillation in a basket suspended in the column and undergo a steam distillation. Juniper, the most important ingredient is added, also other botanicals that may be included are aniseed, angelica root, cinnamon, lemon or orange rind, coriander, orris root, liquorice, caraway, grains of paradise, cubeb berries, ginger, nutmeg and cassia bark. The combination of the various ingredients is what differentiates the various gins, each producer closely guarding their recipe. After the second distillation the distillate is diluted with distilled water prior to bottling. For this reason commercial gin will have an alcoholic volume of about 40%.

Many types of gin are commercialised the British gins being London Dry Gin (the most popular); Old Tom Gin (slightly sweetened); Plymouth Gin; and Sloe Gin (sweet gin flavoured with sloe plums) The Dutch Gins tend to be relatively sweet and aromatic.

With some careful practice and persistence you may replicate your favourite gin by varying in method and combination of ingredients. If you would like to try making your own gin at home a basic rule of thumb is to use 20 to 35grams of botanicals per litre of distillate. The botanicals may be steeped in alcohol for about 24 hours before being steam distilled. We have some steam distillation models for professional distillers and hobbyists. If you intend on distilling at home we recommend the small distilling units with column and internal basket or for larger quantities the 2,5L distilling appliance alembic with internal sieve basket or the 6L column alembic with internal sieve basket The botanicals would be added in the 2nd distillation to allow the essential oils to fuse with the distillate resulting in a distinctive and unique gin all of your own making which may equal or even surpass any commercially sold gin.

Vegetable/Vodka

The origins of Vodka can be traced back to Eastern Europe. Both the Russians and the Poles lay claim to its discovery although the word Vodka seems to come from the Russian word "Voda”, meaning water.

Vodka distillation techniques have evolved through time. At one time Vodka was a product of a single distillation but later was re-distilled and even elaborated using honey to improve on the taste. It was in the 18th century that charcoal was first used to filter the distillate in order to obtain a more neutral spirit.

Vodka can be made using cereals (sorghum, maize, and rye), root vegetables (potatoes, beetroot), molasses, soy beans, grapes, rice and believe it or not some commercial vodka may even be produced as by products of the oil refining industry or wood pulp. Water is a fundamental ingredient of vodka as it constitutes 60% of its total volume. In Russia, crystal clear river water was used initially for producing Vodka but was then later purified in order to acquire purity similar to that of distilled water although distilled water is not used as it turns the vodka opaque.

The stages of vodka production are as follows: fermentation, distillation, rectification, filtration, dilution, and bottling.

When using grains to make vodka, these are soaked in water and preheated to encourage the conversion of starches to sugar - so essential in the fermentation process. This wash is then drained and the liquid retained for fermentation. Potatoes are first mashed before preheating. During fermentation the yeast present convert the sugars in the wash to alcohol. After fermentation the alcohol volume of the wash will not be higher than 15% so we will need to proceed with a distillation in order to concentrate the alcohol further.

Long before distillation processes were employed the alcohol was separated from the water and impurities by freezing during the cold East European months taking advantage of the fact that water freezes at higher temperatures than alcohol. A traditional way of distilling vodka was to distil it twice before adding milk to remove impurities preceding a third distillation. Before a final distillation, water was added to dilute the solution together with flavouring agents. As distilling techniques evolved continuous distillation techniques invented in the 20th century using fractional or reflux columns, allowed for an increase in purity and alcoholic volume.

During rectification undesirable components such as methanol are removed. Using a traditional alembic still or Riveted Union Alembic still these impurities may be removed by discarding the heads and tails from the final distillation (see Basic distillation Laws). To avoid having to do double or even triple distillations using the traditional alembic you may opt for the Reflux Column Alembic with which you can obtain a purer and higher concentration of alcohol in a single run. If you wish to use your vodka as a base for liqueurs you may wish to consider acquiring the Complete Alembic Set with Reflux Column. This set includes a complete traditional alembic and the detachable reflux column. So you may distil your vodka using the reflux column and then add a flavouring agent performing a normal distillation using the traditional swan neck and condensing recipient.

After rectification the vodka may be filtered with activated charcoal to neutralise and remove any trace of impurities that may have remained in order to obtain a colourless and flavourless distillate of the highest purity, up to 95% a/v. This is as close to pure ethanol as you can get.

Depending on manufacturers' methods, water may be added before or after filtration to dilute the vodka to acceptable alcoholic levels.

To flavour vodka red chilli peppers, ginger, vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon and various other fruits and spices may be used. Generally vodka is bottled immediately although some vodkas may be allowed to age in wooden casks before bottling.

Whisky/Whiskey

Whisky, from the Irish uisce beathadh or Scots Gaelic uisge beatha, an adaptation from the Latin aqua vitae meaning "water of life”, this is the spelling used by the Scots and the Canadians. Whiskey is what Americans and Irish call their famous eau de vie.

Whisky is a grain spirit made from malted barley, unmalted barley, rye or corn, depending on where it's produced. Barley is the key ingredient of Scottish Whisky and Irish whiskey. Scottish whisky or simply Scotch is generally malted whereas Irish whiskey may be both malted and unmalted. Canadian whiskies are blended multi-grained whiskies made form corn, rye, and barley. Each producer will have their own specific method for combinations of grains for the mash but generally most Canadian whiskies will have a higher percentage of rye and are often termed “rye whiskies”. Bourbon, America"s “native spirit” is made from corn or maize which may also include wheat, rye or malted barley. The natural clear spring water from limestone sources, is a key ingredient of Bourbon which allows us to differentiate between Bourbon and other corn whiskeys. Bourbon production is governed by strict statutory laws. The whiskey must not have less than 51% corn; it must be distilled at a minimum alcoholic volume of 80 % (160 Proof); the use of any kind of additive, with the exception of distilled water, is not allowed and it must be bottled at a minimum alcohol volume of 40%. The Whiskey produced according to these guidelines is called “Straight Bourbon”.

Who came first, the Scots or the Irish? There is a little bit of a controversy here. We don’t know who first distilled Whisky but we can be sure that both contributed to its dissemination and subsequent production in the United States. According some Historians Irish monks started making Whisky more than a thousand years ago, but written references only date back as far as medieval times.  By the 17th century Scottish Lords had their own distilleries. At that time Scotland was at odds with the British Government, who inevitably had trouble collecting taxes from the distillery owners. Despite this, whisky production started to be controlled by the government as from 1814.

The first distilleries in the United States date back to 1640, after the arrival of Irish and Scottish immigrants who came to America to escape economic hardship. These immigrants brought their stills along with them when they crossed the Allegheny Mountains into Kentucky, then Virginia, where Bourbon Whiskey was born. Bourbon gets its name from Bourbon County Kentucky where it was once produced. An abundance of corn crops in that region together with the ingenuity of the early settlers led to its distillation, revolutionizing the history of American Whiskey. 

Whisky is produced in 4 stages: malting, mashing, fermentation and distillation.

For Scotch whisky production, when malting barley, grains are allowed to germinate so enzymes may prepare the starches present for sugar conversion. It is then fast dried to stop further plant growth. Before germination barley is mixed and sifted to remove all foreign matter. It is then soaked in special tanks for two to three days and then spread out over a large area in order to germinate. Germination takes about 8 to 12 days (depending of the region) and is interrupted when the germinated seed is about one inch in size. This Green malt is then rapidly dried in greenhouses or in furnaces heated with turf fire (kilns). For Scotch the quality or characteristics of the whisky depend on the turf fire utilized as the peat imparts a smoky flavour to the malt. Irish whiskey differs from Scotch in that the drying of the mash is not subjected to the smoke of the peat as it is dried in closed kilns. Later still the malt is cooled and stored for a month.

In the mashing stage the malt is mixed with hot boiling water in a vessel called the mash tun and after a couple of hours the starch is transformed into maltose. The result is a sweet liquid - wort, which is transferred to another tank, the underback where the wort is cooled off before fermentation.  

Fermentation of the wort takes about 48hours. Yeast is added for converting the sugar into alcohol.

The liquid resulting from fermentation is twice distilled in large copper pot stills with a conical neck and extended lyne arm. Irish whiskeys undergo a triple distillation The design allows for the reflux of the condensed vapours allowing for a purer distillate. This distillate has an alcoholic volume of between 35% and 65%.  You can distil your own whisky doing a double distillation with a traditional copper alembic still or Riveted Union Alembic still or a copper Alembic still with reflux column.

Scotch, Canadian or Irish whiskey is aged in old oak casks which may have been used to store Bourbon, Sherry or Port wine.

Scotch and Irish whiskey may be aged from 3 to 9 years or more whilst Canadian whiskey must be aged for at least three years in a barrel but are usually aged for up to 6 years.

Bourbon, on the other hand must be stored for at least two years in new, charred, white oak barrels.