Organic Gin

What is Organic Gin?

Organic Gin is an organic spirit that gets its taste from organical sourced botanicals. These plant-based ingredients release aroma into the spirit, usually in the form of oils. These organic botanicals can include seeds, fruit, roots and herbs. The ingredients of organic gin differ greatly for all gin types. The best organic gin, therefore, relies on individual taste.

What are the different gin types?

Whether you want to market a gin that is ready to bottle or make your own gin, it is important to first understand what distinguishes gin types from one another.

Gin

This is made by compounding ethyl alcohol with flavours, either artificial or natural. Gin can be coloured.

Distilled Gin

Production of distilled gin is usually in two parts. The first part is the re-distillation of ethyl alcohol in the presence of natural flavours.
After the distillation, further flavours are added and they can be either natural or artificial. Distilled gin can be coloured.

London Gin

This differs from the other gins in that all the flavouring must be part of the distillation process and the flavouring can only be natural flavourings. After the distillation, only ethyl alcohol, water and a tiny amount of sugar can be added to the distillate. (The amount sugar added is so small that from an organoleptic standpoint it has no effect. It is added for brand protection reasons)

• The production of all gin must ensure that the taste is predominantly that of juniper berries (Juniperus communis) and there is a common minimum strength of 37.5% abv.

This change in legislation could influence some brand labels because London Gin was previously not fully defined. It was only described as a type of “distilled gin” and therefore some products labelled as a London Gin might have been taking advantage of this lack of definition to call themselves London Gin when in fact they are a “distilled gin”.

The Gin and Vodka Association is seeking to ensure products are correctly labelled, including those produced by its members in other countries, and to get the new definition adopted by non-EU authorities and producers. For example, a proposal was made to the Chinese authorities last year. The association is also investigating what accreditation or Kite mark might be developed to further enhance the reputation, promotion and protection of the London Gin category.

Gin is a distilled spirit flavoured with juniper berries and any other botanicals or herbs that at to the taste. The mash of the base spirit, the juniper berry, and the different botanicals will result in your own craft distillation of Gin.

But there is a lot more to understanding gin. The balance of the Juniper with botanicals and herbs, the production techniques, and even the cask ageing nowadays.