Gin Garden

Sunshine

Hi!

Has anyone ever tried to grow the botanicals for Gin in the own garden?
I am thinking about Juniper, Vermouth, Water Lilly roots, roses, cucumber, citrus fruits, Coriander....

Smaug

Pretty sure some of the old timers were growing a few varieties.

There are old post buried in the anals at HD.

FloridaCracker

@Smaug said: There are old post buried in the anals at HD.

Not sure I would want to dig into the anals. Not sure what you might find :-S

Mickiboi

Juniper takes ages to grow. I have 10 trees in, they grow 3 to 5 cm a year. Better plant them now if you want some berries in your lifetime.

Juniper Female @ Mudbrick Cottage Herbfarm AU

I got mine about 6 months ago. Hasnt grown a single mm that i can see.

Kapea

I grow coriander/cillantro, citrus, and have sprouted some ginger plants from grains of paradise seeds (they have not gone to seed yet)

I have they highest hopes for the GoP seeds cause they are expensive as hell to buy. Coriander and citrus peel, not so much. Although, I use the heck outta fresh cilantro leaves in my cooking. (Seeds from the cilantro plant are coriander)

Sunshine

my interest would be in Iris (water lilly) roots. The Iris, that we have in our garden have very nice smelling flowers and Iris roots are said to be very expensive for Gin production. The question would be: how do I harvest the roots (they grow like maniacs) and are my common high Iris the ones used for Gin or are these a completely different breed?

CothermanDistilling

Oris Root (iris) is an art all to itself, 2-5 Yeats of aging are common for it

jacksonbrown

Like this?

Sunshine

@Cotherman: do you use Iris roots?

CothermanDistilling

Orris root is very common in spirits, it is a good 'fixer', it makes the flavors last... I use maybe .1g/liter or less... this book and other references discuss it: The Craft of Gin @ Amazon

Another article: Orris Root: Perfume for Gin @ Wired Gin

jacksonbrown

Anyone use ambergris?

grim

Is whale crap GRAS?

FloridaCracker

I thought that ambergris was something that whales puked up. Used to make expensive perfume with it?

jacksonbrown

As a fixative. There are synthetic versions used in foods.

ElectricEd

Thank you @CothermanDistilling for your link to wired gin. I have a friend that has recently found that it is gin that gives him indigestion. I have been using orris root in my gin since starting, so the next batch I make will be without orris root to see if that's the problem. I wonder what else could be used as a fixative?

jacksonbrown

masitc?

CothermanDistilling

hyssop I see substituted sometimes, but I should not say 'substituted', more like it is there and orris is not... tasting notes say it has a slight lavender note, but I would use lavender at 1/1000th of the juniper amount and go from there if using it... lavender does not play well with others

crozdog

Angelica is another fixative

ElectricEd

Thank you @crozdog, lucky me already has some growing in the garden. ;;)