Gin
distilling started in London about the
end of the sixteenth century.
Broadly speaking there are two
main methods of distillation – the
British and the Dutch.
In Holland the mash usually has
the flavourings added to it.
This creates a courser-flavoured
drink.
True London Dry Gin is a much
more refined product crafted with great
care by experienced distillers.
It uses the highest quality
fermentation alcohol with botanicals,
dominated by Juniper, added after the
first distillation.
English customs law requires that
the original alcohol is distilled on
different premises to those where the
second distillation takes place.
The
secret of London Dry Gin lies in the
purity of the alcohol and the proportion
of botanicals used in each distillation.
The alcohol used in our Gin is either
from fermented molasses or grain with a
purity of at least 96%.
The botanicals used in
traditional pot still Distilled London
Dry Gin includes the following: -
|
Juniper
berries from Tuscany and Umbria in
Italy.
|
|
Coriander
seeds from Western Europe.
|
|
Cut
and dried Angelica
root from Western Europe. |
|
Dried
Lemon
peels from Spain.
|
|
Dried
Orange
peels from Spain. |
|
Cassia
bark from South East Asia.
|
|
Liquorice
root powder from Spain and other
countries. |
|
Ground
Nutmeg from the West Indies. |
|
Cinnamon
bark from Sri Lanka.
|
|
Orrisroot
powder from Italy (Florentine Iris). |
The
source of botanicals can change from
time to time depending upon the quality
of the local harvest.
All botanicals are carefully
selected by our specialist supplier and
in the case of Juniper berries,
rigorously batch tested by our own
laboratories before acceptance.
As with all natural products,
quality and yields of the essential
constituents can vary from season to
season.
Quality monitoring of ingredients
is an important part of our distilling
process.
The
recipe remains the secret of the Master
Distiller.
The rest of us must guess the
combination, proportions and
methodology. Our Master Distiller has
been involved in making Gin at the
Langley Distillery since 1959.
We have two other experienced
distillers who have worked with major
world brands.
The
process of making Gin
The
botanicals contain essential oils
immediately below the skin of the seed,
berry, peel or bark and it is the
extraction of this in the presence of
alcohol that gives gin its unique
flavour.
The
method used is “batch distillation”
in a pot still. This is a complete
operation like malt whisky rather than
continuous running of the stills as in
the production of grain whisky. One of
the main stills used is over 100 years
old and going strong.
All our stills are traditional
copper construction.
The
alcohol is charged into the pot of the
still and reduced with water before the
botanicals are added in carefully
controlled amounts.
The still lid is then shut and
locked.
(The alcohol has to be reduced in
strength, as pure spirit would harden
the skins of the botanicals and make the
extraction of the oils more difficult).
Depending
upon the individual recipe, a delicate
pre-heating process is sometimes
undertaken and the complete charge is
left for some hours, often overnight, to
marinate.
At the correct time, the
distillation starts with heat applied to
the charge – in the case of our Gins,
through a steam jacket encasing the
bottom of the still. Initially the
stillman will apply enough steam to make
the alcohol boil.
As soon as the vaporised spirit
starts to come over the top of the
still, the pressure must be reduced, the
valve perhaps being only just cracked;
otherwise there is danger of entrainment
– that is, the whole distillation
coming over too soon.
The
vapours pass through the swan neck at
the top of the still to a water-cooled
condenser (using water from our own
underground springs and stream). The
initial part of the distillate, the
“heads”, are impure and are run off
into the feints vats until the gin is of
the standard and quality required. The
spirit passes through a spirit safe
where the quality is monitored before
going into holding vats. The “nose”
of the distiller is critical at this
stage of the process.
The
pure gin will come over at varying
levels to give a final strength of about
80%. When the strength coming over falls
to below about 60% the impurities,
turpenes and camphenes will start to
come through so these “tails” are
switched to the feints vats. The steam
pressure is then raised again so that
the whole distillate comes over, leaving
just water and spent botanicals in the
still.
The feints are re-distilled in a
rectifying still that has a tall neck
containing scrubbing plates, which
remove the impurities so that the
recovered pure alcohol can be used again
to make gin.
At
this stage the distillate does not taste
or have the subtle aromas of our beloved
final product.
The
resulting concentrate cannot be used to
make gin without a very important and
skilful process of blending with alcohol
to produce a high strength gin at over
90% that in turn is reduced in strength
prior to bottling.
The blending process takes skill
and time to carefully consummate the
marriage between the crafted concentrate
and alcohol to yield a gin of
distinction.
Quality
materials, skilled distillers and great
attention to detail are all unseen
factors that help deliver that famous
aroma and taste.
The
result is a top quality fully distilled
London Dry Gin worthy of carrying your
brand.
Our Gins used for customers own
brands regularly win prizes in
independent world recognised
competitions.