Homemade gin makes excellent cocktails, but it shines in slightly different ones from a supermarket bottle: it is a compound gin, infused rather than redistilled, so it tends to be more openly citrus and botanical, sometimes a shade amber, and it stands up beautifully in drinks where the gin is meant to be tasted rather than hidden. A negroni and a martini are the two that show it off best, and there are five more worth knowing that flatter a bottle you made yourself.
If you are making your gin with the Ultimate Gin Maker's Kit, you have thirteen premium botanicals and enough to make up to ten 700ml bottles, which means you can build several different gins and then work out which cocktail suits each. That is a rather enjoyable problem to have.
How is homemade gin different in a cocktail?
Three differences matter behind a bar.
First, colour. Ours is a compound gin: the botanicals infuse directly into the spirit, and dried orange and lemon peel lend a light amber tint along with their flavour. Commercial gins are usually redistilled after the botanicals go in, which leaves the colour behind. Your negroni will look much the same either way, but a martini made with homemade gin has a faint golden cast to it, which we think is rather handsome and nobody has ever complained about.
Second, strength. Infusing does not dilute the spirit, so your gin comes out at whatever the vodka was. A 37.5 per cent vodka gives you a 37.5 per cent gin, which is worth knowing when you are building a stirred drink where the spirit is most of the glass.
Third, sweetness, or rather the lack of it. The botanical blends contain no sugars or sweeteners at all, so every bit of flavour comes from the juniper and botanicals themselves. In practice that means a homemade gin can take a little more sweetness from the other ingredients than you might expect.
The two classics: negroni and martini
The negroni is the most forgiving great cocktail there is, and the best possible first test of a new bottle. Equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, stirred over ice, served over a large cube with an orange twist. The bitterness and the sweetness meet in the middle and the gin has to push through both, which tells you immediately whether your infusion has enough backbone. If your gin is citrus-forward, the orange twist is not optional, it is the whole point.
The martini is the opposite kind of test: nowhere to hide. Stir gin with dry vermouth over plenty of ice until properly cold, strain into a chilled glass, and garnish with a lemon twist or an olive depending on your allegiances. Ratios are a matter of taste and religion, anywhere from a wet three-to-one to a very dry ten-to-one. Start wetter than you think with a homemade gin, because the vermouth gives the botanicals something to lean against.
Stir both, do not shake. Shaking a spirit-only drink makes it cloudy and dilutes it faster, and after all the trouble you went to infusing the thing you may as well see it clearly.
Five more that suit a homemade bottle
- French 75. Gin, lemon juice and a little sugar, shaken and topped with something sparkling. Bright, celebratory, and very kind to a citrus-heavy gin.
- Tom Collins. Gin, lemon, sugar and soda over ice in a tall glass. The long, refreshing one, and the drink to make when you want to taste your botanicals without the alcohol doing the talking.
- Gimlet. Gin and lime, sweetened, shaken hard and served straight up. Sharp and clean, and a good match for a gin with plenty of juniper.
- Bramble. Gin, lemon and sugar over crushed ice, with blackberry liqueur drizzled through it. It looks far more impressive than the effort involved, which is always welcome.
- White Lady. Gin, orange liqueur and lemon juice, shaken. An old-fashioned drink that has quietly come back around, and one where a homemade gin's fruit and peel notes fit right in.
And of course there is the gin and tonic, which is not a cocktail so much as the natural habitat of gin. Good tonic, plenty of ice and a citrus garnish is still the serve that shows off an infusion best. Your recipe booklet includes cocktail recipes designed around the blend, too, so start there before you go off exploring.
How do you match a cocktail to the gin you made?
By tasting it neat first, which almost nobody does and everybody should. A small sip at room temperature tells you where your bottle sits: juniper-led and piney, bright and citrus-forward, or spiced and warmer. Then match accordingly. Juniper-led gins are made for martinis and gimlets. Citrus-forward gins go into a French 75 or a Tom Collins. Spiced, rounder gins hold their own in a negroni.
This is where making several batches pays off. Because the kit lets you measure with the included spoons and mix and match the botanicals, you can deliberately build one bottle heavy on juniper and another leaning citrus, then run the same cocktail with both. It is the fastest gin education available at a kitchen table, and considerably cheaper than buying ten bottles.
A few practical notes for cocktail-making specifically. Strain your gin carefully at bottling, letting a filter bag drip rather than squeezing it, because squeezing pushes sediment through and clouds the gin, which shows up far more in a clear stirred drink than in a G and T. A slight haze from natural botanicals is perfectly normal and does not affect the taste. And if a batch has come out harsher than you wanted, it infused too long, so soften it by topping the bottle up with a little more vodka.
The Ultimate Gin Maker's Kit comes with a metal sieve, measuring spoons, tasting pipettes, a silicone funnel, and bottle tags and string, plus the juniper and thirteen botanicals. It is hand-packed in Britain, and you supply an inexpensive bottle of vodka for each batch.
Gin cocktail FAQs
Is homemade gin strong enough for cocktails?
Yes. Infusing does not change the strength, so your gin is exactly as strong as the vodka you started with, and behaves the same way in a drink.
My gin is amber rather than clear, will that ruin a martini?
Not at all. The colour comes from the dried citrus peel infusing directly, which is normal for a compound gin. It gives a stirred drink a faint golden cast and no off flavours.
Should I shake or stir a gin cocktail?
Stir anything that is all spirits, such as a martini or negroni, and shake anything containing citrus juice, such as a gimlet or French 75. Shaking clouds a clear drink.
Can I make different gins for different cocktails?
That is rather the point of a kit with thirteen botanicals and enough for up to ten bottles. Measure with the spoons, mix and match, and build a juniper-led bottle and a citrus one.
How long will my homemade gin keep?
Once made, it keeps for twelve months, stored sealed and out of direct sunlight. In our experience it rarely gets the chance.
Fancy stocking the drinks trolley with your own bottles? Browse our gin making kits.
