You can make pink gin at home without a drop of artificial colouring: infuse a plain gin with fruit, flowers or spices that carry their own pigment, and the spirit takes on their colour as it takes on their flavour. Raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, hibiscus and blue pea flowers all give up colour readily, and most of them do it in a day or less on a kitchen worktop. What follows is what makes a gin turn pink, which botanicals give which shade, how to run an infusion so the colour is bright rather than muddy, and the more theatrical alternative: a gin that arrives blue and turns pink the moment the tonic hits it.
What actually makes a gin turn pink?
Colour in a home infusion is simply plant pigment dissolving into alcohol, and two families of pigment do nearly all the work. Anthocyanins are the reds, purples and blues of berries, hibiscus, red cabbage and blue pea flowers, and they are famously sensitive to acidity: the same pigment can read blue in a neutral liquid and pink or violet in an acidic one. Betalains, the pigment behind beetroot and prickly pear, are a more stubborn magenta that ignores acidity but fades faster in light and heat.
That distinction explains why two homemade pink gins can behave completely differently in the glass. A raspberry gin holds roughly the same shade whatever you pour on top of it. A blue pea flower gin does not, and that is precisely why people make it.
It also explains the commercial pink gin boom. Most of the pink bottles on the supermarket shelf take their colour from added flavourings and, very often, a good deal of sugar. Doing it yourself puts you in charge of both.
Which berries and botanicals give the best natural colour?
Some ingredients are generous with their pigment and some are stingy. These are the ones worth your gin:
- Raspberries. The most dependable of the lot. They release colour quickly, taste unmistakably of themselves, and give the soft rose shade most people picture when they hear pink gin.
- Strawberries. Prettier in the jar than in the bottle. Strawberry pigment is paler and fades sooner, so hull plenty of them and expect a gentle blush rather than a bold pink.
- Blackberries and blackcurrants. Powerful, and they run purple rather than pink. Use a light hand.
- Rhubarb. Only the reddest forced stems give real colour, but the flavour is superb: tart, clean and very British. Chop it small so the skin is doing the work.
- Hibiscus. Dried hibiscus flowers give a deep ruby in an hour or two and a pleasant cranberry tang. They are strong, so a small pinch goes further than you expect.
- Blue pea flower. The trick ingredient, because it is not pink at all until something acidic reaches it. Our Colour Changing Gin Kit is built around it, and the effect is dealt with properly further down.
Frozen fruit works as well as fresh and is usually cheaper. Defrost it thoroughly first, and accept that the softened cells give up their colour a little faster than firm fresh fruit does.
How do you infuse a pink gin, step by step?
Start with a plain, uncoloured gin you already enjoy drinking. Infusion adds to a spirit, it does not repair one, and a gin you find harsh will simply become a pink gin you find harsh.
Work in a large jar or any wide-mouthed container rather than infusing in the gin bottle itself. Fishing fruit back out through a bottle neck is a genuine faff. Add your fruit, seal it, and leave it at room temperature away from direct sunlight, with the lid on to keep dust out. There is no need for a pitch black cupboard.
Then taste as you go. Colour usually arrives before the flavour with berries, and flavour arrives well before you want it with hibiscus, so a small tasting pipette or a teaspoon is your instrument of control. When it tastes right to you, strain it: pour through a metal sieve or a filter bag into a jug, let it drip, and give it only a gentle press. Squeezing hard pushes sediment through and clouds the gin.
Two habits worth borrowing from botanical infusion generally: use whole ingredients rather than powders, which are very hard to filter out, and go easy with dried ingredients, no more than about a teaspoon per batch. Finally, funnel the strained gin into a clean recycled spirit bottle or a swing-top, and label it with the date.
What about a gin that turns pink in the glass?
This is the version that stops conversation for about four seconds. Blue pea flowers contain a natural dye that changes with pH: blue in the neutral spirit, turning pink or purple the instant you add something acidic such as tonic. It is not artificial colouring. It is chemistry doing party tricks.
The method is short. Add 8 to 10 blue pea flowers to a 700ml bottle of gin, either straight in for the strongest colour or in a paper filter bag for a tidier infusion, seal it, shake it and leave it for about 12 hours. An optional teaspoon of Earl Grey infusion in the last hour rounds out the flavour. Use a plain, uncoloured gin as the base, because coloured gins mask the effect and flavoured gins are often acidic enough to set the change off early.
One warning worth having in advance: the change only happens with something genuinely acidic. Use a proper non-diet tonic, since some diet tonics are not acidic enough, and add a squeeze of lemon if you need to help it along. Test with a pipette before you serve, not in front of an audience. Once strained and bottled, the gin keeps for up to a year stored sealed and out of direct sunlight.
How do you stop the colour fading?
Light and heat are the enemies of every natural pigment. Two habits cover it. Strain the fruit out once the colour is where you want it rather than leaving it to sit indefinitely, since prolonged contact eventually turns bright fruit notes stewed and brownish. And store the finished bottle sealed and out of direct sunlight, in a cupboard rather than on a sunny windowsill, however good it looks there.
If your gin does dull down over a few months, it is still perfectly good to drink. Colour goes first and flavour goes much later.
Pink gin FAQs
Is pink gin just gin with food colouring?
Commercially it often is, or at least colouring plus fruit flavouring and sugar. Made at home with berries, hibiscus or blue pea flowers, the colour comes entirely from the plant.
Do I need to add sugar to pink gin?
No. Sugar is a stylistic choice rather than a requirement, and a fruit infusion carries plenty of flavour without it. Add a little simple syrup at the end if you prefer a softer, sweeter drink.
Can I use frozen fruit for an infusion?
Yes, and it is often cheaper. Defrost it fully and bring it to room temperature first so the spirit is not chilled while it works.
Does infusing change the alcohol strength?
Barely. Infusing does not dilute the spirit in any meaningful way, so your finished pink gin lands at roughly the strength of the bottle you started with.
Why is my colour-changing gin not changing colour?
Almost always the mixer. The shift needs acidity, so switch to a full-sugar tonic or add a squeeze of lemon, and test it with the pipette before serving. The Colour Changing Gin Kit makes five 700ml bottles, so there is plenty of room to get it right.
Fancy something pink, blue or both at once? Browse our gin making kits.
