Homemade gin is exactly as strong as the vodka you made it from. Infusing does not dilute a spirit and it does not concentrate one, so a bottle of vodka at 37.5% gives you a gin at 37.5%, and a bottle at 40% gives you a gin at 40%. The only number that matters is the percentage printed on the label of the bottle you buy, because nothing that happens in the jar afterwards will move it. This guide explains why that is, where to find the figure, and the two situations where the strength genuinely does change.
Why does infusing not change the strength?
Because nothing is added or taken away except flavour. When you drop juniper berries and dried botanicals into a spirit, aromatic compounds move out of the plant material and into the liquid. The alcohol sits there throughout, unbothered.
Compare that with distilling, which does change strength, because it evaporates the alcohol and condenses it back, separating it from water and solids and concentrating it in the process. That is also the activity that is regulated: since 1 February 2025, producing alcoholic products, including spirits, requires HMRC's Alcoholic Products Producer Approval, and producing without the appropriate approval is an offence, according to GOV.UK. Infusion produces nothing, changes no strength, and needs no approval.
Where do you read the strength on the bottle?
Look for the ABV figure, which stands for alcohol by volume and is printed on the label of every bottle of spirits, usually near the volume in millilitres. It is expressed as a percentage, and that percentage is what you will be pouring once the botanicals come out.
Write it down. Genuinely, write it on the tag when you bottle your gin, along with the date you made it and which blend it was. Six weeks later, when there are three unmarked bottles on the shelf and somebody asks how strong the pink one is, you will be glad of thirty seconds with a pen. Our Ultimate Gin Making Kit includes bottle tags and string for exactly this.
Do the botanicals change the strength?
No. More juniper does not make a stronger gin in the alcoholic sense, it makes a more strongly flavoured one, and the two get confused constantly. A heavily infused gin can taste fierce while sitting at precisely the same percentage as a gentle one.
Nor does a longer steep change the number. Leaving the botanicals in for five days rather than three deepens the flavour and the colour, not the alcohol. That is why tasting as you go with the pipette is the right technique: you are judging flavour, and flavour is the only variable you are actually controlling.
Can you make your gin weaker or stronger?
Weaker, yes, if you deliberately add something with less alcohol in it. Topping a batch up with water would do it, and so would making a long drink with tonic, which is what most of us are doing anyway.
Stronger is not available to you at home. The only way to raise the alcohol content of a liquid is to distil it, and distilling without HMRC approval is an offence, so the ceiling on your gin is whatever the shop sold you. There is a useful middle case worth knowing: if a batch has infused too long and tastes harsh, you can soften it by topping it up with a little more vodka. Because that vodka is the same strength as the base, the flavour mellows and the percentage stays put.
Does a bigger kit work any differently?
Not in this respect. The Ultimate Gin Making Kit makes up to ten 700ml bottles from thirteen botanicals, including juniper, lemon peel, orange peel, ginger, coriander seed, allspice, lemongrass, cacao nibs, hibiscus, rose petals, cassia bark, nutmeg and cloves, and each batch infuses in a couple of days. Each of those batches takes its own bottle of vodka.
So every finished bottle carries the strength of the vodka that went into it. If you use the same vodka throughout, all ten come out at the same percentage regardless of how differently they taste, which they will, because you can mix and match the botanicals and measure them with the spoons to build your own blends. Change to a different vodka halfway through the kit and the later bottles simply follow that label instead.
Why does homemade gin sometimes taste stronger than it is?
Three reasons, and none of them is alcohol. The first is juniper itself, which is resinous and assertive and reads as heat on the tongue. The second is a long steep, which pulls more of everything out of the botanicals, including the bitter edges. The third is drinking it neat at room temperature, which flatters almost no spirit.
The fix is the same in each case: strain earlier next time, serve it properly cold with plenty of ice and a good tonic, and give it a citrus garnish. A gin that felt aggressive straight from the jar often turns out to be perfectly balanced in a glass.
Homemade gin strength FAQs
What ABV is homemade gin?
The same as the spirit you started with. Infusing does not dilute or concentrate alcohol, so a 37.5% vodka gives you a 37.5% gin.
Does adding more botanicals make gin stronger?
Only in flavour. More botanicals, or a longer steep, give a bolder taste and a deeper colour while leaving the alcohol content exactly where it was.
How do I work out the strength of my gin?
Read the ABV percentage on the label of the vodka you used, and write it on the tag when you bottle the gin. There is no calculation to do.
Can I make my homemade gin stronger?
Not at home. Raising the alcohol content means distilling, and producing spirits without HMRC's Alcoholic Products Producer Approval is an offence. Your ceiling is the bottle you bought.
My gin tastes harsh, what can I do?
It has probably infused too long. Soften the batch by topping it up with a little more vodka, which mellows the flavour without changing the strength, and strain earlier next time.
Fancy building a blend of your own? Have a look at our gin making kits.
