How to make homemade flavoured gin and gin liqueurs (plus 7 of our favourite recipes to try at home)

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Feb 10, 2020

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If variety is the spice of life, then experimenting with different varieties of gin drinks is the spirit of our soul, here at Craft Gin Club. One fun way to experiment with gin - outside of mixing quick cocktails - is to take a little more time and infuse the gin itself with different flavours. And if you love craft gin, there’s a flavoured gin out there for you!

If you’re making homemade flavoured gin, the quality of the tipple is certainly not going to be at the level of the top-quality craft gins we feature in our Gin of the Month boxes - but for a bit of summer fun and to make a change from your usual G&T, why not try one of these homemade flavoured gins? They make the perfect gin gift too (make sure you taste it before you gift it though!).

We’ve put together a beginner’s guide to making homemade flavoured gin, or “ginfusions” - recipes that call for gin as their base and which you can infuse with your favourite summer fruits, amongst other ingredients, to create whole new tastes! It’s as easy as that. Bottoms up!

Isn’t gin just vodka infused with botanicals anyway?

That’s not completely untrue - there is a type of gin called “compound gin” that you can make in your kitchen with a bottle of vodka and whatever botanicals you feel like adding. But for an even easier “cheat’s” take on flavoured gin, try one of our ‘ginfusions’ below.

How do I make flavoured gin at home?

To make your homemade flavoured gin, take a sterilised (dry) jar or bottle and simply add your chosen fruit(s), herbs and/or spices to your gin and leave the mixture to infuse. It’s as easy as that! To turn it into a gin liqueur, simply add sugar.

What should the fruit (or produce)-to-gin ratio be?

There’s no rule to how much of your chosen botanical to use , although approximately a third fruit to gin is probably about right for most infusions (roughly 300g produce for 1 litre of gin).
Just remember that strong flavours like citrus peel, chilli and fresh or dried herbs tend to be quite powerful in small amounts!

How long will it take before it’s ready to drink?

The longer you leave the gin, the stronger the flavours that develop will be.
Beware of leaving it too long and over-infusing the mixture, though - in the same way that a cup of tea with the teabag left in too long can taste horrible, so too can flavoured gin!
Herbs and spices like vanilla, thyme, lavender, mint, cardamom or chilli may only need a few hours steeping in the gin, whereas fruits, strongly flavoured vegetables and berries will probably be best left for a week or two, maybe even up to a month.
So taste the gin at intervals, and once you’re happy with the flavour, filter out all the botanicals using a sieve. If there’s some sediment left in the liquid, use some muslin or a coffee filter to strain it again.

Top tip: If your gin has taken on a bit of a murky colour, you can simply pass it through a water filter jug a few times and it will emerge clearer without losing any of the flavour.

What foods can I use to infuse the gin?

Fruit, herbs, and spices - it’s all up for grabs!

We’ve made some suggestions of which foods to use for your homemade flavoured gin below, but you can be as experimental as your dare!

A good way to get ideas for what to use in your ginfusion is to see what botanicals are used in your favourite shop-bought gins and see if you can emulate them at home.

The key to the best-tasting DIY flavoured gin is using quality, fresh (and ideally, seasonal) produce.

What gin should I use?

Honestly, we would definitely not use most of the beautiful craft gins we know or send to our Craft Gin Club members for this process, as the added ingredients will hide (and spoil) the distilleries’ delicate flavours.

However, a bottle of decent-quality everyday gin such as Beefeater, Gordon’s or Tanqueray will do the trick. We don’t advise using a gin that’s already flavoured artificially.

It goes without saying that we don’t recommend you use the really cheap stuff, either! No amount of added fruit will rescue those poor gins.

How should I serve my flavoured gin?

To serve these homemade flavoured gins, just pour over ice and add your choice of tonic and/or garnish! We’ve also popped in some flavoured gin cocktail recipe suggestions below, or you can visit our cocktail hub for more inspiration…

If you don’t drink all of your flavoured gin immediately, keep it in a cool, dark place with the lid tightly sealed and it should last for several months.

7 of the best flavoured gins to make at home:

Rhubarb and Ginger Gin Liqueur

Rhubarb and ginger gin is hugely popular and we can see why - as it’s completely delicious! The good news is that it is also super easy to make this sweet, fruity treat at home!

Plus, with freshly grown, British rhubarb available most of the year round (with forced rhubarb hitting the shelves from January to March, and field rhubarb coming into season from April to September), it’s a recipe you can whip up whatever the month. Get the recipe >>

Sloe Gin

Sloe Gin has seen something of a revival in popularity in recent years, as more and more of us discover the delights of this sweet, fruity liqueur. It’s very easy - and satisfying - to make your own bottle of this rich purple drink at home, especially if you’ve also gone the extra mile and picked the sloes yourself! Get the recipe here >>

Clementine Gin Liqueur

The M&S Clementine Gin Snow Globe (complete with gold sparkly ‘snow flakes’) went bonkers when it hit the shelves in the run-up to Christmas - and introduced us to a delicious flavoured gin liqueur we might not have tried before.

Inspired, we came up with a recipe for creating your very own clementine gin liqueur at home - perfect for bottling and labelling as a lovely handmade gin gift for the gin-lover in your life! Get the recipe >>

Lemon and Ginger Gin

The zingy flavours of this ginfusion are amazing! Add a little ice, sugar syrup and red chilli (just a bit!) for a fire-and-ice cocktail that is absolutely perfect on hot summer nights, or top up with spicy ginger ale for a warming winter tipple. Lime is also a great substitute for (or addition to) lemon, if you prefer. Get the recipe >>

Toffee Gin

With notes of salted caramel, this toffee-infused treat will delight any sweet-toothed gin fan! It’s particularly delicious when mixed into apple or cider cocktails, and chocolate or creamy dessert cocktails. Get the recipe here. >>

Pink Raspberry Gin

Raspberries are in season and so will have the most vibrant flavour and colour in the hot summer months from late May to until late September, peaking in July.

Watch our video recipe for pink raspberry gin and how to whip up the perfect pink gin and tonic! You could also swap out the raspberries for strawberries for a sweeter take on this ginfusion. Get the recipe here. >>

Parma Violet Gin

This retro flavoured gin is absolutely delicious! It’d make a pretty purple cocktail and we’ve made a video recipe so you can see how easy it is to make at home.