Gin School with Inverroche

Firstly, let me say, I absolutely love Inverroche’s gins, and at some point, I will do a few separate posts on their collection, but with this post, I want to write about how they afforded me the opportunity to learn more about gin distilling.

As a Valentines gift, my lovely husband treated me to a gin distilling masterclass, presented by Inverroche. The man knows me, what can I say? Upon our arrival at the venue, we were able to choose between 4 unique cocktails, each one meticulously thought out to highlight the unique flavour profiles of the three gins that form part of their classic collection (the Classic, Amber, and Verdant), as well as Bottle No.2 of their creative collection (Coco L’Orange). We chose Amber and Coco L’Orange; the latter in part because we’ve never tasted it.

For the 2-hour masterclass, we each made use of a mini copper pot still, as well as various other implements including thermometers and graduated cylinders.

We were each also presented with a tray of liquids that would go into the making of our own unique gin. These included five different bases, Floral, Herbal, Cool, Citrus, and Spicy. The remaining tinctures were the botanicals we would infuse with those bases.

The class kicked off with our host, Charlotte, explaining the history of gin and the types of gin, the founding and philosophy of Inverroche, how gin is made, and the various botanicals that go into making different gin variants. Interestingly, I discovered that our host, like me, also prefers a classic London Dry style gin with tonic. Nevertheless, it is endlessly fascinating to learn about (and of course distill) one’s own International Style gin.

Making use of the graduated cylinder, we were tasked to combine one of the five bases mentioned above, with a combination of the other provided botanicals, to get the liquid amount to 75 ml (the base consisted of 50 ml of liquid). As a bonus, because it was Valentine’s day, our host afforded us the opportunity to add dried hibiscus flowers during the post-distillation process in order to tint our gin pink (ps. hibiscus adds quite a strong citrus note, which was something to keep in mind when choosing your botanical base).

For my Ginny Weasley, named because I love puns, and because I made my gin pink, I added a range of botanicals to my chosen Floral base, including coconut (to ensure a smooth texture), honeybush, sugar, raisins, and rooibos. My husband was much more reserved with his botanical selection, adding only coconut, honeybush, and sugar to his Citrus base. This liquid was then poured into the pot still where it mixed with a clear grain-based white spirit alcohol, which was already in the still. This mixture was then carefully heated and then we waited. It was an amazing sight to see the alcohol starting to spiral through and drip from the condenser.

I would like to add that distilling one’s own bottle of gin, makes one appreciate the drink even more than merely buying a bottle of the shelf and drinking it. One learns about the science and dedication that goes into making the perfect gin. For example, the first 20 ml of liquid that is released from the condenser is not recommended for human consumption as it consists of methanol and acetone. After that is discarded, the good stuff starts to drip out. Our task was to catch exactly 250 ml of the uncut gin alcohol, which we then combined with 250ml of reverse osmosis water, the cleanest water possible, to reach 500 ml of gin with an ABV of 43%. Also, before adding the alcohol to my water, I infused the water with my hibiscus flowers to achieve the pink colour of my Ginny Weasley gin. We were then able to bottle our gins, personalise the labels, and sent on our way to go and taste test our creations!

This was really a wonderful Valentines gift, but I can honestly recommend the experience to anyone who has an appreciation for gin.