Gin · Method · Short entry
Maceration and redistillation
The classic way to make distilled gin: botanicals are steeped in diluted neutral spirit and the mixture is redistilled, keeping only the middle cut.
Method
Steep juniper and botanicals in diluted agricultural spirit, redistil, keep the hearts, reduce with water.
How it works
Cooper's Complete Distiller (1757) gives the method in one line: juniper berries, proof spirit and water, drawn off "by a gentle Fire till the Faints begin to rise". Modern practice is the same in outline. In a 2025 laboratory study, juniper was steeped in grain neutral spirit diluted to 60 % for at least 12 hours before distillation, with foreshots set aside. Gin de Mahón's rules require at least 10 hours of maceration and keep only the heart of a single distillation.
Parr, Sutherland and Fisk (2024) describe the run as heads, hearts and tails: the most volatile compounds come first, the hearts form the gin, and the least volatile come last. They found the aroma shifting through the hearts, so where the distiller cuts changes the flavour. They also note that steep-infused gins carry more thermal influence than vapour-infused ones.
How it connects
Style
- method-of Distilled gin
- method-of London gin (London dry gin)
- method-of Gin de Mahón
Method
- related Pot still distillation
- related Vapour infusion
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