Recently, while looking for a Christmas Gift for my Brother In Law, I stumbled upon this Kit to Make Your Own Gin. I was immediately enthralled with the idea. My Brother in law loved craft beers, and this sort of home-made compound Gin allows the user to do something similar- but with Gin!
Here’s the skinny: Commercial Gin is made by infusing a donor alcohol and then distilling it again. You can, however, make “compound gin” at home by infusing a medium grade vodka with Juniper and other botanicals. Using different blends of spices and herbs, there are endless flavor possibilities!
The trouble I found with the kit, however, is that it only offers enough of the ingredients to make 1 batch of Gin. Further, they have all the botanicals pre-measured and packaged so you can only make one flavor. I wanted to give my brother in law a more complete experience, with the ability to experiment and make his own flavor based on his tastes. So, I decided to create the make your own gin kit myself!
I found EVERY ONE of the botanicals at my local Harvest Health foods. I was really surprised, and had expected to have to order at least some of them online. Nope! Oh, and did I mention they were all around $1 each!? That mean’s my Make Your Own Gin kit is not only more versatile, but cheaper than the commercial one.
What I bought:
BOTANICALS
(Links to Amazon products in case you can’t find these at your local herb shop, but I strongly recommend the local shop for cost efficiency)
- Juniper
- Cinnamon
- Whole Coriander
- Rosemary
- Allspice Berries
- Lavender Flowers
- Rose Hips
- Green Cardamom (pods)
- Fennel Seed
- Pulverized Dried Lemon Peel
- Black Peppercorns
- Bay Leaves
OTHER SUPPLIES
- Two 750 ml Glass bottles with a cool cork
- Fine Mesh Strainer
- Coffee Filter (On Hand)
- Funnel
How I Made It:
Well, I didn’t want the gift to be just a bunch of stuff I bought. I mean, c’mon! You guys know me, and I always have to take it a step further. So, I spent HOURS researching make your own Gin, Gin recipes, compound Gins, the history of Gin and everything else I could think of. With that information, I made this elegant black and white printable. It has all of the instructions the recipient needs to use the items in the kit to make Gin. I’ve got 3 different compound Gin recipes to use as a guideline and place for them to write their own concoction.
After that, I made a cute label printable and put his name in it. I glued it to the bottle and voila! Personalized awesome DIY Gin kit! GET THE LABELS.
That’s it! Put everything in a cute box and you’ve got an amazingly thoughtful, fun and pretty darn cheap Manly gift! If this doesn’t suit you or your recipient, be sure to check out my posts on 15 Husband Approved DIY Gifts for Men or my Gifts For Men: DIY Holiday Gift Guide!
Kayla Domeyer
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great information about the craft gin. thanks for share this. Thanks!!!
I’m trying to download the probable and I’m only greying page one. Please help
Hey Katie, I did a quick check and both pages are there in the PDF. Its possible your PDF viewer is only showing one page. Have you tried to print it?
What did you end up packaging the botanicals in? Original store packaging? I see other kits put them in 2oz tins, but that’s just for two botanicals. I’d like to give a variety like you did. I’m hoping to make a bunch of these for the men in my family 🙂 Thanks!
I bought a bunch of little tins in a lot off of Pick Your Plum or a similar website. So all I did was pour them in, (making sure there was at least enough for 1 batch) Done! The Juniper is the one you need to most of, I put that in a muslin bag so that I could be sure there was enough for 2 batches, since I gave 2 bottles.
Thank you, Kayla!! Last question: you include cinnamon as a botanical to use but I don’t see it in the recipes in the printable? Is there supposed to be a third page? Thank you so much!
Hey Bryce!
I included cinnamon because some familiar Gins use that flavor. I did not, however, find a recipe that included it. Its in the kit as an experimental botanical for the recipient to use to make their own creation!