Eldereflower gin

[Yellow Bear]

I know it is the wrong time of year but at the weekend daughter bought some elderflower gin at Chatsworth and it tastes brilliant.

 

So planning ahead has anyone made said mixture and to what recipe.

[Walker570]

I suppose they add their elderflower cordial to gin... prices up there are crazy, so making your own would be very worthwhile. I will give it a try next spring and go with the same as for any fruit I use but use white sugar rather than the brown which I normally use. Add sugar to taste really I suppose. I never measure anything, double handful of brown sugar goes in with plums, damsons, sloes, figs, pears whatever and a couple of litres of the spirit. Maybe a half handful of almonds. The elderflower should make a change and go nicely with some prosseco or cava. Thanks for the heads up, always willing to try something new ...... last one was figs and vodka, turned out brilliant. Bacardi makes a change as a base as well. Aldi did some very cheap last year.

[rimfire4969]

How about elderflower berry with gin, right time of year.

 

Think I shall have a Google.

[rimfire4969]

First one I found, learn something new everyday.

 

https://jamesbonfieldrecipes.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/elderberry-gin/

[Walker570]

Interesting. I've been using elderberries in apple and blackberry crumbles and apple pies for years with no effect. It's obviously the cooking that does the job on any nasties or the amount is so small you would have to eat the fruit three times a day for a year .... like carrotine in carrots will poison you ... back in the sixties remember a guy out Dudley way who was on some sort of health kick where carrot juice was supposed to make you superman. He died a deep orange colour of carrotine poisoning. The coroners inquest was quite interesting.

[Vince Green]

The gin you buy in the supermarket is Juniper flavoured Gin, also referred to as London Gin. To make any other flavoured 'gin' you would have to use an unflavoured spirit such as vodka. You can't load one flavour on top of another

 

Gin is just a generic English name for spirit, it can have many flavours.or none. London Gin is obviously the one everybody knows

[rimfire4969]

The gin you buy in the supermarket is Juniper flavoured Gin, also referred to as London Gin. To make any other flavoured 'gin' you would have to use an unflavoured spirit such as vodka. You can't load one flavour on top of another

 

Gin is just a generic English name for spirit, it can have many flavours.or none. London Gin is obviously the one everybody knows

Why can't you flavour gin like you do when making sloe gin?

[Fatcatsplat]

Why can't you flavour gin like you do when making sloe gin?

Because sloes overpower it - Gins are getting a lot more fragrant so if ever i'm doing a flavoured gin i go cheap as chips.

 

If you want the elderflower without the fuss, buy elderflower tonic - Delicious

[rimfire4969]

So there is no real reason I can't add strawberry to gin or elderberries to flavour it.

[Bazooka Joe]

I know it is the wrong time of year but at the weekend daughter bought some elderflower gin at Chatsworth and it tastes brilliant.

 

 

I haven't tasted elderflower gin, but if it flavours the gin the same way it does the wine I imagine it'll be lush...one for next year then..

[Vince Green]

Why can't you flavour gin like you do when making sloe gin?

You make sloe gin with vodka not gin, but actually the flavour of juniper and sloes mix quite well so you can get away with using gin but then it would not mix so well when making elderflower, plum or blackberry gin.

Gin is not an ingredient, it what you end up with

[rimfire4969]

You make sloe gin with vodka not gin, but actually the flavour of juniper and sloes mix quite well so you can get away with using gin but then it would not mix so well when making elderflower, plum or blackberry gin.

Gin is not an ingredient, it what you end up with

 

Sorry, I make sloe gin with gin not vodka and have done for about 20 years. I don't think I have ever heard of sloe gin made with vodka, that would be sloe vodka. I make a strawberry whiskey with whiskey, sloe gin with gin, plum brandy with brandy and elderflower champagne with elderflower. You have lost me!!!! Edited September 9, 2016 by rimfire4969

[Vince Green]

Sorry, I make sloe gin with gin not vodka and have done for about 20 years. I don't think I have ever heard of sloe gin made with vodka, that would be sloe vodka. I make a strawberry whiskey with whiskey, sloe gin with gin, plum brandy with brandy and elderflower champagne with elderflower. You have lost me!!!!

Well carry on then if you are happy with it. Gin, Vodka, Rum and to an extent Brandy are all just regional names for the same thing, artificially flavoured distilled raw spirit, the names have no legal definition and are not protected by law. If you distilled your own and went onto the home distilling websites it would become clearer.

 

The base ingredient in each case is raw distilled spirit which is flavourless and undrinkable. Industrial alcohol effectively, they then dilute (cut) it and flavour it. What they use to flavour it with Is how it ends up different. In the big commercial distilleries they make rum gin brandy vodka etc side by side on parallel bottling lines and all from the same spirit which comes in tankers. The only difference is the flavouring they mix it with and the bottles it goes in. If you saw it done you wouldn't drink it ever again

 

Gin they add juniper, brandy they add apples etc, rum they add molasses. Vodka they add nothing to except perhaps a little vanilla sometimes so it ends up the least artificially flavoured and the best choice for adding your own flavour to for experimentation.

Edited September 10, 2016 by Vince Green

[guest1957]

Well carry on then if you are happy with it. Gin, Vodka, Rum and to an extent Brandy are all just regional names for the same thing, artificially flavoured distilled raw spirit, the names have no legal definition and are not protected by law. If you distilled your own and went onto the home distilling websites it would become clearer.

 

The base ingredient in each case is raw distilled spirit which is flavourless and undrinkable. Industrial alcohol effectively, they then dilute (cut) it and flavour it. What they use to flavour it with Is how it ends up different. In the big commercial distilleries they make rum gin brandy vodka etc side by side on parallel bottling lines and all from the same spirit which comes in tankers. The only difference is the flavouring they mix it with and the bottles it goes in. If you saw it done you wouldn't drink it ever again

 

Gin they add juniper, brandy they add apples etc, rum they add molasses. Vodka they add nothing to except perhaps a little vanilla sometimes so it ends up the least artificially flavoured and the best choice for adding your own flavour to for experimentation.

Both Sipsmiths and Gordon's use a London Gin as the base for their sloe gins. This will have juniper in.

 

And indeed, under current EU regulation that will most likely be transposed back into UK law moving forward, sloe gin must include 'gin', which must, by definition, include juniper.

Edited September 10, 2016 by guest1957

[rimfire4969]

Well carry on then if you are happy with it. Gin, Vodka, Rum and to an extent Brandy are all just regional names for the same thing, artificially flavoured distilled raw spirit, the names have no legal definition and are not protected by law. If you distilled your own and went onto the home distilling websites it would become clearer.

 

The base ingredient in each case is raw distilled spirit which is flavourless and undrinkable. Industrial alcohol effectively, they then dilute (cut) it and flavour it. What they use to flavour it with Is how it ends up different. In the big commercial distilleries they make rum gin brandy vodka etc side by side on parallel bottling lines and all from the same spirit which comes in tankers. The only difference is the flavouring they mix it with and the bottles it goes in. If you saw it done you wouldn't drink it ever again

 

Gin they add juniper, brandy they add apples etc, rum they add molasses. Vodka they add nothing to except perhaps a little vanilla sometimes so it ends up the least artificially flavoured and the best choice for adding your own flavour to for experimentation.

 

Thank you I see what you are saying.

 

I think I will try an Elderflower berry gin and see how it comes out.

[Vince Green]

Thank you I see what you are saying.

 

I think I will try an Elderflower berry gin and see how it comes out.

If you are interested in the subject you really should go and look on the home distilling websites, theres a lot of background history, recipes etc

[Walker570]

In Slovenia they use raw schnapps and add the flavour. Tried some home made pear last year and then made some myself but used a cheap vodka base, delicious.

VG you are correct in that the base spirit is paint stripper. Moonshine/rot gut

Edited September 11, 2016 by Walker570

[Whitebridges]

I had the most fabulous G & T in the White Hart at Hingham the other week. We have our own artisan Gin, funnily enough called Norfolk Gin . http://norfolkgin.co.uk/

 

Double shot, loads of crushed ice, three crushed juniper berries, slice of lime and a fever tree tonic. Marvellous ! The missus takes hers with elderflower tonic water.Several companies make it now.