Guide to gin botanicals
Botanicals are what give gin its flavour and aroma. But what are they, and how do they do it? Here's a quick and handy guide to help you understand the key gin botanicals, from juniper and beyond.
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Reading time: 6 minutes
The basics of botanicals
There are a few different spirits that are flavoured by botanicals. The use of these fruits, herbs, spices, and other ingredients is a key part of creating aquavit, kümmel, arak… even vodka and rum have been embracing this flavourful world in recent years. But say the word ‘botanical’ to most drinks enthusiasts and they will think of gin.
How do botanicals give gin its flavour? Well, we cover this in much greater detail in our How is gin made? guide, but here’s the skinny. You can macerate the botanicals (steep them) in the spirit while it’s heated and distilled, or you can macerate them after the spirit is distilled (this is called cold compounding) appeals. You can place them in a basket inside the still and let the spirit vapour pass through them (called vapour infusion), you can redistill the spirit in vacuum with the botanicals (vacuum distillation, darling), or you can use the one-shot or multi-shot method. Those might sound like night-out strategies, but actually, the one-shot method refers to adding your botanical recipe to an amount of neutral spirit and redistilling it, while the multi-shot method distils a great number of botanicals with the spirit, which is then diluted with spirit first and then water.
There’s no laws regarding which botanicals you have to use in gin, other than the inclusion of juniper berries. They are the one botanical above all, the true gin ingredient. You can imagine angelic music in your head every time you touch a juniper berry, if you want. We certainly do.
But there are a few other key botanicals like coriander seeds, angelica root, and citrus peels that you’ll find in most of your favourites. We’re focusing on the most common and crucial here. You might be an A+ student and know that Hendrick’s uses cucumber in its recipe, but only the A-listers made the cut here.
This is gin botanicals explained: what they are, why they’re used, and what flavours they bring.
For more information on gin production read our How is gin made? guide.
The humble juniper berry.
Juniper berries
Juniper is the most important botanical in gin. The small 'berry' (it's known as a berry though it is technically a cone like a pine cone) that grows on juniper bushes around the world is responsible for that characteristic piney and resinous flavour. Juniper must be the dominant flavour in gin, but there’s no required minimum amount or legally defined parameter. The word gin actually derives from the word ‘juniper’, either from the French genièvre or the Dutch jenever. Fun fact: some whisky distillers use juniper berries to sweeten the still during the first distillation of a new still. There’s no real evidence that it does anything but the ritual is nice.
Juniper-forward gins
A selection of gins with juniper as a sole or star botanical.
Citrus is a gin fundamental. Lemon and orange peel are the most common.
Coriander seed
The dried seed of the coriander (or cilantro) plant doesn’t taste anything like its fragrant leafy counterpart. Instead, the humble coriander seed provides a warming, spicy, and citrusy flavour when it’s crushed to gin. It’s so effective at complementing the flavours of juniper that it’s become a staple gin botanical.
Lemon peel
Citrus is a key flavour in a lot of gins and it’s achieved most commonly through the addition of lemon and/or orange peel, as well as grapefruit in some cases. Lemon isn’t just an excellent garnish to gin cocktails, but also an essential ingredient for its tart, zesty, and refreshing profile. Typically dried lemon peels are distilled in gin, which can also bring a slightly waxy, oily texture to the spirit but some brands use fresh ones.
Orange peel
Orange peel, both fresh and dried, is the other popular citrus fruit used as a gin botanical. That could be the bitter Seville orange (usually dried) or the… err… sweet… sweet orange (usually fresh), but the former is more common. Sweet, bitter, tart, refreshing, zesty. It’s orange, folks, you know what it tastes like and how it will present in gin. Like lemon peel, it can also add waxy, oily textures.
Citrus-forward gins to try
Gins that have that classic citrus taste are right here.
Liquorice roots alongside pure blocks and candy.
Angelica root
Angelica is a versatile herb that grows merrily across hedgerows and fields in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s historically been prized for its supposed medicinal qualities, but to a gin distiller, angelica root is an essential ingredient. This is thanks to its earthy, herbal, and medicinal flavours, but also due to its remarkable quality as a fixative, binding and harmonising the other flavours in the spirit.
Orris root
Orris root comes from the iris flower and looks a bit like ginger. The flavour, however, is not that of a rich aromatic spice. Instead, when distilled orris root becomes floral, earthy, and with an almost dusty bittersweetness. It’s also another popular fixative for gin distillers and has this cheek-filling quality that brings real depth and texture.
Liquorice root
The classic confectionery flavour derived from the root of the liquorice plant, this botanical has been used as an alternative to sugar for centuries thanks to its sweet flavour, but as anyone who’s enjoyed an AllSort will tell you, it’s more complex than that, with a bitter element and a strong, aromatic quality that’s aniseedy and almost woody. When distilled as a gin botanical, you’re getting all that variety, but liquorice root also brings a viscous, oily texture to the gin. If you’re not a fan of liquorice sweets, that doesn’t mean you won’t like a gin with this botanical, it’s just not the same thing.
Gins for a sweet tooth
If you like a gin on the sweeter side, the below should appeal.
Green cardamom pods are very common in gin.
Cassia bark
Cassia bark is sometimes called Chinese cinnamon, which should give you an idea of what kind of botanical we have here. Stripped from the evergreen trees, the cassia bark is a little sweeter than your garden variety cinnamon and also has a slight liquorice quality, but primarily it’s bringing those pleasant aromatic, warm and spicy undertones to your gin.
Cardamom
Cardamom pods, or seeds, aren’t just those hidden flavour bombs that lurk in the rice of your favourite Indian meals, but also a very popular gin botanical. The seeds come from a plant that belongs to the ginger family and we’re in that ballpark flavour-wise with aromatic, spicy-sweetness, but they also have a green, pungent quality too. Once distilled, those greener elements shine, as do the more perfumed elements of its sweetness and there’s a good amount of fiery spice in there too. Gin distillers can use different varieties of cardamom to attain different flavours, as black cardamom seeds are more smoky, while green cardamom seeds have got a eucalyptol note.
Cubeb Berries
From an Indonesian plant, the humble cubeb berry has long been cultivated and prized for a variety of reasons, but to a gin maker it’s a perfect juniper compliment. Cubeb berries have this lavender-like floral aroma as well as an earthy spice reminiscent of black pepper, a complexity that pairs well with the resinous, piney qualities of gin’s core botanical.
Aromatic and spicy gins
Gins with bold and beautiful botanicals like cardamom and cassia bark.
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