How Is Gin Made?

Gin starts as a neutral base spirit, then juniper and other botanicals are added through redistillation or infusion before the spirit is cut to bottling strength.

Gin production is shorter and simpler than whisky's, since there's no barrel ageing involved — but there's real craft in how the botanicals are chosen and combined.

1. Start with (or produce) a neutral spirit

Most distillers either buy in a highly rectified neutral grain spirit or distil their own from a fermented grain (or occasionally grape or molasses) mash. This base is deliberately as flavourless as possible, so the botanicals added later can shine through clearly.

2. Select the botanicals

Juniper must be present and dominant for a spirit to legally be called gin. Beyond that, distillers build a "botanical bill" — often ten to twenty different ingredients, potentially including citrus peel, coriander seed, angelica root, orris root, spices, and (especially in New Zealand) native ingredients like mānuka, kawakawa or horopito. See our article on gin botanicals for more detail.

3. Redistill (or infuse)

The neutral spirit is combined with the botanicals and typically redistilled in a pot still, either by:

• Steeping/maceration — botanicals soak directly in the spirit before distillation
• Vapour infusion — botanicals sit in a basket in the still's vapour path, so only the aromatic vapours (not the solids) pass through and condense
• Some producers use a combination of both methods for different botanicals

Some producers skip redistillation entirely and use cold compounding (simply infusing botanicals into the spirit without a second distillation), though this is generally considered a simpler, lower-cost approach than redistilled gin.

4. Cut to bottling strength and filter

After distillation, the gin is diluted with water down to its final bottling ABV (commonly 37.5–47%) and filtered before bottling.

5. Bottle

Unlike whisky, gin doesn't need to rest in wood — most gin is ready to bottle and sell almost immediately after distillation, which is a big part of why it's such an accessible starting spirit for new distilleries.