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On Manufacturing Gin (Out the succeeding part)
out the succeeding part of the operation in the same way as making grain spirit. Another method practiced is the following :-Boil during half an hour two gallons of bruised juniper berries in four gallons of water; put this into a barrel capable of containing six gallons; add to it at first four pounds of rye bread that has been dried and reduced to powder, then some aromatic flavor, according to the fancy of the manufacturer, and two pounds of brown sugar. At the end of a month the liquor is converted into an agreeable wine, which, when distilled, affords a spirit much esteemed and commanding a high price. The liquor at present known by the name of gin in this country, as a general thing, is a very different article from that imported from Holland, and consists of plain spirit flavored with oil of juniper and sometimes oil of turpentine, and small quantities of certain aromatics. The various recipes, which from time to time have been printed in books, produce a flavored spirit, bearing no resemblance to Holland gin, or the more esteemed samples of London gin. The authors seem to have no practical knowledge on the subject, and appear to have imbibed a juniper-berry mania. Oil of juniper, in the hands of these gentlemen, appears to be a perfect aqua mirabilis that readily converts whiskey into gin, and imparts the rich creamy flavor of Schiedam schnaps to crude spirit. But theory and experiment sometimes disagree. In practice it is found that the true flavor of Holland gin cannot be imparted to spirit by juniper alone. Although gin is always prepared on the large scale by distillation, it may also be made by the simple solution or digestion of the flavoring ingredients in the spirit; but it is, of course, better for distillation. Still, however, most of the berries, roots, or seeds used to flavor distilled gin,
This passage is half formula, half polemic: a juniper-berry wine to be distilled, followed by the author's complaint that most printed gin recipes are written by people who have never made gin. The formula cannot be carried out legally or safely today, and the notes below explain the terms and the specific problems.
- The distillation is the disqualifying stepProducing spirit at home by distillation is a licensed activity in the United States, the United Kingdom and most other jurisdictions, regardless of quantity or intended use. The permit and equipment requirements exist because small pot stills concentrate both alcohol and volatile impurities, and because the vapour is flammable at room temperature. A current commercial or licensed reference should be used by anyone entitled to do this work.
- Oil of turpentine is not a food ingredientThe text records, without endorsing, that American "gin" of the period was often plain spirit dosed with oil of juniper and sometimes oil of turpentine. Turpentine is a solvent distilled from pine resin; ingestion causes vomiting, kidney and central nervous system damage. It has no place in anything drunk.
- An open, unmeasured, month-long fermentAn unmeasured, month-long ferment -- Two gallons of bruised berries, four gallons of water, powdered rye bread and two pounds of brown sugar in a six-gallon barrel gives no yeast pitch, no acid figure, no temperature and no instruction on sealing. The bread supplies whatever yeast and bacteria it carries. At this sugar level the ferment may stall well short of alcohol protection while acetic and lactic organisms take over, and mould growth on the cap is likely.
- Juniper berries in bulkJuniper is a culinary spice in pinch quantities. Two gallons of bruised berries steeped and consumed as a fermented liquor is a different order of exposure; juniper preparations are traditionally avoided in pregnancy and in kidney disease, and the oil is an irritant. The species matters as well, since not every juniper produces edible fruit.
- "Aqua mirabilis"Latin for "wonderful water", originally a distilled cordial of spices and wine sold as a cure-all. Here the author uses it sarcastically: oil of juniper is not a magic drop that turns whiskey into gin.
- Holland gin and Schiedam schnapsHolland gin is genever, distilled from a malted grain mash so that the base spirit itself carries flavour. Schiedam, near Rotterdam, was the centre of its trade, and "Schiedam schnaps" was a proprietary style name in the American market. London gin, by contrast, is a neutral spirit redistilled with botanicals; the author's point is that neither can be faked by dosing raw whiskey with an essential oil.
- "Simple solution or digestion"Steeping the botanicals in finished spirit rather than redistilling with them. The modern trade calls this compounding, and it is still how inexpensive flavoured spirit is made; the author is right that it gives a coarser result than redistillation.
When compilations of this kind circulated widely in America, imported Dutch genever had a reputation that domestic distillers wanted to borrow, and the cheapest route was to buy neutral or nearly neutral grain spirit and flavour it. That practice is exactly what this passage attacks. The complaint is technically sound: genever's character comes from a malted grain mash, or moutwijn, distilled at low strength, so the base spirit contributes as much as the juniper does, while London-style gin depends on redistilling botanicals with the spirit rather than macerating oil into it. Books of household and trade formulas were notorious for copying one another's recipes uncritically, which is why an author could round on "these gentlemen" and their "juniper-berry mania". The juniper wine described at the start belongs to an older European tradition of fermenting fruit and berries with bread as the yeast source, a practice recorded well before packaged yeast was available, and generally traced to domestic small-beer and country-wine making rather than to the commercial gin trade.