Forage your way to the perfect summer gin-fusion!

It’s safe to say that gin has ruled supreme over the past decade and our thirst for juniper doesn’t seem to be declining. The market for gin is so heavily saturated that it’s not surprising that distillers began to look for ways to stand out from the crowd and thus we saw the birth of flavoured gin a few years back. Britain loved them and the flavoured gin market saw 751% growth between 2017 and 2018 which is absolutely astounding!

Slingsby Rhubarb Gin served with Aromatic tonic at Holborn Dining Room (Rosewood London)

Having managed gin bars I’ve tasted a lot of flavoured gin and I, like many other Gin lovers, are left feeling a tad disappointed. Most flavoured gins are teetering on the edge of what really constitutes a gin and I would argue that most are designed for people who say they don’t like gin. This usually means they don’t actually like the taste of juniper and so flavoured gins have allowed brands to reach an audience that would otherwise not be available to them. This isn’t to say there aren’t great flavoured gins out there. Even as a die-hard classic London Dry drinker I am a sucker for Slingsby Rhubarb and Malfy Con Limone! The problem is there are just too many to choose from these days and the prices of many are exorbitant. So, if like me you like the idea of flavoured gins but still want to taste juniper and not pay a fortune for the privilege, I recommend making your own! They’re fun, easy to make, great for gifts and usually hugely popular at parties (these days I’m referring to socially distanced gatherings of no more than 6)!

I first came across gin-infusions while working at Rosewood Abu Dhabi. I had been put in charge of launching the new gin bar, Hidden Bar, and my boss wanted a huge selection of home-infused gins that guests wouldn't be able to find elsewhere. A few infusions had already been created by one of the bartenders (who later became my husband) but together we worked to develop our signature selection to more than 50! We let our imaginations run wild and would spend hours browsing the shelves of the small local supermarkets to find unusual ingredients. We even made one using Green Mukhwas which are those sugar coated fennel seeds they have serve at Indian restaurants to cleanse your palate after the meal!

As I no longer have access to these wonderful Asian supermarkets, I’ve been seeking ingredients closer to home to make my gin-infusions. The hedgerows of the English countryside are full of delights during the summer months and the easiest of these to forage is the blackberry (or bramble). Bramble picking was a favourite pastime of mine as a child but there is still something very satisfying about going out for a walk and coming back with Tupperware filled with brambles. Last week I discovered a fantastic bramble bush on one of my walks and so I decided to make bramble gin. A week later it is finished and utterly delicious!

HOMEMADE BRAMBLE GIN-FUSION

What you will need:

1L Classic London Dry Gin (no need to spend a lot but Gordon’s and Bombay Sapphire work well)

A large bowl of freshly picked brambles (see photo for reference). You can of course use shop-bought blackberries if you don’t have access to wild brambles.

A large kilner jar (or any big jar with a wide aperture - trust me this makes cleaning it so much easier)

Step by step guide…

Add the brambles to the jar.
Pour the gin over the brambles.
Close the jar and leave it in cool, dark place for 7 days stirring every couple of days.
Strain into bottles, pop on some nice labels and voila your gin-fusion is ready!

Alternatively at Step 4 you can choose to split the liquid in half to make both a gin and a gin liqueur.

Strain 500ml into a bottle and that’s the gin ready.
Leave the remaining gin with the blackberries in the jar and add 200g of sugar.
Stir vigorously until most of the sugar has dissolved.
Leave for 3 months in a cool, dark place and stir once a week.
After 3 months, you should have a lovely sweet homemade crème de mure which can be used for Bramble cocktails, sipped on the rocks, or served at Christmas by the fireplace while you dream of summer!