Botanical Gin

The term "botanicals" has somehow become ingrained in Slovak because there is no precise and concise equivalent in our language. The easiest way to translate it is "botanical ingredients", but that doesn't sound so attractive. It is the ingredients of each gin that give it its specific character, aroma, taste. As the saying goes, gin without botanicals is essentially vodka.

In practice, it's all sorts of spices, herbs, berries, seeds, bark, flowers... In short, everything from the plant world. Nowadays, juniper has long since become the only ingredient in the production of gin. Although by legal standards it must still remain dominant in flavour, we would find it quite difficult to find its aroma in many gins anymore. Modern brands are experimenting and using unusual ingredients such as olives, rosemary, lotus leaves and nettles in addition to more traditional ingredients such as angelica, coriander, cinnamon and citrus.

Each of these botanicals contains different sub-ingredients that give it a specific flavour and aroma. Some molecules are lighter, others heavier, which affects their final properties. For example, if you smell conifer or citrus, you will immediately notice that they are much more aromatic than other types of botanicals. Their molecules are lighter and therefore more volatile. This makes them much easier to release when making gin and affects the resulting taste.