Gin mead?

[Bluespark]

I've seen this referred to, but can't find much info about it. I really like gin, and have a friend who does as well. I was thinking of making a gin inspired dry mead.

Any ideas? Recipes? Anyone ever done this successfully ?

 

[Zaffo]

Gin is essentially ethyl alcohol flavored with Juniper Berries (there are different types, but the Juniper Berry needs to be the predominant flavor for it to be called Gin).

I suppose you'd be making a Juniper Melomel (or Methyglin?). If it were me, I'd make a plain old mead. Once fermentation completed, I'd add a muslin bag with some crushed juniper berries. I'd taste it every so often until the desired flavor is reached. Then, remove the berries, clarify (if necessary) and bottle.

I haven't been doing this very long, but, based on the wealth of information I've read through here and at gotmead.com, that's what I would do.

 

[rowsdower44]

You can look at this recipe. It may give you some ideas with regard to juniper berries.

 

[Arpolis]

I was a part of a conversation close to a year ago that included some talk on a Gin based mead. Here is a link back to that thread:

Juniper berry mead

 

[fatbloke]

A methyglin as suggested but then just add the aromatics in similar proportions to your favourite gin ? Or something like that ?

 

[Bluespark]

Thank you for all the replies, I'm thinking this should be dry?

 

[Brann_mac_Finnchad]

Gin contains more than just juniper--and not all of them are juniper forward. As a note, there is a gin out there that uses a spirit based on honey (haven't gotten to taste it though)

The black lagoon hydromel linked above wasn't very forward on the juniper (since I was aiming for more balanced), and I didn't get any of the resinous notes like you usually do in a gin.

Yes, most likely. However, I believe that some of the older varieties of gin (Old Tom comes to mind, and possibly genivers) were sweeter than most nowadays.

I would second the suggestion of basing the ingredients and proportions (if available) of your favorite brand. Which leaves the decision of whether you want to add in the primary (where you don't necessarily know how the flavours will change), or secondary (where you have more control and can remove as needed). I would tend towards adding in secondary for this.
Edited to add: The third option would be to make a series of extracts from your ingredients and add them to taste in 2/3rdary.

Looking forwards to hearing your results