Welcome to Gin Wizard – Make your own gin at home in three easy steps !

Welcome to Gin Wizard – the home of the discerning imbiber

This neat package from Gin Wizard contains all the botanicals you need to make a unique home brew in the style of a dry London gin.  No distillation or expensive equipment is required.  All you need is a 750ml bottle of neutral spirit such as vodka and you can be sipping your own gin within two days.

Add the packet of juniper berries to the vodka and leave for 24 hours.  Then add the remaining ingredients for a further 24 hours.  Strain out the spices and your gin is ready.  The botanicals give the finished product a natural harmless golden hue (normally removed through distillation in commercially manufactured gins).

We’ve sourced spices from around the world to bring the art of gin making into the home.  The kit comes in a decorative natural kraft pillow box with a sachet of juniper berries, and sachet of other botanicals and full instructions inside and makes the perfect and unique gift for the gin lover in your life.

You can buy our kit from the following sites (click on the link to open it) :-

Ginwizard Shop on BigCartel

Etsy – the market place for craft goods

Our ebay listing

Spiced rum kits are back

I’m delighted to say that my spiced rum kits are back in production and ready to buy in time for Halloween.  You can find them at this link:-

ginwizard.bigcartel.com/product/diy-spiced-rum-kit-free-postage

The mix also makes a nice Jagermeister alternative if you mix it with vodka instead of the rum and add a tablespoon of muscavado sugar for sweetness.

I’ve had to make one small tweak to the ingredients though.  Unfortunately we’ve had to take out the vanilla pod as they are now very scarce and uneconomic when I can find them.

Cyclones in Madagascar earlier this year have wrecked the harvest sending wholesale prices to over $600 a kilo up from $100 when I first started making the kits.

While you will still get the warm Christmas smell and taste to your spiced rum, the vanilla added a rounded mellow feel to it.  If you still want this then you can add a couple of drops of vanilla essence to the bottle,, which will have the same effect.

Don’t forget that the used spice is still great for mulled wine and cider with the addition of a fresh orange in the mix.

 

Little Nan’s Carless Car Boot Sale

I am delighted to say that I will have a stall at Little Nan’s car boot sale on Sunday 18 June in Deptford Market Yard just outside Deptford Station (SE8 4BX)

I will have my full range of botanical kits available so come and say hello.

Full details can be found at the following link:-

Little Nan’s Carless Deptford Car Boot Sale

Mudchute Christmas Market 10th December

I will be appearing at Mudchute Farm Christmas market on the Isle of Dogs on Saturday 10th from 11am onwards.

Full details of the event can be found at this link:-

Mudchute Farm Christmas Market

We had a wonderful time last Saturday at the  Woolwich Equitable pub’s Christmas fair so if you missed that then this is your last opportunity before the big day to come and see me in person.

I will have the full range of gin and rum kits on display together with samples of the finished product. Come and say hello, have a look at the botanicals I use and smell the completed gin and spice rum.

My gin kits make great stocking fillers, secret Santa gifts and small thank you presents.

New blends added to our range of kits

Hello Gin lovers !

During the summer I had a bumper harvest of bay leaves and rosemary, far more than I could use for cooking so naturally I turned to another gin blend.

My lemon and herb blend is complemented by the addition of fennel and a smidgen of green cardamom.

As the herbs are home grown this lovely blend is only available with a limited supply and once it’s gone it won’t be available until the next rosemary harvest unless I can find a decent wholesale rosemary producer.

 

 

As you can see from the picture above, leaving out the cassia bark produces a much lighter coloured gin from the infusion.  The herbs come through well and the fennel provides a subtle aniseed like finish to it.

 

After the success of our Citra hop blend I wanted to experiment with other hop varieties.  My latest batch uses Chinook hops which are more of a flavouring hop rather than an aroma hop.  They are often used in IPAs and American Pale ales have have a pine like aroma with mild grapefruit like tones.  Again I will probably only produce a small batch as there are lots more hop varieties to try such as Mandarina Bavaria which has a wonderful warm tangerine taste.

Both kits can currently be bought on ebay at the links below

Lemon & Herb Kit

Chinook Hop Kit

DIY Gin Kit – Citra Hop blend for a zesty hoppy taste and aroma

I’m delighted to announce the launch of my latest product, a refreshing spring blend with Citra hops to give it that additional zesty kick and aroma

My Citrus Gin Blend which we launched last autumn had a warm rounded warming feeling to it through the addition of cassia bark and was an ideal aperitif over the colder months.  Some of my friends used it as a stronger substitute for Cointreau in their favourite cocktails.

However, as spring is well under way I wanted to produce a lighter more refreshing even slightly sour tasting citrus blend to serve in the garden.

I decided to take out the cassia bark completely and replaced the orange peel with more lemon.  This toned down the rounded citrus flavour.  I added dried lemon grass for its sweet lemony scent.  However, the blend was missing something else.  I tried finding dried lime and grapefruit peel but this was unavailable (please do let me know if you can find some).  Fresh peel works fine but is not suitable for selling in my kits.

Inspired by the single hop beers produced by local brewery Hopstuff in Woolwich I began to look at hops as an alternative ingredient that I could use and plumped for Citra which as the name suggests has a strong, yet smooth floral and citrus aroma and flavor owing to the high alpha acid.  It is commonly used in American Pale Ales and IPAs.

The result is a fantastic zesty smelling and tasting gin with a slightly sour after taste that real ale lovers will identify with owing to the hops.  I love the taste but wouldn’t recommend it to a gin novice or someone who just likes the occasional tipple as you may find the flavour a little too intense.  If you’re not sure I would recommend infusing the botanicals for only 12 hours rather than the usual 24 and seeing how it suits your palette.

By removing the cassia bark the colour of the gin has lightened and has a slightly green tinge from the hops, reminiscent of a bitter lemon mix.

You can buy this new mix at my shop ginwizard.bigcartel.com/

Don’t forget its World Gin Day on 11 June

Quality and Taste

Hello fellow gin lovers, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve picked up over the last couple of weeks to help you get the most from your gin kits.

Quality

Every pack that I make at Gin Wizard has each botanical individually weighed out by me.  However, this is not the case with other suppliers.  I recently found out that many of them mix their spices together in wholesale amounts and then weigh out the mixed blend, saving them time and hence money.

The trouble with this approach is unlike a powder or a paste that you are never sure you are getting the correct amount of each spice in your blend.  The different weight and size of the various botanicals means that certain spices will naturally rise to the top of the mix when it is moved about meaning that you can’t be certain of having a consistent blend of gin each time.

I would like to assure all my customers that each of the botanicals in your gin kit is individually weighed out and packaged to ensure that you get exactly the right amount of each one.  Yes it is labour intensive but I believe that it is worth it to get a consistent taste.  After all the testing to get the right recipe why compromise on the end product.

Taste

We love our gin and want the full on flavour of our botanicals to shine through in the finished product.  Therefore my packages contain approximately 15g of juniper and a further 15g of other botanicals so the essence and aroma cuts through the neutral spirit.

As a comparison some other suppliers give just 7g in their products for the same or a higher price.  This is not to say that they are any worse.  They still produce a decent product but it is more subtle.

However, I do appreciate that some gin lovers prefer a more understated flavour and if this is the case then can I recommend one of the following:-

1. Initially use half the ingredients, remember you can add more if you wish to enhance the taste. The remaining batch can be used to make a further bottle of gin

2. It’s all down to personal taste so we recommend that you keep smelling and tasting the blend as you make it. Our instructions act as a guide but if you find a flavour that you like after a shorter period then stop and strain out the botanicals at that point.

 

Happy imbibing !

Mother’s Day & Easter Gifts from Gin Wizard

Mothers day and Easter are fast approaching.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be a little more creative this year rather than give the same old chocolates and flowers?

Our original London gin kit sold very well over Valentines day with many people using it as a small present to include with flowers for their other half.

So why not be a little bit more inventive or thoughtful this year and include one of our gin kits as a small thank you to your mother or as a replacement to Easter eggs.

If you would prefer something a little bit of spring in the air then maybe our citrus gin blend is more appealing.

As ever the cheapest and best way to buy our handmade gin kits is from our website

http://ginwizard.bigcartel.com/

but you can also find us on ebay, Folksy and Etsy if you have an account there.

The Ginwizard

Back to the drawing board

Well it’s back to the drawing board on our Far Eastern spiced gin.

Alcohol is very good at picking up flavours and has gone to town on on the pepper  we added into the mix leaving an overpowering bitter taste in our first test sample.  While it might appeal to some its not what you expect in a gin & tonic where subtlety of the other botanicals is the key.

So for the next sample batch we will be adding a few corns of pepper rather than a few grams!  This shows the importance of testing and sampling and we are happy to tinker away until we find a drinkable mixture.

Don’t worry though we didn’t waste our test sample.  We used it as liquor for a slow braised venison stew together with the juniper berries we used to make the batch of gin.

 

Savings if you buy direct from us

It’s coming up to Christmas and we have seen a lot of activity with people buying presents and stocking fillers early.  Our new citrus blend gin kit is selling particularly well at the moment.

As an added incentive we are currently offering a discounted price of £5.45 a kit if you buy direct from our webstore.  Alternatively buy a multi-pack of three botanical kits for £15, a saving of £2.85

So for the cheapest prices visit our shop here:-

Gin Wizard Store

Happy shopping!

New Multipacks available – Buy a pack of three botanicals and save money

Gin Wizard now has a range of three botanicals kits:-

1. A London gin style (containing the classic botanicals found in a London gin)
2. A zesty citrus style (using more orange and lemon peel as well as kaffir lime leaves)
3. A spiced rum kit (botanicals include vanilla, star anise, peppercorn and cardamom)

Our new multipacks give you one of each of these with a saving of £2.35 on the price of buying the three kits individually.

They make ideal Christmas gifts.  Its up to you whether you give all three or decide to keep one for yourself!

These are currently available at the following places:-

Our own store on BigCartel

Ebay