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What's Katie Doing?

Gin Travel Food

March 5, 2020

58 Gin distillery & gin making experience

Recently Hackney based 58 Gin moved premises. After following founder and distiller Mark Marmont’s progress photos on Instagram, I was delighted to be invited along to check out the new distillery in Haggerston. Even better, I was going to be trying out their new gin making experience. The new Fifty Eight gin distillery is the perfect set up for a gin school to get hands on experience. Read on to see how I got on making my own gin (with a little help):

The 58 gin selection on the distillery bar

The Fifty Eight gin line up

* Full disclosure: I was invited to attend 58 Gin distillery experience for free, all opinions remain my own. This post also contains affiliate links, which earn money to support the running of this blog at no extra cost to you, these are all clearly marked next to the link*

58 Gin distillery & gin making experience

Getting to 58 gin distillery:

Fifty Eight gin is based in their new distillery in Haggerston. The distillery is built into the railway arches under the London Overground line, and that’s the easiest way to get there. Note that there isn’t any parking and I wouldn’t recommend driving if you are planning to taste the gins. Taxi’s are easy to come by and there are buses on the main road also.

Entrance gates to 58 gin distillery with windows set in the railway arch

The entrance to 58 gin distillery – picture credit google

When we arrived for the gin school experience, we were welcomed with a gin and tonic. The coolness of the concrete floored distillery space was welcoming with a cold drink on a hot summer’s day.

58 gin and tonic, with the distillery bar area in the background

A refreshing 58 Navy strength gin and tonic to start

Hannah was to be our ‘spiritual guide’ on our 58 gin making experience. My gin pal Meena joined me on the experience and I ran into some other gin friends there too. The gin making experience is done in pairs – each pair had their own still and would make a bottle each of their own gin to take away at the end.

Meena and Katie with gin and tonics smiling

Happy gin pals (this may have been taken at the end of the session….)

 

Gin making experience

Introduction to the botanicals

Jars of the 58 gin botanicals lined up on the bar

The key botanicals that make up Fifty Eight Gin

Fifty Eight gin uses juniper, coriander, orris root, angelica, vanilla, cubeb pepper and three citrus – grapefruit, bergamot, and lemon. Whilst there are 9 botanicals that made it into Fifty Eight gin, there are numerous more for us to get familiar with.

People grouped around a table with the botanicals

Everyone getting involved with the botanicals

These are grouped into three areas, citrus, floral/herbal and spice:

Jars of different dried citrus peels

A fine selection of different citrus.

From Spanish to Egyptian lemons, sweet orange, blood orange, lime, bergamot, pink and yellow grapefruit, we had a wide selection! The choice of which citrus to use is quite key – they all have different elements that they add to the final product. However some gins don’t use citrus peel at all – instead they get their citrus notes from the spice section using coriander, so something to consider there.

Jars of floral and herbal botanicals

The floral/herbal line up

Despite angelica being in there 3 times, there was still a wide selection of floral botanicals – lavender, chamomile, orris. Herbs were represented by dried rosemary, and liqurice and vanilla are the two that don’t quite fit into those categories. I think the quantity of orris and angelica is a heavy hint that these will be required in most recipes – they are traditionally used as binding agents and help the flavours in the gin meld together.

Jars of dried spice botanicals

Spice up your life! (& gin)

There is a large variety of spices to sniff and decide on. Classic spices used in a lot of gins include cassia (known as more cinnamon than cinnamon) and coriander as above. Pepper is also a good spice to add, the more adventurous spices such as anise seeds, cumin, star anise and grains of paradise all add different dimensions.

Meena sniffing a jar of botanical

Meena getting her nose in

Our guide Hannah took us through what we could expect, but first we had to decide what kind of gin we wanted to make.

 

Deciding the recipe

After a brief pow-wow Meena and I decided we wanted to make a negroni gin, i.e. one which would work in a negroni. For this we wanted it to be citrus forward, with lots of orange, and some warming spice. As per Hannah’s instructions we limited the botancials from each area and used the recipe sheet as a guide to the amounts we might need:

The recipe sheet

The guideline recipe sheet

When we had decided which of the botanicals we liked we were actually using we got to weigh them out using the scales.

Weighing the juniper on the electronic scales

Juniper is the main ingredient so the largest amount of any single botanical we added to our still, Alice

 

Meena weighing out the smaller ingredients

Meena weighing out the smaller ingredients – this was tricky!

When we had weighed all the ingredients we also noted down the exact amounts, as our scales were precise but some of the lumps weren’t!

Katie and Meena's final recipe with the precise amounts of each botanical they added

Our final recipe

This means we can recreate our recipe in the future should we want to… although I think I would want to play around with it and see how changes impact the end liquid.

Mix of botanicals in a glass lab beaker

Our final botanical mix

 

Katie sniffing the botanical glass

Having a sniff before we distill it!

 

Distillation time!

When we had measured all our botanicals, using the recipe sheets as guidance, we put them in the still with the 50:50 alcohol and water mixture. The reason why you don’t distill using all neutral grain spirit is to stop the spirit and botanicals ‘burning’ in the still. The additional water assists with this, as the spirit will start to boil – i.e. form a vapour – at 78 degrees, well below the temperature of the water.

Mini copper still

Our small copper still – Alice

 

Looking inside the copper pot still filled with botanicals

The botanicals and liquid mix in the pot of the still

 

Copper pot still set up to distill our gin

All ready to go – the hot plate under the copper still heats the mixture up until the liquid evaporates at 78 degrees, then the vapour goes through the copper pipes, is condensed in the copper vessel on the right and comes out as liquid into the glass flask

Here’s a video showing our gin coming off the still:

https://whatskatiedoing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG_2889.mp4

 

 

When our gin had distilled, it was ‘cut’ down to drinking strength and our bottles filled.

Katie and Meena holding their gin bottles

Happy faces with our (as yet) unnamed bottles of gin

 

Find out about how gin is made – What is Gin?

 

 

Labeling & waxing your gin bottle

This was fun, playing with the signature blue 58 Gin wax.

Meena dipping the bottle top in blue wax

Meena went up first and dipped her bottle in the wax mixture

Then it was my turn:

https://whatskatiedoing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG_2889.mp4

 

We also had to decide on the name for our gin. Meena said the gin should be perfection, so we went with Flawless, as the phrase reminded us of the lyrics to a song ‘Flawless’.

Bottle of gin held up from the bottom

Ta da! The finished product

 

58 gin tasting

Whilst waiting for our gins to distill, we had the opportunity to try the Fifty Eight gin range.

The 58 gin range

The Fifty Eight gin range, which we got to taste!

Fifty Eight gin is a proper juniper forward gin, with lovely citrus notes. On the nose you get these citrus notes first, with juniper coming through next. To taste, the piney juniper leads, with the citrus and spice providing balance and length. This is a great G&T gin, but would also work well in a martini.

Tasting glass held up with gin it in

We tasted the gins neat to start off with – check out the legs on this!

We also got to try the gins in some cocktails. A white negroni using 58 Distilled Sloe gin, Lillet Blanc, Italicus was a revelation, fruity and citrussy.

 

58 Apple and Hibiscus gin in a long serve

A refreshing long serve for the Apple and Hibiscus gin

The 58 Apple and Hibiscus gin was served both with aromatic tonic, basil and orange zest for a long drink. The other suggested serve was in a martini with Lillet sweet vermouth. Although it wouldn’t be my first choice of gin for a martini, this isn’t your usual sweet pink gin, with plenty of juniper and the apple giving natural sweetness.

 

The History of gin

Our guide Hannah also talked us through the history of gin, referencing the famous ‘Gin Lane’ etching by Hogarth:

Gin lane copy

Hogarth produced 2 etchings, this one Gin Lane, showing the seedy side of gin, and Beer Street, which showed how wholesome things were if you drank beer instead.

We also got an introduction to the stills that Fifty Eight gin use – both their shiny new ones and the ones that owner and founder, Mark Marmont originally started out on.

The 58 gin still

So shiny! The newer still set up – named Beryl, with a 600 litre capacity.

The older stills are named Vera (100l), Eliza, Selena and Shirley (all 60l capacity):

The original pot stills that were used to make Fifty Eight gin

The original pot stills that Mark started out making Fifty Eight gin on

 

The verdict

Tasting my gin:

Neat the gin is super light. On the nose the citrus element come through and the mouthfeel is very light. It kind of skips over my tongue, ending with a little spice, but not a lot of warmth or length to the flavour. For me this is a little disappointing. In a negroni (as this is how we wanted to drink this gin), it’s too light to stand up to the bitter flavours of the Campari and the vermouth.

Katie holding up her glass of gin and tonic

Trying out my gin at the distillery as a gin and tonic – I had to taste it again after giving it some time to ‘settle and mindmeld’

After looking at our recipe again, it shouldn’t be such a surprise that a gin that’s so citrus forward would be light. Citrus oils are the lightest essential oils and the first to come off the still. So a gin with more depth and length would need more than just citrus. So I would change my recipe if I was to do it again. This is why distillers generally go through lots of iterations before finalising their recipe.

However when drunk as a gin and tonic with a light tonic this would be very refreshing for a summer drink. It also makes a lovely martini – all the citrus in the gin is complemented with a lemon or grapefruit peel garnish.

As for our aim of a negroni gin, I think a white negroni would work best. Balancing the gin with a lighter bitter would stop the underlying flavours being overwhelmed.

 

Honourable mention: 58 Gin Chocolate negroni:

I also invested in another bottle of Fifty Eight gin’s chocolate negroni. This is a pre-mix negroni with Fifty Eight gin that’s also been infused with cocoa nibs. If you like negronis and chocolate, you’ll love this, but it’s very rare to find it!

Fifty Eight gin chocolate negroni - pre mixed and ready to drink

This chocolate negroni is dessert in a glass!

 

Overview of the fifty eight gin distillery experience:

The gin making experience at 58 gin is a 3 hour long experience for £120 per person. For this you get a lesson in gin and botanicals; to distill your own gin recipe from scratch in a mini still, bottle, label and wax it. You also get 4 drinks: a welcome gin and tonic, 2 cocktails and a sample of your own gin as a g&t. There are nibbles and water provided and plenty of expertise and help!

Gin and tonic in front of a 58 Gin branded bag with the still in the background

We took home our gin in these smart 58 Gin branded bags

The distillery is fully accessible for wheelchair users, those who are wheelchair bound will need assistance with adding botanicals into the still – as these are on a high counter and plumbed in, so unable to be moved down. There are stool chairs available at the bar area and by the stills for those unable to stand for the duration of the gin making session.

 

Overall I think this class is good value for money. The staff look after you well, guiding you along the way and there is plenty for beginners and gin geeks alike here! With plenty of drinks to keep you going and food to soak up the booze, this is a fab interactive experience. I particularly love that you get to wax your own bottle at the end and take it away to enjoy later. You also get a discount to buy any 58 gin products on the day.

 

Sessions are bookable for Friday nights at 6:30pm and Saturday afternoon at 1:30pm. (I’m sure if you had a big group you could arrange another time for a private session.)

Make your own gin and book in for a gin school session online at the Fifty Eight gin website:

Make your own gin & 58 gin school

 

You can also buy bottles of Fifty Eight gin from Amazon online [affiliate link]

 

58 Gin Distillery is based at 329 Acton Mews, Haggerston, London, E8 4EF:

 

58 gin distillery and gin making experience

Pin me for your distillery visit and gin making planning!

 

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Girl out and about in London. I love gin, good food and travelling and I share it all on the blog, enjoy!

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