Forget whiskey...Gin Ale?

So I have been thinking about making a Dragons Milk Clone, which features 2 oz of Jim Beam in the bottling bucket. I was thinking about skipping it and experimenting instead. What do you all think about a Gin Ale? I figure Gin is already pretty dry and bitter, so I was thinking a light, smooth, and caramelly grain bill would do well.

12 lbs 2-row
2 lbs flaked corn
1-2 lbs crystal 20

.5 oz sterling @ 60
.5 oz glacier @ 15

.5 oz coriander @ 15
.5 oz grains of paradise @ 15

Yeast: Nottingham or WLP001

2 oz gin in bottling bucket

I made the recipe according to how I like my gin, and that is in tonics. The coriander gives it the slight citrus taste and the grains of paradise adds to the spiciness of the gin. The flaked corn gives it a light and crisp flavor while the crystal 20 gives some caramel tastes. I want it to ferment clean so nottingham or WLP001 would suffice, I think.

Any thoughts??

I think the gin taste might be fully masked by the coriander, Even in tiny amounts coriander is still noticable but gin might be not strong enough. If you can find those flavor packets for adding to moonshine I would say pick up one of those and add it instead.

Arneba28 said:

I think the gin taste might be fully masked by the coriander, Even in tiny amounts coriander is still noticable but gin might be not strong enough. If you can find those flavor packets for adding to moonshine I would say pick up one of those and add it instead.

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I didnt even know such packets existed! Where could I find that?

I just ran across it the other day, Gimme a few ill find the link

I cant find it. I was just over it too it was a horrid little website. I basically looked like a powder that you add to your neutral distilled product. They had rum, whiskey, and tequila and gin. If I find it I will PM you. I should just bookmark every damn alcohol related site I ever hit.

Arneba28 said:

I cant find it. I was just over it too it was a horrid little website. I basically looked like a powder that you add to your neutral distilled product. They had rum, whiskey, and tequila and gin. If I find it I will PM you. I should just bookmark every damn alcohol related site I ever hit.

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Haha, i appreciate it either way. Since I prob. wont get much out of this thread, what do you think of the recipe otherwise?

Why don't you make your dragon milk clone then soak a handful of Juniper berries in 2 or 3oz of vodka for a day or three then add it a bit at a time till you get the taste just right.

+1. If you want gin taste, use the herb/spice used in making gin - juniper.

Just as you intend to use other spices to get a citrus flavor (though I can't understand why you wouldn't want to zest a couple of limes!), use the appropriate gin spice, no?

I <3 me a G&T on a hot summer afternoon. Shove that trendy mojito.

My favorite is to mix gin and limeade... the gin dries out the limeade some and gives it an herbal aftertaste... really nice.

I'm curious how this'll come out, but I dunno if I'd try it with more than a 1 gallon batch. I'm not sure how I feel about the crystal malt - gin and caramel doesn't sound like such a good combination to me. I'd probably go for something like a straight witbier, maybe even leaving out the coriander and just using gin + orange zest.

The Blow Leprechaun said:

My favorite is to mix gin and limeade... the gin dries out the limeade some and gives it an herbal aftertaste... really nice.

I'm curious how this'll come out, but I dunno if I'd try it with more than a 1 gallon batch. I'm not sure how I feel about the crystal malt - gin and caramel doesn't sound like such a good combination to me. I'd probably go for something like a straight witbier, maybe even leaving out the coriander and just using gin + orange zest.

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Yeah I feel ya for not using the caramel, I was thinking the same thing too. However, gin is so dry that there needs to be something malty in there without adding too much dominant flavors ya know? Crystal was all I could think of. Maybe using wheat as an adjunct instead of corn could do it and then I could drop the crystal....

Firstly, I considered using Gin in a pale ale that would be briefly aged on pine. I was thinking of soaking the pine chips (taken from a fresh piece of pine tree in my back yard) in either vodka or gin. I might do gin since it'll impart it's unique ginny juniperry flavor, but I also might just toast the pine in an oven. Anyway, I'd say go for it with the gin. Maybe even more than 2 oz?

On a side note of using liquor in beer, I just made a brown ale that I added an entire 750mL bottle of Disaronno to. I've yet to taste it. Can't wait though.

Secondly:

BobNQ3X said:

...Shove that trendy mojito....

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I guess you've never had a mojito made with tonic. They're freakin Awesome, and less trendy when you make it more like a rocks drink (G/T's ratio of booze to soda stuff) and less like a frilly girly pansy drink. Also, Tonic > Club soda always.

http://www.nexternal.com/hombre/Product1351
that link is for the vodka flavoring for gin, but adding juniper berries directly might add a nice flavor too. I recently made a light summer beer from the second runnings of a brown porter and added chinook and juniper for flavor. It came out really good but the juniper didnt add the expected flavor (I only used about 1oz) I think you may need a lot of juniper to get that piney bite that gin has.

foonder said:

On a side note of using liquor in beer, I just made a brown ale that I added an entire 750mL bottle of Disaronno to. I've yet to taste it. Can't wait though.

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That sounds really good.

Spruce beer recipes might be a good place to look for inspiration on a base for the gin... note quite the same flavor, but similar. I've heard that spruce beers have to age for a really long time before they get good, don't know if gin would require the same thing.

foonder said:

Firstly, I considered using Gin in a pale ale that would be briefly aged on pine. I was thinking of soaking the pine chips (taken from a fresh piece of pine tree in my back yard) in either vodka or gin. I might do gin since it'll impart it's unique ginny juniperry flavor, but I also might just toast the pine in an oven. Anyway, I'd say go for it with the gin. Maybe even more than 2 oz?

On a side note of using liquor in beer, I just made a brown ale that I added an entire 750mL bottle of Disaronno to. I've yet to taste it. Can't wait though.

Secondly:

I guess you've never had a mojito made with tonic. They're freakin Awesome, and less trendy when you make it more like a rocks drink (G/T's ratio of booze to soda stuff) and less like a frilly girly pansy drink. Also, Tonic > Club soda always.

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The pine idea is genius! however im confused, your going to take regular old pine and soak it in gin, then are you using that soaked gin to put in the beer or are you using the soaked pine and putting it in the secondary or something? Whats the process there????

foonder said:

I guess you've never had a mojito made with tonic. They're freakin Awesome, and less trendy when you make it more like a rocks drink (G/T's ratio of booze to soda stuff) and less like a frilly girly pansy drink. Also, Tonic > Club soda always.

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My wife likes mojitos. 'Nuff said.

Seriously, I like 'em with dark rum - at the very least, Appleton's - and with proper attention paid to muddling the mint. What I dislike is the whole "Look at how sophisticated I am; I'm ordering a mow-GEE-tow" trendy bullsh!t.

+1 to tonic. If I can't use it to treat my malaria, it doesn't belong in my G&T, thanks so much.

Chin chin!

Bob

k1v1116 said:

http://www.nexternal.com/hombre/Product1351
that link is for the vodka flavoring for gin, but adding juniper berries directly might add a nice flavor too. I recently made a light summer beer from the second runnings of a brown porter and added chinook and juniper for flavor. It came out really good but the juniper didnt add the expected flavor (I only used about 1oz) I think you may need a lot of juniper to get that piney bite that gin has.

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The research I've done about gin making (after all, I love M*A*S*H) leads me to believe that a LOT of juniper is used to impart the flavor in gin.

I brewed a pale ale with just American 2-row, and some left over English pellet hops from the fridge.
It was pretty bland so I soaked 1oz of smashed Juniper berries, and 1/2 oz of corriander in 1/2 cup of vodka, and dumped it into secondary.
It came out very tasty. It had a nice gin/herbal flavor.