Weighing juniper at seven
The recipe card is laminated and taped to the wall. Juniper, coriander, angelica, orris, citrus peel and a few signature botanicals, each with a weight. The distiller weighs them into the basket or pot, ticks the card, and notes the lot numbers if there is time. Maceration starts. The run happens. A sheet goes into a folder.
Months later, a batch tastes a touch more piney than usual. Was it a new juniper lot? A longer maceration? A change in the cut? The folder has part of the answer.
Why gin records are thin
Gin production moves fast, and the recipe feels fixed. So the record is often a tick against the recipe rather than what was actually weighed. Botanical lots change with each delivery and vary naturally, but lot numbers are the first thing skipped. Limited editions and seasonal gins have their own recipes, adding more sheets.
- Weights are ticked against the recipe, not recorded as weighed.
- Botanical lot numbers are not always noted.
- Maceration and run details are on a separate sheet.
- Seasonal and limited gins have their own paper recipes.
- Batches are not linked to the bottles they filled.
What thin records cost
Inconsistency that is hard to explain or fix. A supplier's botanical lot that differs noticeably and cannot be traced to the batches it went into. Slower training, because the distiller's craft is not written down. And when a retailer or distributor asks about your batch records, you have less to show than you do.
Botanicals are natural products. Juniper from one harvest is not quite the same as the next, and citrus peel varies with the season. A good distiller adjusts for that by taste, but without a record of which lot went into which batch, the adjustments are invisible and cannot be learned from or repeated.
A gin batch record for every run
- Each gin recipe is entered with its botanicals and target weights, with version control so changes are dated and approved.
- Botanical deliveries are booked in by lot, with supplier, date and any notes.
- At the start of a batch, the recipe loads on a tablet and the distiller records the actual weight and lot of each botanical as it is weighed. A connected scale can send weights directly.
- Maceration times and the run details are recorded on the same batch.
- Tasting notes and any checks are added before the batch is approved for bottling.
- The bottling run records which gin batch filled which bottles, so any bottle can be traced to its botanicals.
- Reports compare batches of the same gin by lot, weights and tasting notes.
| Detail | Recipe card | Batch record |
|---|---|---|
| Weights | Target, ticked | Actual, as weighed |
| Botanical lots | Sometimes | Always, from stock |
| Maceration and run | Separate sheet | On the batch |
| Recipe changes | Card rewritten | Versioned and approved |
| Bottles filled | Not linked | Linked by run |
Consistency you can explain
Every batch has a full record of what went in. A difference in taste can be traced to a lot, a weight or a run. Recipe changes are deliberate and dated. New staff can make the gin from the record with the distiller watching, not from memory. And questions from trade customers about your process have a clear answer.
Does this sound familiar?
- Your gin recipe is a laminated card on the wall.
- Botanical weights are ticked, not recorded.
- Lot numbers are often missed.
- Batches are not linked to bottling runs.
- Explaining a taste difference relies on memory.