Learn how easy it is to make Infused Gin using vodka, juniper berries, and aromatics! Although not a "true gin" it sure is fun to make and quite tasty! Add it to a limoncello martini, your favorite gin-based cocktail, or if you're a gin drinker, have it on the rocks!
A few weeks ago, while heading home from church, I convinced my husband to take me juniper berry picking. We had spotted the juniper bushes on the way to our friends, Greg, and Kathy's house a few days prior.
Yes, there was snow. Yes, it was bitter cold, but more snow was coming so I thought this might be my last chance! As if that wasn't bad enough, the sharp needles just added to the experience.
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🧐 Why This Recipe Works
Making your own Homemade Gin is pretty cool. Sure, you can run down to the store and buy a bottle, but where's the fun in that? I ask you, where's your sense of adventure?
When making your own infusion, you get to add your favorite dried or fresh herbs, spices, and botanicals. The only required ingredient besides vodka is juniper berries. This means you get to control the flavor by adding what you like.
Green juniper berries are commonly used in infused gin. However, some recipes call for ripened purple juniper berries. I decided to use both just to get a more complex flavor. If you can't find juniper berries, you're in luck!
Unlike making Italian limoncello or strawberry rhubarb gin, which takes weeks (if not months) to be ready to drink, infused gin is ready to enjoy in as little as 24 to 48 hours!
🛒 What You Need For This Recipe
🔖 Recipe Ingredient Notes
- Vodka: I used Platinum 7 Distilled Vodka, which is a middle-shelf vodka. Feel free to use your favorite brand.
- Juniper Berries: Juniper berries can be picked in late fall or winter. Use them to flavor marinades which you can use for marinating meat, chicken, and fish. They even have medicinal uses. But perhaps the thing juniper berries are most known for is the role they play in flavoring gin.
- Lemon or Orange peel: Citrus fruit is often added to infused gin. This includes lemons, oranges, and grapefruit. I decided to add both dehydrated orange slices and orange peel to my infused gin. However, a strip of lemon or lime peel would also do.
- Anise/Star Anise: Instinct told me that Anise would be the perfect addition. After all, anise is used to flavor Uzo (a dry anise-flavored aperitif). I added both star anise and anise seeds.
- Cardamom: Cardamom pods are a popular ingredient in homemade gin. You only need a couple since cardamom can be overpowering. It's ok to leave them out if you don't have them.
- Marigolds: Marigolds are optional, I added them because I had them on hand. You can leave them out if you want.
- Herbs: Although I didn't add any herbs to my infused gin recipe, you can try a sprig of your favorite fresh herbs like rosemary, basil, or dill.
🍸How to Make Infused Gin
Step 1: Sterilize a 12-ounce or larger mason jar. Pour ½ of a 750 ml bottle of vodka (approximately 12 ounces) into a mason jar.
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Step 2: Add juniper berries, cardamom pods, coriander seeds, a few dehydrated orange slices, and lemon peel. Stir dried lavender, anise seeds, and star anise into the jar.
Step 3: Seal and shake the bottle, then store it on the counter for 48 hours. When it's time, strain the alcohol through a soup bag or a fine mesh sieve and into another jar.
Pro Tip: Transfer your infused gin into an empty vodka or gin bottle using a funnel. Make sure to label it, especially if you make a few different flavors!
Enjoy the infused gin in your favorite gin recipes, mix it with lavender simple syrup, top it up with tonic water, or create a new gin cocktail!
Infused gin also makes a great Christmas gift. Just add all the ingredients (except the vodka) to a mason jar and add to a gift bag with a bottle of vodka. Don't forget to add the instructions!
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
According to Merriam-Webster: Gin is a colorless alcoholic beverage made from distilled (or re-distilled) neutral grain spirits flavored with juniper berries and aromatics (such as anise and caraway seeds.
We can easily make a gin infusion at home, using juniper berries and other botanicals.
Juniperus communis is an evergreen conifer with edible berries (however, they are technically cones). These cones are green, hard, and bitter when unripe. Once ripe, their color transforms into a deep bluish-purple.
Ripe Juniper Berries have a sweet, piny taste which can be described as peppery.
Juniper Berries are often harvested for their medicinal properties or used to flavor food and drinks. However, there are many varieties that are toxic, so plant identification is critical.
Dried juniper berries can be eaten, but they're not the type of berry that you can eat in large amounts, such as blueberries, or huckleberries.
Instead, they are better suited to infuse drinks, flavor marinades, meats, and desserts. A little goes a long way!
Juniper Berries take three years to ripen. In the first year, the flower is formed, and during the second, the green berries are produced. The hard green bitter berries eventually turn blue or purple, at which time they are soft and have a pleasant sweet flavor.
According to GardeningKnowHow: "There are about 40 species of juniper, most of which produce toxic berries. But for the educated eye, Juniperus communis has edible, pleasantly pungent berries that can be used as a flavoring, incense, medicinal, or part of a cosmetic preparation."
As stated earlier, plant identification is very important since there are toxic varieties. If you are not sure, please don't risk it. Instead, purchase them online, here.
The pine needles of the juniper plant are very sharp, which makes picking the berries individually quite painful. Wearing gloves might be somewhat helpful.
However, the best way to harvest the ripe berries (once correctly identified) is to put a sheet down under the plant and shake the plant vigorously. Then simply gather the sheet and its precious contents and process the juniper berries at home. 
Once the ripe juniper berries are harvested, washed, and dried, you can air dry them naturally by placing them on a tray until completely dried. Drying time will depend on temperatures, humidity, and other variables.
Another quicker option is to use a dehydrator. Place the juniper berries on the fruit leather trays so that they don't fall through the trays. Dehydrate the berries at 135 degrees F. for 12+ hours, until the berries are hard and dry. Store in a jar or a ziplock bag.
A botanical is either the whole plant or a specific part of it, which is harvested for its medicinal or therapeutic properties. It can also be useful for adding flavor or scent.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- Allspice berries, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, and fennel seeds are just some of the ingredients that you can add to a homemade Infused Gin.
- Infused gin takes on the color of the herbs, spice, and botanicals, which gives it a yellowish tinge, so don't be surprised when your homemade gin is not clear.
- Before serving your homemade gin, garnish with a few juniper berries for a beautiful presentation. Cheers!
🍹Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
3-Step Juniper Berry Infused Gin
Equipment
- 1 Soup Bag
Ingredients
- 12 ounces vodka (½ 750 ML bottle)
- 1 tablespoon juniper berries
- 2 cardamom pods
- ¼ teaspoon coriander seeds
- 2 dehydrated orange/lemon slices
- ⅛ teaspoon lavender (dried)
- ⅛ teaspoon anise seeds
- 2 star anise
- marigold flower bud (optional)
Instructions
- Sterilize a quart sized mason jar. Pour ½ of a 750 ml bottle of vodka into the jar.
- Add juniper berries, cardamom pods, coriander seeds, dehydrated orange slice, lemon peel, or both. Stir dried lavender, anise seeds, marigold flower, and star anise into the jar.
- Seal and shake the bottle, then store it on the counter for 48 hours. When it's time, strain the alcohol through a soup bag into another bottle or jar.
Notes
- Allspice berries, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, and fennel seeds are just some of the ingredients that you can add to a homemade Infused Gin.
- Infused gin takes on the color of the herbs, spice, and botanicals, which gives it a yellowish tinge, so don't be surprised when your homemade gin is not clear.
- Before serving infused gin, plop a few juniper berries in your cocktail for a beautiful presentation.
Michael says
Thank you for this post. I gathered my juniper berries way up on the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you, Michael, enjoy!
Susan Hornby says
What happens if you leave the added berries, spices, and flowers in the gin. It would make a pretty present!
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Susan, you're right it would make a pretty present. I guess they can strain it when they're ready to drink it. Great idea!
Kern Trembath says
Did I see that you sell the ingredients for Juniper Berry Infused Gin? If so, where on your site? And if not, do you have recommended vendors (esp in the US)? Thanks.
Hilda Sterner says
Hi, thanks for your comment! I do not sell the ingredients, is there a particular ingredient you need? Juniper berries or something else? You can get a gin-making kit on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3eE1D6Q. If you don't want to buy the entire kit, I understand. Let me know what you need maybe I can send it to you. Shoot me an email!
Lori says
I’m ready to finish my Rhubarb Gin but I don’t have any sugar🤣.
Hilda Sterner says
LOL, first world problems!
Kelly Methey says
This sounds like such a fun thing to try! You come up with the best ideas!
Hilda Sterner says
That's what happens when you have nothing but time on your hands. 😬