Knowby Three Arches Distilling
Knowby
How Its Made Gin
Gin is a distilled alcoholic spirit.
Gin is a distilled alcoholic spirit.
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Gin is a distilled alcoholic spirit.

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It's flavored primarily with juniper berries. In fact, the word gin is believed to come from ginnever, the Dutch word for juniper.
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It's the base for many popular mixed drinks, such as the martini, the Singapore sling, and of course, gin and tonic.
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The microdistillery produces gin in small batches using the slower distillation process.
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They don't add any sweeteners, artificial flavoring, or coloring.
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At this distillery, everything is done by hand, starting with the main ingredient, juniper berries.
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Then spices are added, dried angelica plant roots, coriander seeds, lemon peel, and cardamom.
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All these ingredients go into a 90-gallon copper still.
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A spirit distilled from fermented grain is already in the still.
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It's completely tasteless but has an alcohol content of 95%.
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To lower the alcohol level to 40%, they've diluted it with spring water.
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Now they prepare to redistill with the spices.
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This gives the spirit its distinct gin flavor.
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To do this, they slowly heat the bottom of the still.
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In about an hour, the alcohol boils and begins to evaporate.
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They continue distilling for about six hours, constantly monitoring the temperature.
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If the temperature reaches 212 degrees, the water will also evaporate, ruining the batch.
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The alcohol steam rises up and out of the still through pipes leading to a chilled stainless steel tank.
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When the hot steam hits the cold, it condenses back to a liquid, creating gin.
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Throughout the distillation process, they take samples to measure the density and temperature.
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These readings reflect the current alcohol level.
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They adjust the distillation speed as required to produce a target alcohol level of 76%.
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Only the middle of each batch, known as the heart of the distillation, is collected.
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This particular distillery adds another step.
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They infuse the gin with raw parsnips. This gives it an earthy flavor and subtle floral aroma.
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They peel and slice the parsnips, place them in a tank, then pump in the gin.
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After a couple of days, they pump it through filters on the way to a storage tank.
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Then they dilute the gin with water to lower the alcohol level to 43%.
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Before bottling, the distillery draws samples for quality control testing.
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They examine the color, the aroma, and of course, the taste.
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There will be slight variations in flavor based on the freshness of the parsnips.
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This microdistillery has no automated bottling line.
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They fill the bottles by hand only six at a time. They cork each bottle individually with a hand-operated press.
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They apply a plastic sleeve, which they heat shrink tightly over the neck.
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The consumer pulls a small gold tab to remove the seal and uncork the bottle.
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This hand-operated machine labels one bottle at a time.
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The machine removes the backing to expose the adhesive, then presses the label onto the bottle.
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This is a London Dry Gin, meaning it's made with the traditional ingredients and contains no added sweeteners or colorings.
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This distillation process is how gin was made before the age of large commercial distilleries.