The Art and Science of Imparting Flavor in Spirits Without Leaving a Trace

Why that orange-free gin tastes like orange.

The way a spirit smells and tastes is rarely just a happy accident of terroir. Sure, it is sometimes crafted with the goal of reflecting the conditions of the land from which its various components emerged. But it is also often made to evoke scents and tastes, and impart a feeling specific to the person who made it—or the person holding the glass.

From deeply familiar flavors like the Christmas-tree funk of classic, juniper-dominant gin, to Islay whiskies that bear the heady aromas of smoke, sea, and brine, to more whimsical tipples like peanut butter and jelly whiskey, or cookie-dough-flavored vodka, there is a great deal of art and science behind the bottle.

We spoke to the folks behind a few classic and boundary-breaking spirits to find out more about how they manage to distill a universe of flavors and experiences into the bottle, with grace, precision, and wit.

The Subtle Science of Flavoring

As with many creative cocktails, the act of making spirits is as much about the method as the madness. Two gin makers with the same raw ingredients will often emerge with two very different products, depending on the way they choose to produce their spirit.

But, in all cases, flavoring components have to arrive in the bottle somehow. For example, a distiller aiming for an orange-tinged spirit needs orange to be present as a flavor and aroma, without any actual … oranges. Think of it as an impression—like the smell on your clothes and in your hair after you leave an orange grove in the summer. It’s there, but the oranges are not. 

There are a few ways to impart flavors and aromas from and into your raw ingredients, without leaving palpable evidence behind. One is maceration prior to distillation, aka steeping and boiling, which gives botanicals and other ingredients the opportunity to sit in the base spirit mixture, leaving a fingerprint of flavor and aroma on it before it’s distilled.

The other main method of delivering an ingredient’s essence is vapor infusion, in which a still is fitted with a basket containing the flavoring components, then vapor rising from the still heats the ingredients and captures scent and taste impressions, which are then imparted to the spirit through condensers.

There is also the process of distilling to keep in mind. A column-distilled spirit will feature a clean and neutral base, while a pot-distilled spirit will emerge with more by-products, called congeners (like aldehydes and esters), which will impart more flavors.

Aging vessels—type and length of time used—can also intensely alter the final product.

St. George Spirits Is Sippable Impressionism

The art movement of Impressionism drew (and continues to draw) obsessive adulation and disdain for its ability to distill the feelings, emotions, and the spirit of a moment in time and place into a portrait.

Instead of a precise and detailed rendering that can be examined closely, the meticulously loose brush work found in Impressionism delivers a less refined but arguably more authentic perspective on the people and places it is depicting.

Lance Winters, longtime master distiller at one of America’s oldest craft distilleries St. George Spirits, brings a similar approach to the dozens of projects he has cooking at his Alameda, CA, distillery.

“We have around 20 or so SKUs that are ongoing concerns, and dozens of other projects on the backburner at any one time,” Winters says. “There are definitely some slow movers in there. If I had a corporate board or shareholders looking at my numbers, I’d definitely have to cut a few out. Luckily, I don’t.”

Even the slowest mover in St. George’s portfolio has a big place in his and long-term collaborator and head distiller Dave Smith’s hearts.  

“Each one is a labor of love,” Winters says. “Our goal is to capture a moment or a place. Instead of being exhausted by that labor, because it comes from a place of inspiration, I’m fueled by it.”

Winters will work for months—sometimes years—on a spirit, perfecting the ingredients and the process.

“We use multiple methods for different types of ingredients,” Winters says. “If you have hard, oil-based ingredients like cinnamon, [they] can go straight in the pot. But I find that I don’t love juniper when it goes in the pot, because the expression becomes too aggressive for my palate.”

Winters uses vapor infusion for juniper berries. Other ingredients, like cucumbers, he takes additional steps with.

“We distill cucumbers separately, because so much flavor comes out of the water in the cucumber itself,” Winters explains. “The goal is always to extract the freshest flavors, without getting any secondary flavors.”

Over the years, Winters and Smith have developed a cheat sheet for slightly off-balance recipes as they work through the ingredients and find the right balance of flavors.

“Now, because we’ve worked with dill weed and cucumber so much, we know that, beyond [the] pure dill weed and cucumber they can lend to a blend, they can offer round perfume that can balance out blossom characters,” he says. “Nutmeg can elevate citrus. Distilled pink peppercorns can add a subtle bite. Often, adding just a little of something can be the rug that pulls the whole room together.”

Most recently, the pair produced St. George Valley Orange, a singular impression and portrait of Lindcove Ranch, a family citrus farm in California’s Central Valley. Winters and Smith have spent many happy spring days in Lindcove’s groves.

“I wanted to make a gin that you could turn into a cocktail experience in the grove itself,” says Winters. “I wanted to be able to make a martini and feel like I was right back there in the sunshine, with the scent of those fresh orange blossoms all around me.” Mission accomplished, but not without time, patience, and many thoughtful tweaks. 

What’s next? With St. George, one never knows, but Winters has been turning one project over in his mind for years, and he admits that he may finally be ready to pull the trigger.

“I really want to make a whiskey that is distilled from acorns,” Winters says. “We rely on the oak so much for the barrel. Why don’t we use the acorn? There is so much flavor there.”

It’s just a matter of time, not to mention  collecting enough fresh acorns unsullied by weevils.

The Shed Expands Beyond the Classics To Reflect the Globe

The Shed Distillery of PJ Rigney is perched in the northwest corner of Ireland, in the rural village of Drumshanbo. Husband-and-wife duo Pat “PJ” and Denise Rigney opened its doors in 2014, making it the first distillery in Ireland’s western province of Connacht in more than 101 years.

Their first spirit was a classic gin: the Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin. But soon, the pair began exploring more experimental waters, including Drumshanbo Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey, Drumshanbo Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka, and, most recently, Gunpowder Irish Gin with Sardinian Citrus, California Orange Citrus, and Brazilian Pineapple.

All of PJ Rigney’s spirits emerge from impressions he’s gathered through his travels from China to Morocco and India, blended with a lifelong devotion to Ireland’s land and spirit, Seán MacGabhann, the Shed’s global marketing manager explains.

He works with head distiller Brian Taft to communicate these visions and memories through the citrus, spiced Oriental botanicals, Chinese gunpowder tea, and other ingredients that are blended into the base spirit.

“Authenticity is key,” MacGabhann explains. “PJ sources botanicals from the countries in which he first encountered them. He uses copper pot and column stills, and vapor baskets for all of the fresh citrus and gunpowder tea, each of which tell their own story.”

The Sardinian Citrus gin showcases vibrant, piquant citrus monstruosa from Sardinia; the California Orange Citrus puts sunnier, sweeter citrus from northern California in your glass, and the sweet-tang of Brazilian pineapples sourced from Novo Remanso shimmer through the Irish Gin with Brazilian Pineapple.

Use Master Distillation Principles To Make Better Cocktails At Home

No at-home still with vapor baskets? Doesn’t mean you can’t rip a page or two out of the master distiller playbook.

Greg Lehman, founder and COO at Watershed Distillery in Columbus, OH, with 24 active SKUs right now, has gathered multiple techniques since launching in 2010 that can be used at home if you want to seriously upgrade your cocktail game.

“Tea is a very simple way to add depth and different flavors to a cocktail,” Lehman says. “You can make a syrup out of earl gray tea, or infuse your base spirit in an earthy herbal rooibos, or even black tea can help enhance or complement the base spirit. These methods don’t take long and will pair well with fruits and a breadth of liqueurs to add layering.”

Another easy but effective method of creating flavor and texture is through fat-washing your base spirit.

“It’s a relatively easy process to use at home,” Lehman says. “If you have left over bacon fat or even olive oil, you can liquify the fat or oil and mix it with a base spirit like gin or bourbon.”

Put the mixture in the freezer until the fat or oil rises to the surface and solidifies. Then, break the frozen oil and strain out your infused spirit. The bacon will bring out the nuances of flavor in Bourbon Barrel Aged Four Peel Gin, while olive oil will bring out the earthiness.

“But the real kicker of this method is the velvety texture and smoothness this method brings to the cocktail,” Lehman says.

Cotton candy flavored vodka is not, it’s safe to say, made by macerating vodka with cotton candy. And, spirits producers aren’t required to disclose the use of artificial flavors to consumers. So, if sipping chemicals seems unsavory to you, but you do want full-throttle flavor, it pays to know a little bit more about the process, and the type of person making the product.  

Are you looking for a quick, cheap thrill in your glass—the sippable version of a poorly executed but glittery bid-budget tentpole that will do well at the box office and be forgotten after the summer? Or, do you want something that is built to last, and that you can return to again and again to sip, truly savor, and perhaps be transported, just for a moment, to an orange grove on a sunny afternoon in California, where anything seems possible?