Infusing gin at home takes a clean glass jar, a decent base gin and your chosen fruit, herbs or spices. Add them, seal the jar, taste as it steeps, then strain when the flavour is balanced. Strong ingredients like chilli or citrus peel can be ready in hours, while berries can take weeks. Below you’ll find the ratios, timings, four recipe ideas and the storage and food-safety habits that make a batch worth sharing.
TL;DR
- Start with a clean-tasting base gin, such as a London Dry style, and a sterilised airtight glass jar.
- Use roughly 200 g to 400 g of fruit per litre of gin, and far less of strong herbs and spices.
- Taste often. Chilli, vanilla, cardamom and citrus can need under a day, while berries can take around 3 to 4 weeks.
- Strain through a fine sieve, then muslin or a coffee filter, and store in a cool, dark place. Refrigerate fruit-heavy bottles.
- Label every bottle with its contents and the date you made it.
Table of Contents
- What you need before you start
- Choosing the right base gin
- Ratios that work: fruit, herbs and spices
- How long to infuse gin
- The method, step by step
- Four infused gin ideas to try
- Straining, storing and keeping your gin
- Food safety when you make infusions
- Using and gifting your infused gin
- Our perspective
- Start with a gin built for flavour
- FAQ
- Sources
What you need before you start
You don’t need special equipment. The basic kit is a base gin, your flavour ingredients and an airtight glass jar. Once the flavour is right, you strain it with a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth.
Here’s a practical checklist:
- A 500 ml to 1 litre glass jar with a tight lid. A swing-top or screw-top jar works well. Wash it in hot, soapy water and rinse it with boiling water before you start.
- A fine sieve and muslin or coffee filters. The sieve takes out the solids. The muslin or filter takes out the haze.
- A clean bottle to store the finished gin. The original gin bottle is ideal once it’s washed and dried.
- Labels or masking tape and a pen. You’ll want to date every batch.
- Scales and a small knife. Measuring by weight keeps your batches repeatable.
One rule applies to every ingredient. Fresh, good-quality produce makes a better infusion, and the old “garbage in, garbage out” principle holds for spirits as much as for cooking. Ripe berries, unwaxed citrus and fragrant herbs from the garden give you the best result.
Choosing the right base gin
The base gin sets the foundation. A clean-tasting, neutral spirit such as a classic London Dry style lets the added flavours shine without clashing with them. Juniper, citrus peel and a little spice already sit in a London Dry, so it will hold up beside berries or herbs instead of disappearing.
If you’re deciding which gin to buy, our guides on picking a London Dry gin that holds up in cocktails and how to choose a gin are a good place to start. You’ll also find the difference between a gin that is distilled with its botanicals and one that is steeped afterwards in our piece on flavoured gin versus infused gin.
A few tips for choosing:
- Match the base to the infusion. A juniper-forward gin suits earthy herbs and spices. A softer, citrus-leaning gin suits stone fruit and berries.
- Skip your best bottle. You want a gin you enjoy neat, but an infusion is about the added flavour, so a mid-range, dependable gin is plenty.
- Know what’s already in it. If you want to understand what sits in a bottle before you add to it, see what goes into a natural gin and what to check.
Ratios that work: fruit, herbs and spices
The most common mistake is adding too much of a strong ingredient. Fruit is gentle, while herbs and spices are potent.
Fruit infusions generally work at 200 g to 400 g of fruit per litre of spirit. For herbs and spices, which are more potent, start with about a 1:2 ratio of herbs to spirit, or smaller amounts for spices, then adjust by taste.
In practical terms for a 700 ml bottle:
| Ingredient type | Starting amount per 700 ml | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Soft fruit (berries, cherries) | 140 g to 280 g | Halve or lightly crush larger fruit so the gin can reach the flesh |
| Stone fruit, apple, pear | 140 g to 280 g | Slice thinly and remove stones if you prefer a less bitter note |
| Citrus peel | Peel of 1 to 2 fruit | Leave out the white pith, which turns bitter |
| Fresh herbs | A small handful | Bruise lightly. Taste early |
| Whole spices | 1 to 3 pieces (a cinnamon stick, 3 to 4 cardamom pods) | Spices are strong, so start small |
| Chilli | Half a chilli, sliced | Hours rather than days |
The fruit figures above are the published 200 g to 400 g per litre scaled down to a standard bottle. The herb, citrus and spice rows are starting points, so treat them as a guide and trust your palate.
Start with a small batch
If you’re trying a new combination, use a small amount. Jo Farish of The Gin Garden suggests using a quarter of a bottle, so a mistake doesn’t cost you a full bottle. It’s the same approach as tasting a new recipe in a very small serve first, and it applies just as well to something like a fresh ginger shot if ginger is the flavour you’re testing.
How long to infuse gin
Time depends entirely on what you add. Strong chilli, vanilla, cardamom or citrus need less than a day, while berries and strong fruit can take around 3 to 4 weeks, and milder ingredients may take up to a month.
| Ingredient | Typical steeping time | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Chilli | A few hours up to a day | Heat builds fast |
| Vanilla pod | Under a day to a day | Rich and sweet very quickly |
| Cardamom | Under a day | Can turn medicinal if left |
| Citrus peel | Under a day | Bitterness if pith is included |
| Berries and strong fruit | Around 3 to 4 weeks | Colour deepens over time |
| Milder ingredients | Up to a month | Taste weekly |
The time column follows the timings above. In every case, the rule is the same: taste the infusion as it goes, because the longer it sits the stronger it gets.
The Craft Gin Club compares infusing to steeping tea, where over-steeping gives an unpleasant result. The Spice House makes a similar point: frequent tasting stops herbs and spices turning bitter, so remove the solids as soon as the balance is right.
A simple tasting routine:
- Use a clean teaspoon or a straw to take a small sample.
- Taste neat, then with a splash of tonic, because that’s how most people will drink it.
- Write the day and your impression on the jar label.
- Strain as soon as the flavour sits where you want it. It will keep developing a little if you wait.
The method, step by step
This is the process for any infusion, whether it’s raspberry or rosemary.
- Sterilise the jar. Wash it, then rinse with boiling water and let it dry.
- Prepare the ingredients. Wash and dry fruit, slice or lightly crush it, and bruise herbs. Peel citrus without the pith.
- Add the ingredients to the jar. Fill no more than about a third to a half with solids so the gin can circulate.
- Pour in the gin. Cover the ingredients fully and seal the lid.
- Store it out of direct sun. Shake gently once a day.
- Taste from day one for strong ingredients, and weekly for fruit.
- Strain. Sieve out the solids, then pass the liquid through very fine muslin or a coffee filter to remove sediment.
- Bottle and label. Transfer to a clean bottle and add the contents and date.
A sweetened infusion, such as a fruit gin liqueur, follows the same steps with sugar added. Our recipe idea below shows how that looks in practice.
Four infused gin ideas to try
These are starting combinations, not fixed recipes. Use the ratios and tasting routine above.
Cherry gin
Good Food’s cherry gin is a classic. It says to taste before the final straining, then strain through fine-mesh cloth or muslin into a clean bottle. Serve it neat, with tonic, or topped with sparkling water and lemon. If you like a tart, rounder style, a cherry shrub made from fruit, sugar and vinegar is another way to bring cherry to a gin drink, as this recipe using Australian native botanicals shows.
Strawberry and basil
Halve ripe strawberries and add a few basil leaves. Berries are the slow ingredient, so give them a couple of weeks and taste weekly. Basil is quick, so if you want it more subtle, add it for the last day or two only. GrowVeg Australia’s strawberry recipe says the finished gin should keep for up to a year.
Citrus and cardamom
Peel a lemon or grapefruit without the pith and crack two or three cardamom pods. Both are quick, so start tasting after a few hours and strain within a day. This one is bright, dry and suited to a long gin and tonic.
Rosemary and native lemon myrtle
A small sprig of rosemary and a few lemon myrtle leaves give an herbaceous, citrusy gin. Herbs are strong, so taste early, within the first day. For ideas on drinks that sit well with garden flavours, see our six herbaceous gin cocktails.
Straining, storing and keeping your gin
A good strain makes the difference between a murky jar and a bottle you’d proudly give away.
- Strain in two stages. Use a fine mesh sieve first, then coffee-filter paper, cheesecloth or muslin for clarity.
- Return it to a clean bottle. The original bottle or another clean one works, as long as it has been washed and dried.
- Store it cool and dark. Well-sealed bottles kept in a cool, dark place can keep for up to a year.
How long a bottle lasts depends on what went in. The Spice House, a US source, suggests refrigerating fruit-infused bottles and drinking them sooner, with one to three months as a guide, while spice-only infusions kept cool and dark can last several months, often up to six. GrowVeg Australia states a cinnamon-bun gin keeps for around six months. Use the shorter figure for any bottle containing fresh fruit, particularly in an Australian summer when a pantry can run warm.
Food safety when you make infusions
Fresh produce is food, so basic kitchen hygiene applies. Healthdirect, Australia’s national health information service, advises you wash and dry your hands and equipment before handling food, and between different foods, and avoid cross-contamination. It also advises refrigerating fresh perishable food at or below 5°C as soon as possible, and notes that 5°C to 60°C is the bacterial temperature danger zone.
In practice:
- Wash fruit and herbs well and dry them before they go in the jar.
- Keep fruit-heavy infusions in the fridge once strained, particularly if you’ve added sugar.
- Don’t prepare food while you have a stomach illness. Healthdirect’s advice is to wait 48 hours after symptoms have gone.
- If you’re unsure whether something is safe, throw it out. Healthdirect gives the same advice for perishable food.
If a bottle looks cloudy in a new way, smells off or shows mould, discard it.
Using and gifting your infused gin
Homemade infused gin works as a drink on its own, in cocktails or as a gift. Serve it neat, with tonic or topped with sparkling water and lemon, or use it in a spritz. Our single serve gin spritz recipe shows how to scale a drink with 15 to 20 ml swaps, and our produce-forward summer gin cocktails suit fruit-based infusions well. For berry flavours specifically, our Aussie berry gin cocktails are batch ready.
For gifting, label each bottle with its contents and the date of preparation. That tracks quality, and it tells the person you’re giving it to what’s inside, which matters if they have allergies to nuts, fruit or spices. Add a short note on how to store it, and say whether it needs the fridge.
If you’re matching your infusion to a meal, our gin and food pairing cheat sheet explains how to match by botanical weight.
Our perspective
We make gin the other way around. Our botanicals are carefully chosen and distilled into the spirit, so the flavour is built into the gin itself rather than added afterwards. That’s what we mean by a flavour first approach, and it’s why our Denim Collection gins, such as Dry Cut and Slim Crop, are designed to stand out as they are.
We love that people infuse at home, because it’s a hands-on way to learn what flavours you like. We think the best infusions start with a gin that already has balance and character. Our gins are made with natural, locally sourced botanicals, are vegan and gluten free, and are naturally coloured, so you know what you’re starting from.
Our advice is to treat an infusion as a seasoning. Pick a gin you enjoy, add one or two ingredients, taste often and stop when it’s balanced. Our personalised gin quiz is a good shortcut if you’re not sure which base suits the flavour you have in mind.
Winston
Start with a gin built for flavour
A good infusion starts with a good base. Browse our gins and The Denim Collection, made with natural botanicals and tailor-made spirits, naturally vibrant. If you want a gin with its own character to build on, Slim Crop is a place to start, and our tonics are there for serving.
If you’re after something to give rather than make, our Limited Editions are worth a look too.
FAQ
What is the best gin to use for infusing?
A clean, neutral gin such as a London Dry style is a reliable choice, because it lets the added fruit, herbs or spices come through without clashing. You don’t need a premium bottle, but choose one you’d happily drink on its own. A juniper-forward gin suits earthy herbs, while a softer one suits berries.
How long does infused gin last?
It depends on the ingredients. Well-sealed bottles stored cool and dark can keep up to a year according to Good Food, while fruit infusions are best refrigerated and drunk within a few months. Spice-only infusions generally keep longer. Always label the date and discard anything that looks or smells off.
Can I use vodka instead of gin?
Yes, vodka is a common neutral base for homemade infusions. Gin brings its own juniper and citrus notes, so it gives a more layered result with fruit, herbs and spices. Choose by the flavour you want in the glass.
How much fruit should I add to a bottle of gin?
A common guide is 200 g to 400 g of fruit per litre of gin. For a 700 ml bottle, that’s roughly 140 g to 280 g. Herbs and spices are far stronger, so use less and taste early.
Do I need to strain infused gin?
Yes. Remove the solids with a fine sieve once the flavour is right, then pass it through muslin or a coffee filter to remove sediment. Leaving fruit or herbs in the bottle lets the flavour keep changing and can make it bitter.
Sources
- How to infuse a bought spirit at home, Strathalbyn Hardware
- How to make flavoured gin, Good Food
- How to make flavoured spirits, Good Food
- Cherry gin recipe, Good Food
- Infusions and Tinctures, Order of Mixology
- Infusing alcohol, KegWorks Blog
- How to make homemade flavoured gin, The Craft Gin Club
- How to Make Infused Liquors, The Spice House
- Cherry Shrub with Australian Native Botanicals, Cocktails & Bars
- Amazing Flavoured Gin Recipes From the Garden, GrowVeg Australia
- How to infuse your favourite spirits at home, Secret Bottle
- Food safety, healthdirect
