Looking for the best recipe

It all started one nice sunny day thinking that in Slovakia we do not have our own RUM made in Slovakia. Yes, Rum. You may ask, ‘how the hell is this related to the GIN?’. Well, wait for it. Producing rum clearly makes sense, or at least that is what I thought. Sour reality came with realization that in Slovakia we cannot grow sugar cane in natural conditions. Duh, obvious, snow and cold winters are not friends with sugar cane. This did not stop me, at least from research. I asked myself ‘Why not to import it?’. Well, because it would be huge expense to ship sugar cane stacked in containers across several countries, you silly.

Now the time for the Gin idea arrives. Why not to make gin? We have a plenty of Juniper bushes growing in our mountains, and there is no one who produces Gin in Slovakia! (well, did not). Thoughts were fighting in my head, ‘gin tastes like car air freshener, why should you try to produce somethig you don´t like?’, On the other hand, my sister Natalie, who had more experience with coffee and booze tried to convince me that gin actually can be great and tasty. 

Research for base recipe begun. During the research, solely for study purposes, couple of pubs were visited, plenty of bottles were bought. This chase for perfect recipe took precisely 2 years, not a minute more or less! During these two years of experimentation with different local and exotic ingredients I realized I wanted to produce gin, that can be drunk straight, without any shivers and goose bumps. So now our family Gin journey begins.