I had no idea, honestly, that gin was botanically-infused vodka.
But first things first. Most of us have that one person who is always last to be checked off our holiday gift list. We keep putting them off because we have no ideas. Gift cards ensue. But I think I might have just solved this.
A small business in Portland, Oregon, sourcing locally as much as possible and packaging everything by hand, has come out with Grow and Make kits. These “crafting” kits are cute boxes stuffed with what you’d need to make everything from lotion, body scrub, and soap to cocktail bitters and a gift box of chocolates. Two of the best-selling are the Artisan BBQ Sauce Making Kit and the Deluxe Hot Sauce Making Kit. The kits come in at $45 – $65. They all have serious gift potential. Well, except maybe for cheese and drinking vinegars, both a bridge too far in my opinion.
I put “crafting” in quotes above because a person by no means needs to be crafty to tackle these projects. Otherwise, you would not find me doing it.
Yes, you’re making things, but really, the instructions are straightforward and the processes simplified, so if you can follow directions, you can be “crafty” too.
I like gin drinks occasionally when I’m out, especially after my daughter-in-law introduced me to French 75s, a lemony gin-champagne cocktail. So I chose the Grow and Make Gin Infusion Making Kit for my foray into mixology. At first I thought you were infusing (flavoring) gin. But you’re actually making gin out of vodka. So I learned something, always a bonus: Vodka infused with botanicals, juniper if nothing else, is gin. I picked up a bottle of Smirnoff, a budget-friendly traditional vodka, fine for my purposes.
The kit consists of a glass bottle with slow pour cap, two more glass bottles with corks, a shaker, cone filters, a small funnel, a jigger, paper straws, old-timey, stick-on bottle labels, garnish picks, instructions, as well as juniper berries, lavender buds, dried orange peel, cardamom pods, and butterfly pea flowers. That’s everything you need, except a muddler (and the vodka). If you don’t have a muddler, a wooden spoon will do.
Since the pine-y taste of juniper is what makes gin, gin, that was a no-brainer first addition to my concoctions. Beyond that, in one batch I added lavender buds and a bit of the orange peel for a fruity-floral gin. Into the other went butterfly pea flowers, which I had never heard of. It seems they’re native to the Indonesian island of Ternate and a common component in herbal teas. They produced a striking indigo-colored gin. Note that you need to allow two days, maybe three depending on how intense you want it, for the gin to be infused.
The kit is nicely presented, in a sturdy box that opens upwards to display the contents. You don’t need to be crafty or have any particular skills to make a success of the project. The instructions are easy to understand, and they even give you a tip on how to create infused ice cubes to put in your drinks.
If you actually look at what you tangibly get for $50, it can seem overpriced. The cocktail shaker in particular is one-and-done quality. And a little muddler would have been nice.
This well-packaged kit is a fun gift for a friend or relative who likes gin (or at least doesn’t dislike it and enjoys playing around with cocktail creations). For someone who has a serious home bar setup with better versions of the implements in the kit, maybe not so much. Still, I see it as more than the sum of its parts.. Having that head-scratcher of a giftee taken care of with an original gift that feels personal is worth a lot.