A still is built and goes into operation...

Doing - that means tackling things, changing them, working with them... and in the end creating something new. It fills you with pride when you can finally taste the first glass of a new distillation of HANNOVER GIN.

However, it was a long way to get there. He began the time-consuming search for the perfect still - for the HANNOVER GIN it definitely shouldn't be a brand-new off-the-shelf kettle. Finally we found a beautiful column still, built in 1967, with 50 years of distilling work under its belt, which probably doesn't exist anywhere else. It was worth the effort to transport it to Hanover's Nordstadt and get it ready for operation.

To make gin, you don't just need alcohol and juniper; the individual taste only comes from the balanced combination of herbal ingredients such as coriander, orris roots, cardamom or elderberry. In order to procure the botanicals, some of which are kept secret, and mix them tastefully, we use the experience and accumulated family knowledge from two generations of work in the botanical field.

Depending on the season, we collect some of the botanicals - together with good friends - carefully and with a practiced eye along the shorelines of the Maschsee, in the Leine meadows and in Europe's largest urban forest, the Eilenriede. We can find other herbs and ingredients in gardens and roof gardens or on balconies throughout the city or region. And of course also in our own roof top garden!

But the rich taste of HANNOVER GIN requires more: We supplement the freshly collected botanicals with fine ingredients from all over the world - from our valuable HANNOVER BOTANICAL LIBRARY, which now includes over 200 ingredients.

The selected botanicals are soaked in alcohol and water in the kettle overnight. Before the container is heated the next day, further selected ingredients are hung in a basket in the upper area. The rising steam flows through the basket, absorbs the flavors and essential oils and thus introduces their aromas into the distillation process.

Towards the end of the distillation process, the trick is to extract the tasty part of the distillate and to clearly separate the “head” and “tail” (initial and final production). However, in order to get HANNOVER GIN's unbeatable depth and "bass", the rules are deliberately broken by adding back part of the separated "tail". After a certain period of storage, only the correct alcohol concentration (40%) is determined before bottling.