Hello Steemians!

Today a  blog a little special ... I work for a bar of the Costa Brava, in Spain, in a tapas bistro called "El Patio". We are a small bar located on the seafront in a small Catalan village called L'Escala. We are dedicated to serving fresh and homemade tapas. But we are also specialized in cocktails, mojitos and other sweeties ...

To make it clear, I made this blog in various languages because when you take my gin I will give the url to the person so that he can see how it is done.

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Like every year in L'Escala, a local newspaper called "El Cargol" organizes an original competition: L'Escala Gin Tonic Road (#larutadelgintoniclescala). This consists of several bars that creates a gin and tonic of author and a jury decides in the end which is the most successful of the year.

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Last year, I had the honor to win this competition among a very tough and formidable competition, thanks to my GinTojito's, a fresh gin tonic with the appearance of a mojitos, but while staying at 100% a gin and tonic with a touch of mojitos back taste and especially the design in visual trompe l'oeil.

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This year I set new goals, it was necessary to innovate, but with what?

So I decided to simply create my own gin! Easy peezy!
I looked at what gin really is and in the end it's a clever mix of infusion of several plants, seeds that will give that bitterness characteristic of your favorite drink.
So I started making gin… as an objective!

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I also admit that I'm only going to explain how to make your house gin in my successful version. I have done many, many unprofitable tries before coming to that, but it's less interesting than having the final recipe, so here it is:

To make your own gin, you first need a neutral alcohol. I recommend a medium range vodka. Know that the more pure a vodka is, the less vodka it will bring to your Gin Tonic. For my part, a good value for money is Smirnoff vodka, the one I used.

The first step is to transform your vodka into a gin. For that the ingredient that will allow you to achieve this is the juniper berry. It is  THE basic ingredient.

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For this just pour about 25g of juniper berries into your bottle of a liter of vodka. I advise you to slightly crush your berries before inserting them into your bottle. Be careful not to crush them too much as this may give too much bitterness to your basic gin.
Brewing time: 24h
Let your vodka-gin rest for about one week so that the tastes and flavors are fixed.

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After making your first transformation, it's time to give your touch to your gin. On this stage everything depends on you and your tastes. Personally here is what I used to arrive at my result.
- 3g coriander
- 2g of Cardamom
- 2g carvi
- 3g of jamaic pepper
- 2g rosemary

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Just like the stage before we filter the result after 48h of infusion this time, I do not advise you to leave any longer because I tried, but the bitterness is too strong beyond this time, and the rosemary will take too many place. Remember that these are flavors that we add to our gin. Gin is already present with your juniper berries.

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After that I advise you again to let your homemade gin rest some time so as to freeze the flavors in your bottle after filtering all the seeds and herbs.
After that, it depends on your taste and desires, trust your nose. You can infuse again but with fresh new seeds so as not to increase the bitterness again.
I insist on this bitterness, but I have lost many many  liters of alcohol by exceeding this limit of bitterness that makes a gin good or bad.
So repeat step 2 as many times as necessary so that your gin is perfect for you and your desires.

The last step is the perfume. In my case I chose to leave on a very floral gin in the mouth, and for this I used 3 major ingredients: rose petals, lavender and vanilla.
For this step, I used two spoons of lavender, a spoon of rose petals and half a vanilla pod per bottle.
This step is very fast, 24 hours at most. Anyway after this time, your gin will have absorbed all the flavors of your flowers and your vanilla.

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Once your petals and pistils are removed with your filter from your bottle, let your gin rest for a few days. It's ready to be tasted!

Here is now a video of my author gin tonic from the Bistro El Patio Tapes of Escala for the ruta del Gintonic VI of 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bK63NBzK2A
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For those who are wondering what this website is, it's about steemit. It is a decentralized social network platform. 

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Just like Bitcoin it is a cryptocurrency, a term you must have heard lately. This allows people to write blogs and get paid to write them also through other social network users. If you want more information on Cryptos or Blockchains, ask your favorite barman ;)

See you soon
Mangou007

Photo Mangou

Special thanks to my photograph and video maker: @azabacheclaro ;)