Crafter’s – Nordic gin trio

22.11.2022

Nordic botanicals, distinctive flavours, herb-specific distillation – these are just some of the keywords that describe the award-winning Crafter’s premium gins.

In addition to the traditional components of gin, such as juniper berries, coriander, orange and lemon peel, each Crafter’s features Nordic flavours that include the flowers of at least one plant.

“Crafter’s Wild Forest gin, made with evergreens, contains heather flowers, which, instead of giving the gin a floral taste, add a mossy depth and a honeyed note,” says Hanna Kaur, Liviko’s beverage architect.

The magical Crafter’s Aromatic Flower gin is like a wild meadow beaming with blossoms – as many as six flowers have gone into the making of this gin. “Rose hip and meadowsweet dominate in this elegant aromatic gin, backed by a chorus of various sweet flowers and crisp juniper, with zesty citrus balancing off this softness,” Hanna explains.

The character of the fresh Crafter’s London Dry comes from the flowers of Veronica, a herb that has to be gathered from the wilderness. While flowers are not a common component of classic gin, London Dry gin made using the traditional method actually gets its character from the Veronica herb, which is paired with juniper berries and fennel seeds to create a crisp and vibrant flavour bouquet.

Herb-specific distillation

“At Liviko, we have been using the method of herb-specific distillation since the beginning of the previous century. If all plants had similar chemical properties, it would be possible to distil all of them at once. However, we have selected botanicals with different characteristics, which is why we distil each type of plant separately. Since different types of plants have different volatilities, their characteristic flavours are manifested at completely different boiling temperatures,” explains Hanna.

Distilling each herb individually is time-consuming and knowledge-intensive, but the top quality and reliable taste experience is worth the commitment. “We focus on the part of the plant – flower, shoot, leaf or other – that best manifests the flavours and aromas that we wish to highlight in the gin,” adds the beverage architect.

Award-winning gins crowned by a green mindset

Having taken home numerous awards over the years, Crafter’s has been celebrated for its distinctive and premium flavours as well as its outstanding design. Liviko’s innovation of recycling juniper berries, which Crafter’s helped to invent, is also internationally recognised.

“We use the valuable juniper berries repeatedly. In the first round, we distil the award-winning Crafter’s gins. From the juniper extract left over from this distillation, we make sparkling Re-crafted Crafter’s Junibeer drinks,” explains Hanna Kaur, happy with the process of reusing raw ingredients. The leftover fiber-packed juniper berries are then added to Crafter’s Juniper cheese made by the Andre Farm cheese farm, a partner of Liviko.

Liviko developed this unique production process in 2019. “We got the idea of reusing the residual extract when we analysed the chemical properties of the distillation residue of juniper berries. The rich taste and stable quality of the juniper berries that have gone through distillation encouraged us to direct them back into use,” says Hanna.

The distillation residue is used to make the non-alcoholic juniper berry soft drink Re-crafted Crafter’s Junibeer and the juniper beer of the same name (3.2 vol).

Thanks to this innovative production process that makes distilled juniper berries a raw ingredient for other products, the ecological footprint of Crafter’s gins has decreased significantly.