Our Favorite Gins Featuring Apples

Bully Boy Distillers was founded by brothers Dave & Will Willis and is based in Boston. To create their Estate Gin, neutral grain and apple brandy is used for the base. Botanicals such as Albanian juniper, coriander, lemon, juniperus virginiana (eastern red cedar), hibiscus, and pink peppercorns among others are utilized. Bottled at 94 proof.

Louisville-based Copper & Kings have created this American Dry Gin made from an apple brandy base. Distilled using copper pot stills, no neutral spirit is added. Traditional gin botanicals are steeped after the first distillation and then added to the still via vapor infusion for the second distillation. It is non chill-filtered and bottled at 46% ABV.

At its base is a spirit distilled from certified organic Jonathan apples, grown at a nearby family farm, and certified organic Romanian winter wheat. A 12 botanical blend of fresh and dried fruits, flowers, and spices like apples, juniper, roses, and lavender, are added to the distillate in its final run. Finally, it is bottled at 41% ABV.

Sharish Gin starts as a neutral spirit made from 50% molasses and 50% mix of wheat and rice. Each botanical is then separately cold infused for a period of between 30 days and 9 months, depending on the ingredient. The master distiller, António Cuco grows a few of his own botanicals: lemons, oranges and Bravo de Esmolfe apples which are unique to Portugal. The other botanicals are juniper (from Macedonia), coriander, cinnamon, cloves and bourbon vanilla.

A trip to South Africa help lead to the creation of German-made Elephant Gin. Inspired by the unique botanicals that they found on their trip, Elephant Gin's creators wanted to create a premium gin that combine these ingredients with more traditional gin botanicals. 14 total botanicals, including juniper, buchu, baobab, lion's tail, devil's claw, african wormwood, apple, ginger, mountain pine, orange peel and pimento, are maccerated together a full day in the base spirit before being distilled. For every purchase of Elephant Gin, 15% of the profits are donated to wildlife conservation in Africa.

The Chase Distillery is a family-owned, seed-to-bottle distillery. Located on their farm in Herefordshire, just north of London, they, in the case of this gin, distill cider from their own apples grown in their orchard. For their Elegant 48, it is then distilled with 11 wild botanicals including orange and lemon peel, hops, and elderflower. 48 refers to the ABV of this gin.

At its base, is a spirit distilled from Australian-grown wheat cut with local Sydney water filtered six times. Although the complete list of 14 botanicals aren't disclosed, the traditional ones include juniper, apple, orange, and ginger along with native herbs like blood lime, dorrigo pepperleaf, lemon myrtle, and river mint. These botanicals are individually distilled or infused in a copper pot still that was custom-built with three separate infusion points by the only stillmaker in Australia. After a 2 to 4 week resting period, the gin is bottled at 42% ABV.

This gin is the first to be developed by Guillaume Drouin, and is produced from 30 different apple types from the Drouin family orchards. The apples are fermented and distilled twice in three small copper pot stills. The apple base is then blended with eight different botanicals, which are all distilled separately. The botanicals include the requisite juniper as well as Brazilian ginger, almonds, and rose among others. It is made in batches of 2,850.

Dry Fly Distilling sources the soft white winter wheat used for their vodka and gin from the family-owned Wisota Farm in Eastern Washington. Made in Spokane, their flagship gin includes botanicals grown locally: Washington Fuji apples, coriander, lavender, mint, hops, and juniper berries from Oregon. It is bottled at 40% ABV.

Nikka Coffey Gin uses a base of corn and malt distillate which were distilled in a Coffey Still as the name suggests. Japanese citrus such as yuzu, kabosu, amanatsu, and shikuwasa, along with sanshō pepper, and apples pair with traditional botanicals of juniper, angelica, coriander, and lemon peel in the production of this gin. Available in Japan beginning in late June 2017 with a wider release expected later that year.

ShortCross Gin is made at the Rademon Estate Distillery in Northern Ireland. It is made with botanicals such as apples, elderflowers, elderberries, and wild clover as well as more traditional botanicals such as juniper, coriander, citrus peels, and cassia among others.

Caorunn Gin is made at the Balmenach Distillery in Scotland, one of the first distilleries to be licensed to make Scotch whisky. Named after the Gaelic word for "rowan berry," a botanical used its production, Caorunn (Ka-roon) gin is made with a combination of traditional gin botanicals - juniper berries, coriander seeds, orange peel, lemon peel, angelica root and cassia bark - and botanicals handpicked from the Scottish Highlands: rowan berry, bog myrtle, heather, coul blush apple, and dandelion leaf. These botanicals are vapor infused with the neutral spirit in a unique copper berry chamber (a round horizontal chamber with four large to copper trays that hold the botanicals) to produce the final product.