Make Your Own Pomegranate & Cardamom Infused Gin

Pomegranate and cardamom give gin a fruity, aromatic twist for simple cocktails. This small batch uses just three ingredients and needs no added sugar. Allow roughly 3–5 days for the infusion, but start tasting earlier so you can remove the cardamom when the spice level suits you.

Ingredients and equipment

• 2 cups gin
• 1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds, also called arils—the juicy red pieces, not just the hard seeds inside
• 3 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed

Choose a dry gin you enjoy in mixed drinks. You’ll also need a clean glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and enough room for all the ingredients, a fine-mesh strainer, and a clean bottle for the finished gin. A paper coffee filter or fine muslin is useful for catching smaller particles.

How to make the infusion

1. Prepare the pomegranate. Remove any pieces of white membrane from the arils. Put the arils in the jar and gently press a few with the back of a clean spoon to release some juice; there’s no need to grind the hard seeds.
2. Crack the cardamom. Press the pods just enough to split their shells, then add the pods and their seeds to the jar. Avoid crushing them into powder, which makes straining more difficult.
3. Add the gin. Pour in the 2 cups of gin, cover tightly, and gently shake to combine. Label the jar with the ingredients and the date, and refrigerate while it infuses.
4. Check the flavor as it develops. Gently shake the closed jar daily. Begin checking the spice during the first day, using a clean spoon to take a small sample. If the cardamom is strong enough before the pomegranate flavor develops, remove the pods and any loose cardamom seeds, then continue infusing the fruit. Treat 3–5 days as a guide rather than a required steeping time.
5. Strain and bottle. Once you like the balance, pour the gin through a fine-mesh strainer. For a clearer result, pass it through fine muslin or a paper coffee filter as well. Transfer to a clean bottle, seal, label, and refrigerate.

Flavor is a better stopping point than the calendar alone. The MICHELIN Guide’s advice on infusing spirits recommends tasting as you go because ingredients infuse at different rates, then straining out the solids thoroughly.

Ways to serve it

Start with a simple drink so you can taste the fruit and spice before adding other flavors.

• Gin and tonic: Pour 1 1/2 ounces of infused gin over ice and add 3–4 ounces of tonic water. Finish with a lime wedge.
• Gin and soda: Use the same proportions with club soda for an unsweetened option. Add a squeeze of lemon or lime if you like.
• A fruitier cocktail: Add a small splash of pomegranate juice to either drink. Adjust the amount to taste rather than adding it to the whole bottle.

If the cardamom tastes too strong, blend a small serving with plain gin before adding your mixer. If you’d like a sweeter drink, stir a little simple syrup into the glass. Keeping those adjustments in individual servings lets you use the same infusion in several different cocktails.