On our way back from Sydney me and Mrs Tesla dropped by a micro gin distillery for a bit of a taste and so I could check out their operation.
Taste wise they do a very nice dry gin, a really nice aniseed gin and also a very interesting "Grain Jenever" which was infused with eucalyptus honey.
According to the distiller, gin was originally invented by the Dutch and called Jenever, which the English called Jin, then gin. Apparently the Dutch stuff was pretty rough originally so the English refined it into what we know today.
Here's a couple of pics...
2000L fermenter on the left used to be a milk vat. Wash gets pumped from the fermenter to the boiler. On the right is the grain storage which is barley and malt.
400L boiler running on gas through to a 6 plate glaser (8"). Then a series of ball valves sends the vapour path to either a pair of product condensers for a stripping or spirit run, or through the botanicals basket on the left.
When we were there he'd just about finished a stripping run which takes about 5 hours.