The botanicals are assembled in a particular ratio by weight and layered according to particle size. To be legally designated as gin, the liquor must contain juniper berries (otherwise, it’s simply a flavored vodka). But the Hendrick’s recipe is much more complex, containing 11 different botanicals: juniper berry, coriander, Angelica root, lemon peel, orange peel, chamomile, cubeb berry, elderflower, meadowsweet, caraway seeds, and Orris root. Orris, the ground-up root of an iris plant, isn't dominant in the final spirit, but it acts like “a piece of Velcro that all of the other flavors hang on to,” Gracie explains, which helps keep the aromatics intact.