It is time to talk about Gin. I regularly mentioned it in the cocktail stories, promised to talk about it in details, and every time postponed.
The time came, more so, because I got an excellent thematic Birthday present – the Gin from Buckingham palace. This gin is made in small batches for court needs. Botanicals for aromatization are growing in the garden of Buckingham Palace. The queen is in love with this gin. She does not drink alcohol now because of her age, but she sniffs it regularly when cleans her jewellery with her own hands.
Thus, gin.
Gin is a strong alcoholic drink made from distilled spirit by re-distillation with aromatic botanicals of which the most important is juniper.
Although on the first-place gin is associated with England, its origin is not English at al.
Originally idea to make strong alcohol with juniper came into the minds of Benedictine monks from Salerno (south of Italy) in the 11th century. Benedictines, without doubt, are great people, without them our alcohol world would be significantly poorer. Their monastery in Salerno was surrounded by juniper forest, so the idea to use it was plain to see. The monks infused wine with juniper berry and distilled it. The result, juniper elixir, which doctors used to treat most everything – coughs, colds, pains, strains, ruptures, cramps, and many other problems. Should be said, that remedial, first at al phytoncidal, properties of juniper were known for centuries, so even if elixir could not help from everything, it was useful in some cases. And it was a tasty, spirit-lifting drink, so the treatment was not unpleasant.
In the 16th century, the direct ancestor of gin appeared, which was made by re-distillation of spirit infused with juniper and other aromatic botanicals. It is impossible to find out now, but most probably originally gin was made in Italy, from where it spread out to distilleries of Holland, Belgium, and northern France, where it became very popular to the middle of the 17th century. In this region, it is known as jenever/genever/geneivre.
Most probably that modern English word “gin” is a short version of the old English word “genever” that England adopted from the Netherlands together with the drink. (The other variant that “gin” derived from Latin “juniperus”, although I think that “juniperus” is a base of all these names).
In the 17th century gin started to expand into England with help of William III of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, who became co-sovereigns of England, Scotland and Ireland after leading the Glorious Revolution in 1688. The Dutch benefited England by many useful reforms and gin.
In England gin not just became popular, in the first half of the 18th century England was taken off its feet by gin boom known as Gin Craze. At the end of the 17th century, there was just another argy-bargy between England and France (normal conditions for these countries), and England imposed a heavy duty on all imported spirits such as French brandy, which almost closed all this import. It has been always popular among governments to give a hard time to each other by the high duty on alcohol import. For example, about two years ago, the EU increased duty on American spirits by 25% for state aid to Boeing.
However, the government was afraid, that citizens may not survive without the proper amount of spirit and decided to encourage gin production. They reduced tax for spirit distillation and cancelled licensing. The prime cost of gin dropped down. Gin was cheaper than beer. Everybody made gin. By 1740 the gin production was 6 times higher than beer on; London produced 10 million gallons of gin per year. The price was affordable for the poorest people. The quality was awful. England lost itself into drinking. A couple of decades the government tried to stop this Gin Craze. Finally, high taxes, strict licensing, strong requirements for gin quality and “respectable” decor of gin shops, and grain growing prized took over – gin became more expensive. Its quality increased, and consumption decreased. Brewers, I believe, were happy.
In the 18th century, the base spirit for gin was made by distillation in pot stills (it was the only way in those times), and as a result, gin was softer and sweeter than modern dry gin. (For more details about history and technology of spirits read Introduction to Spirits). With the innovation of column still in 1828, and dry gin appearance, the popularity of old-fashioned gin significantly decreased, by this type of gin did not disappear completely, and have continued its existence under the name Old Tom Gin. The history of the name is quite a fanny. At the beginning of the fighting with Gin Craze, the government applied prohibitive taxes and licensing, which consequently drove the scene underground. On the walls of some pubs appeared the wooden plaques shaped like a black cat (an “Old Tom”). Under the paw of such cat were a slot to put money in and a lead tube. From the tube would come a shot of gin, poured by the bartender inside the pub. Old Tom gin continued its quiet existence through the 19th and 20th centuries, In the 21st century, riding the wave of fresh interest to classic cocktails, Old Tom gin is actively returning to the market. Some companies state that they use old recipes for their production. But who knows for sure…
The invention of the column still in 1828 provided the possibility to easily make a pure, high-quality neutral spirit that became the base for London Dry gin. Name London Dry (can be minimized to just London or just Dry) does not reflect the place of production or brand; it is a style (same way as Old Tom). It is made from neutral 96% spirit (purified in a column still) by redistillation with juniper and other botanicals in a pot still. The spirit is watered down, and the botanical are macerated in the alcohol. The alcohol liberated the essential oils from the botanicals and theses are carried across the swan’s neck with the vapours. The intensity of aromatization is regulated by the time of maceration – than longer than stronger. Thus, the longest maceration among popular gins belongs to Beefeater Gin (24 hours, longer than most other gins), which gives this gin a strong intensive flavour. For most delicately flavoured gin botanicals are not macerated in the spirit but placed in the special basket in the head of the pot still. The vapours pass through extracting flavours. The specially adapted for this pot stills are called Carterhead stills. In this way, the famous Bombay Sapphire gin is produced. All aromatic compounds must be obtained by London Dry gin only in the process of re-distillation. No flavours can be added to the product after re-distillation.
After the innovation of the London Dry gin, England had another gin boom. The whole country enthusiastically consumed London Dry gin. Of course, this boom was not so awful as Gin Craze of the 18th century – London Dry had good quality and was an expensive enough product. A huge impact on gin popularity in the Victoria era was made by British tropical colonies. British Empire had a lot of them, and a lot of Englishmen lived and worked in these colonies. Except for Englishmen, the colonies had malaria, and the only somehow worked remedy for malaria in those times was quinine. Quinine was used in the form of water solution (tonic) and was very bitter (modern tonics have only a trace of quinine just for flavour). Mixing with gin made tonic more drinkable, so more drinkable that it became the popular cocktail (but it is the subject of a separate article). As a result, in the colonies, gin was an extremely hot product.
Anyway, gin is still extremely popular in Great Britain.
The third wave of gin popularity happened in the USA during the Prohibition era. Gin was relatively easy to make in underground conditions, and it was produced in huge amount for thirsty Americans. Because of the quality and, accordingly, the taste of that gin was not really good, different additives used to mask the gin taste. It resulted in the mixology blooming. Plenty of gin-based cocktails were innovated in those days, and many of them were so good (especially with good gin) that survived till our days.
It was the history, and now about present reality – wine low, modern gin types and so on.
First, about base ingredients.
The origin of the base spirit may vary. It may be molasses, sugar beet, or grain. However, especially for dry gin, mostly grain is used, because it gives the gin a crisper texture whereas molasses (or beet) based spirits can give an impression of softness and sweetness.
Flavours. The most important is the juniper. By law juniper must be the dominant flavour, the rest is for distiller choice. Mostly often coriander, citrus peel, angelica root, anise, liquorice are used. The exact recipes used by distillers are closely guarded secrets.
Classification and characterization of different gin types.
European Union differentiates 4 legal categories.
Juniper-flavoured spirit drinks
The oldest category. The spirit for these drinks is made by malt distillation in pot stills, and after they are re-distilled with juniper and other botanicals in similar pot stills. The third re-distillation again with botanical for stronger taste is possible. The minimum alcohol content is 30% abv.
The first place in this category without a doubt belongs to Jenever aka Genever aka Genièvre aka Peket aka Hollands, aka Dutch gin, the traditional drink of Netherland, Belgium, two departments of north France, and two states of north-west Germany. The ancestor of British gin. The names jenever/genever/genièvre are registered as AOC, so under these names, the product can be made only in these places. Much more can be told about Genever, but, I believe, this is a subject for a separate article.
The same category includes Slovak Borovička and Brinjevec, Serbian Klekovača, and some others.
Traditionally made Old Tom Gin also belongs to this category.
London Dry Gin (or just London or just Dry). A gin produced by redistillation 96% abv neutral spirit in the present of juniper and other botanicals. No other flavours can be added after redistillation. The minimum alcohol content is 37.5% (same for the next two categories). London Dry cannot contents more than 0.1g per litre of sugar. More details about this type of gin I already mention.
Dry gins vary in aromas (different sets of botanicals) and the intensity of these aromas. So, to choose the drink address to your own taste and the way how you plan to consume it – pure, in gin-tonic, or making various cocktails.
Distilled Gin. It is, actually, London Dry Gin, but with some flavours added after distillation. These additional flavours can be vastly different – rose petals, cucumber, lemon and so on. The same as flavoured vodkas. Nowadays there is a huge number of flavoured gins; they are quite popular among bartenders.
Cold-Compounded Gin, usually called just Gin.
This is the cheapest way to aromatize gin. Does not require re-distillation with juniper and herbals. Base spirit just aromatized with essential oils or/and artificial flavourings. Such gin is relatively cheap, but the taste is usually artificial and unbalanced, and very often fade rapidly.
In the USA gin is defined as an alcoholic beverage of no less than 40% abv that has a juniper berry aroma. If this aroma obtained only by re-distillation with juniper, the product can be called Distilled Gin.
Probably, the most famous American gin – Aviation from Oregon. It is made by double re-distillation in the copper still pot. Seven different ingredients are macerated in grain spirit for 18 hours. Less amount of juniper compere with traditional gins are used, and it does not strongly dominate among other ingredients. Because of this Aviation is defined as American dry gin. It is named after the cocktail Aviation.
Canada recognizes three gin categories – Genever, Gin, London or Dry gin. Genever aka Holland Gin technologically somehow reminds real Genever, although it is not good for Canada to steal the registered name. It would be more honest to use only “Holland Gin” for naming. However, the terms Gin and London Dry Gin Canadian use for everything – London Dry and Distilled Gin and Cold-Compounded Gin. The only difference between Gin and London Gin within the Canadian meaning is the amount of sugar. Canadian London Dry Gin shouldn’t’ content any sweetener, Gin can contain no more than 2% of sweetener. Thus, the label of Canadian Gin cannot give you any information except the amount of sugar. So, you should know specific gin, or try everything in a row in the hope to find something appropriate or forget about Canadian product and switch your attention to more predictable European products.
It is worth to mention about Sloe gin. It is not, actually, gin, but, because the word “gin” presents in its name, some misunderstanding can happen. Sloe gin is a British liquor made from gin and sloes (fruits of Prunus spinosa). It is sweet and has 25% abv. Because of historic prevalence, the word “liquor” does not present on the Sloe gin label, although its full correct name is Sloe gin liqueur.
And the gin from Buckingham palace is simply perfect – with a strong, bright, and fresh aroma. I completely understand the Queen in her aspiration to keep her jewellery ideally clean.
