What’s that I hear you say? Isn’t this supposed to be a place for savoring whisky in all its forms and glory? Of course it is, but we do like to sip on other things as well, and in the spirit of all things summer, our next tasting will be focused on the destroyer aka mother’s ruin aka the Devil’s drink aka Gin. For this tasting we will most likely be adding a mixer rather than drinking our spirit neat, and in most cases that will most likely be Tonic Water.

About Gin

Juniper, one of the key ingredients of Gin, was used as a medicinal liquor in ancient Greece, but Gin (the drink) was invented by German expat in Holland in the 17th century. In the early 18th century in London, there was even a “Gin Craze” – a big jump in the consumption of Gin led to overconsumption which led to increased taxes (Gin Acts of 1736 and 1751) to try and quell that consumption.

Traditionally, Gin would contain juniper, coriander, cinnamon, angelica root, cassia bark, orris root and liquorice root. These “botanicals” are what give Gin its distinctive taste, and modern interpretations have tweaked the mix and added to these botanicals to create unique variants.

Types of Gin include London Dry Gin, Plymouth Gin, Old Tom Gin and Genever. Sloe Gin is technically not a Gin, but more of a Gin-based liqueur made with prune-like fruit.

Some of the top selling Gin brands include Gordon’s, Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray, Beefeater, Seagram’s, Larios and Hendrick’s. The surprise player in the market is Ginebra San Miguel from the Philippines – a Dutch-type gin made from sugarcane alcohol that is considered the number one brand globally by volume, selling 4 times as many cases as the next competitor (Gordon’s).