Gin
Gin is thought to be a British adaptation of the Dutch spirit genever, though the origins of both gin and genever are subject to debate. Gin is, in essence, a flavored vodka as it is in fact a neutral spirit with certain flavorings added to it, though gin distillers won’t thank you for saying that. The key, characteristic flavor of gin must be of juniper, and historically juniper has been an overwhelming component of the spirit. In recent years, distillers have moved to tempering the impact of juniper and pumping up other flavors in the bottle, sometimes resulting in a spirit that’s closer to a flavored vodka. In the European Union and some other places gin must be at least 75 proof, while in the U.S. it must be at least 80 proof. “Navy Strength” gins are often bottled at 114 proof. Today, numerous sub-styles of gin have emerged out of the classic London Dry, including a resurgence of the archaic Old Tom gin style, Plymouth gin (which is also a famous brand), and New Western (or New American) gin, which tends to push the flavor boundaries of the spirit. Aside from Plymouth gin, which must be produced in a specific town in England, these gins have no formal, legal definitions or requirements.
Top Gin Posts:
The Botanist Gin
Tanqueray No. Ten Gin
Recipes for National Gin and Tonic Day
Scotland, the legendary home of malt whisky, is also becoming a land known for gin. But leave it to the Scots to do something a bit different: Triple distilled from grain and infused with rowan ...
Who is Brandon? Brandon is Phil Brandon, the founder of Rock Town Distillery, the first legal distillery in the state of Arkansas since Prohibition. Both are distilled from Arkansas red winter wheat and are bottled ...
Nolet’s (not Nolet, mind you) hails from Holland, part of a new wave of ultra-premium gins flavored with unexpected ingredients. Nolet’s (distilled from the same wheat as Ketel One) lets you in on three of ...
Bloom is a real enigma: Born from the distiller of one of the world’s first London Dry gins — parent company Greenall’s celebrates its 250th anniversary this year and is the producer of Bombay and ...
Spring44 (aka Spring 44) is a new line of vodka and gin out of Colorado. All are distilled five times from a multi-grain blend of wheat, rye, and corn (much like whiskey), filtered through a ...
England’s Oxley gin is nothing if not unique: From its production technique — a “cold distillation” using a vacuum to lower the boiling point of the liquid, yielding just 240 bottles of product each day ...
You’ll see the hat first: Broker’s Gin has a fun little bit of surprise & delight: A bowler hat affixed to the lid of the bottle, a hat which will certainly someday end up on ...
Passover begins tonight, but those among you who keep kosher during the period may be surprised to find that you can still drink your gin and tonic during the week. No. 209 is one of ...
This new gin from London’s Berry Bros. & Rudd features a mostly traditional recipe with just six ingredients: Juniper, orange peel, grapefruit peel, angelica root, coriander, and cardamom. No. 3’s little twists are pretty minor, ...
Gin is traditionally associated with summer drinking — and in fact, Beefeater put out a “Summer Edition” gin earlier this year to take advantage of that notoriety. So what do you do when winter’s chill ...
