Chapter 10

Gin
In This Chapter
▶ Discovering the origins of gin
▶ Recognizing the different kinds of gin
▶ Avoiding cheap well gin

G in is basically a distilled grain spirit flavored with

extracts from different plants, mainly the juniper berry.
The Dutch were the first to make gin and have been doing so
since the late 1500s.

A Little History
Gin was invented by Franciscus de la Boe, also known as Dr.
Sylvius. Why? Who knows but Mrs. Sylvius? Dr. Sylvius was a
professor of medicine and a physician at Holland’s University
of Leyden. He used a juniper berry elixir known as genievere —
French for juniper. He thought that juniper berries could
assist in the treatment of kidney and bladder ailments.

British soldiers sampled his elixir when returning from the

wars in the Netherlands and nicknamed it Dutch courage.
When they brought the recipe back to England, they changed
the name to gen and later to gin, which soon became the
national drink of England.

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 76 Part II: Short Shots from American Whiskey to Wine

Types of Gin
Although gin has been produced and consumed for centuries,
the methods for making the quality gin that you drink today
have been around only since the turn of the 20th century. Gin
comes in many types; the most popular include the following:

✓ London dry gin (English) is distilled from a grain mixture

that contains more barley than corn. It’s distilled at a
high proof and then redistilled with juniper berries.
✓ Dutch gin or Holland gin contains barley, malt, corn,
and rye. It’s distilled at a lower proof and then redistilled
with juniper berries in another still at low proof. Dutch
gins are usually slightly sweet.
✓ Flavored gin is a new product. It’s basically gin to which
natural flavorings have been added (lime, lemon, orange,
and so on). The flavoring always appears on the bottle.

Popular Brands
The following are all London dry gins. Each brand has its own
distinctive flavor that comes from a carefully guarded recipe.

✓ Bafferts: A London gin that’s handcrafted with a closely

guarded recipe.
✓ Beefeater: The only premium dry gin distillery in
London.
✓ Beefeater WET: A lighter-tasting gin (70 proof) made
with natural pear flavors.
✓ Bluecoat: An American gin distilled in Philadelphia.
✓ Bols Genever: A gin from Holland made with high-quality
malt wine.
✓ Bombay: Made from a well-guarded recipe that dates
back to 1761.
✓ Bombay Sapphire: Conceived by Michel Roux, president
of Carillon Importers, Sapphire has more natural botanical
ingredients than any other gin.

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 Chapter 10: Gin 77
✓ Boodles: Named after the London club; one of the most
popular gins in the United Kingdom.
✓ Broker’s: Made from 100-percent English grain, quadruple-
distilled, and flavored with ten botanicals.
✓ Bulldog: A London dry gin infused with poppy and
dragon eye.
✓ Citadelle: Made in Cognac, France, with 19 exotic
botanicals.
✓ Cork Dry Gin: An Irish gin distilled in Cork City.
✓ Damrak: A high-quality gin from Amsterdam.
✓ Genevieve: Made in the United States by Anchor Brewing
Company in San Francisco. A throwback to the earliest
forms of gin.
✓ Gordon’s: First distilled more than 225 years ago in London
by Alexander Gordon, who pioneered and perfected the
making of an unsweetened gin with a smooth character and
aromatic flavors known as London Dry.
✓ G’Vine: A gin from France made with a Ugni Blanc
(Trebbiano grapes) base spirit, infused with green grape
flowers.
✓ Hendrick’s: A Scottish gin with juniper, coriander, rose
petal, citrus, and an infusion of cucumber.
✓ Magellan: A French gin handcrafted in small batches
using natural exotic botanicals from around the globe.
✓ Martin Miller’s: A London dry gin, considered the
world’s first super-premium gin.
✓ Plymouth: Legend has it that a surgeon in the Royal Navy
invented this gin to help the sailors make their Angostura
bitters more palatable (pink gin).
✓ Right: An ultra-premium gin made with juniper, cardamom,
and coriander leaf.
✓ Seagram’s Extra Dry: A citrus-tasting golden gin.
✓ Tanqueray: Its unique green bottle is said to be inspired
by an English fire hydrant.
✓ Tanqueray No. Ten: A super-premium gin from Tanqueray
with a blend of fresh botanicals, including grapefruit and
camomile. It’s distilled four times.

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 78 Part II: Short Shots from American Whiskey to Wine

Storing and Serving Suggestions

As you peruse the recipe section of this book (Chapter 17),
you’ll probably notice that gin appears in many cocktails, so
choosing the right gin (that is, your favorite) can really affect
your enjoyment of a given drink. Never, ever use cheap,
nonpremium gin when making a drink. The results will be a
disaster. Cheap gin tastes like disinfectant. Good gin has an
herby, spicy, organic flavor, so stick to the premium brands
such as those I list in this chapter.

When you’re at a bar, don’t order a Gin & Tonic because

you’ll end up with some cheap, awful bar (or well) gin. Order
a Tanqueray & Tonic or a Sapphire & Tonic, and you’ll get a
decent drink. The same goes for gin Martinis: Always specify
what brand of gin you want or you’ll be sorry.

Store an unopened bottle of gin in a cool, dry place out of

direct light. After opening a bottle, it should last about two
years.

Famous gin-related lines

From one of the most roman- fashionable horse race: “Gin was
tic movies of all time, after Ingrid mother’s milk to her.”
Bergman comes into Rick’s bar in
Finally, a little poem:
Casablanca, what does Humphrey
Bogart say? “Of all the gin joints in all I’m tired of gin
the towns in all the world, she walks I’m tired of sin
into mine.” And after last night
Oh boy, am I tired.
Eliza Doolittle makes this remark
about someone’s drinking at a —Anonymous

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