Synonymous with British culture, gin is in the midst of a boom and is today enjoyed worldwide, most commonly in a Gin & Tonic or a Martini. In essence, it is a spirit with a predominant flavour of juniper berries, which account for its tangy crispness and refreshing attributes - and we've got the best gin selection around.
There are various styles of gin with London Dry Gin being the most popular - Tanqueray and Beefeater are both notable London Dry Gins. While juniper must be the dominant flavour, other botanicals can be used to make gin, and there is no limit to what can be used – these often include anise, liquorice root, saffron, cinnamon, cassia bark and orris root. The term "gin" might derive from either the Dutch "jenever" or the French "genièvre" – both of which mean "juniper".
Gin can be made with any neutral spirit, so production methods can vary greatly. It is how the spirit is flavoured that marks the difference between the various styles.
The two principal styles are distilled gin and compound gin. Distilled gin is made by re-distilling neutral spirit with the botanicals, whereas compound gin is made by simply steeping spirit in botanicals without re-distillation.
Another variant involves distilling spirit through a tray, or basket of botanicals. Increasingly, cask-aged gins are also available. One example is Bathtub Gin - Cask-Aged, Navy-Strength, which we think is the best gin for a Last Word (a cocktail made with equal parts gin, Green Chartreuse, Maraschino liqueur and fresh lime juice).
Did you know?... The G&T became a popular means of taking quinine (present in cinchona bark used to make tonic) to prevent malaria.