Types of gin
There are many different types of gin and our comprehensive gin guide explains the differences and similarities between them. If you want to know your London dry from your Old Tom, this guide will help!
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For some people, gin is just gin, something to splash into a G&T, but in fact, there are dozens of different types of gin out there. These range from the clean juniper-forward flavours of London dry gins to sweet, fruity flavoured gins and even gins that blur the boundaries with whisky as they are aged in oak casks. There’s a wide world of gin to explore.
A London dry gin, not from London!
London dry gin
Many people ask what is London dry gin? Well, first of all, it doesn’t have to come from London. Instead, it’s a style that has a legal UK and EU definition. The technical term in the legislation is ‘London gin’ though usually the word ‘dry’ is added to it. This has to be made by distilling natural botanicals using neutral alcohol of 96% ABV. Nothing can be added after distillation except water and a small amount of sugar, not more than 0.1 grams per litre. It has to have a minimum strength of 37.5% ABV.
London dry gin is a style that emerged in 19th-century London. It came about due to improvements in distillation, namely the invention of the Coffey still, which enabled a high-strength alcohol to be distilled cheaply and efficiently. Gin had previously been very strongly flavoured and often sweetened to disguise the rather rough nature of the base spirit. Now with this new clean alcohol, the botanicals such as juniper could be more delicate.
It’s a style that has spread around the world and become the standard for most juniper-flavoured spirits. The most famous brand that is still distilled in London is Beefeater.
Other types of dry gin
There are two other UK/ EU categories: distilled gin and gin. Distilled gin is made in a similar way to London dry gin but it can have flavourings added to it post-distillation. If it is labelled simply as ‘gin’ it means that flavours, which might be natural or artificial, have been added to neutral alcohol (such spirits are also known as compound gin though this is not a legal term). Bottles simply labelled as ‘gin’ or ‘distilled gin’ are not necessarily a mark of being lower quality than London gin, they merely outline the production method.
American gin regulations are different. The ‘gin’ designation specifies a juniper-flavoured spirit of 40% ABV or more (as opposed to 37.5%). It doesn’t specify that only neutral alcohol can be used as the base spirit meaning that more strongly-flavoured spirits can be used. ‘Distilled gin’ in America means that the flavours have come only from distillation. Such gins can also be labelled as ‘London Dry’ and ‘Old Tom'.
For more information on gin production read our How is gin made? guide.
London Dry Gins to try
A selection of lovely London dry gins to explore.
Gin is full of flavour – and sometimes colour!
Flavoured gins
These are gins that have had something added to them, usually fruit, post-distillation. They are often sweetened with sugar too. These are now a huge category with distilleries releasing new and exciting flavours the whole time. Popular flavoured gins include Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla which is made with bittersweet Spanish oranges.
Pink gin
Originally pink gin was a kind of cocktail made by adding a few dashes of Angostura bitters to a dry gin but today it also refers to a type of flavoured gin. These involve steeping a dry distilled gin with fruit such as raspberries, strawberries and cranberries to give it a pretty pink colour and fruity flavour. Or with cheaper brands, you might get a similar effect with food colouring, fruit flavour and sugar. One of the UK’s best selling gins of all sorts is Gordon’s Pink Gin.
Gin liqueurs
People often ask: what's the difference between gin and a gin liqueur? It’s a matter of sugar and alcohol levels. By UK and EU law if a juniper-based spirit is less than 37.5% ABV, it is classed as a ‘spirit drink’, and if it also contains 100g per litre of sugar or more then it is a ‘gin liqueur’.
Sloe gin
The most famous gin liqueur is sloe gin which is made by steeping gin with sloes and, usually, sugar for months and sometimes years. Sloes, also known as blackthorn, are a kind of wild plum whose season takes place in northern Europe in November and December. It’s a popular kind of liqueur to make at home though there are some very good commercial versions available including wood-aged examples like Chase Oak Cask-Aged Sloe Gin. With age, sloe gin takes on some of the character of a Port.
Flavoured Gins to try
Love flavoured gin, pink gin, and liqueurs? We've got 'em!
Plymouth Gin dates back to the 18th century
Old Tom gin
Old Tom is a sweet-tasting style of gin that was popular in the 19th century but was gradually pushed out by the popularity of London Dry Gin and almost died out. It would have been made with a much heavier level of botanicals as the base spirit would have been more strongly flavoured. Old Tom gin was often sweetened before serving but it didn’t always have sugar added. Nowadays it’s a style that’s undergoing a renaissance and it’s essential for old school cocktails like the Martinez. Some brands like Jensen’s Old Tom get their richness and perceived sweetness from botanicals whereas others are sweetened with sugar as well.
Navy Strength gin
This harks back to a test the Royal Navy did to make sure they were getting proper strength spirits. The spirit (usually rum) would be mixed with gunpowder and a match put to it. If it failed to ignite then it had been watered down. But if it lit, then it was declared 100% proof, in modern parlance this is 57.15% ABV. This spirit would then be diluted to 54.5% ABV. So technically ‘Navy strength’ is 54.5% ABV rather than 57.15 ABV though you often see both alcohol levels designated as such. The modern category of Navy Strength gin was introduced by Plymouth Gin in the 1990s. There is no legal definition.
Plymouth Gin
Plymouth Gin is a style of gin made by only one distillery, the aptly-named Plymouth Gin Distillery in the southwest of England where it has been made since 1793. It was the only English gin to have its own geographical indication with the European Union but the brand’s owner Pernod Ricard decided not to renew the GI in 2015. Plymouth Gin is famous for its citrus-forward profile. No wonder it was the gin of choice to make a Dry Martini for Harry Craddock in his 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.
Old Tom, Navy Strenth, & Plymouth Gin
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Casks aren't just for whisky or brandy – you can age gin too!
Genever
Genever or jevener is Dutch for juniper, and the root of the English word ‘gin’. Gin from the Netherlands predates its British cousin. The story goes that it was introduced to Britain by soldiers fighting in the Low Countries in the 17th century. But it was when a Dutchman, William of Orange, became King of England in 1688, that juniper-based spirits really took off. Nowadays the Dutch style is much closer to how gin used to taste. It’s usually made with a malt spirit base rather than the neutral grain used in London Dry Gin and is often oak-aged and sweetened too. There are certain classic cocktails that call for Genever or Holland’s gin as it is referred to in old cocktail books specifically.
Oak-aged gin
Ageing gin in oak is not a new thing. In the past gin would have often been transported and stored in barrels so it would often pick up flavours from the wood. Eventually, this became something that was desirable and for much of the 20th century, both Beefeater and Booth’s offered oaked gins. The style disappeared for a while but now it is firmly back with producers utilising ex-bourbon casks, wine barrels and sherry butts to age their gins in. It’s a tricky one to get right as you don’t want the spice and tannin from the wood overwhelming the delicate flavours of juniper and other botanicals. But done well, an oak-aged thing can be a thing of beauty and melds particularly well with sherry and traditional aged vermouths like Noilly Prat in cocktails.
Genever and oak-aged gin
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