Dominic Roskrow - Gin - A guide to the world’s greatest gins

Copyright

HarperCollins Publishers

Westerhill Road

Bishopbriggs

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G64 2QT

First Edition 2017

© HarperCollins Publishers 2017

eBook Edition © July 2017 ISBN 9780008265168

Version: 2017-07-03

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Author: Dominic Roskrow

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Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

What is gin and how is it made?

What this book covers

Gin-related spirits: genever

Gin-related spirits: Old Tom

Gin-related spirits: Aged gins

Gin-related spirits: Flavoured gins

A – Z of gins

6 O’clock

60 Squared

Adnams Copper House

Anno Kent Dry Gin

Aviation American Gin

Barr Hill Gin

Beefeater 24

Berkeley Square

Black Shuck

Blackwater No.5 Gin

Blackwoods Vintage Dry Gin

Bloom

Boë

Bombay Dry Gin

Bombay Sapphire

Broker’s Gin

Cadenhead’s Classic

Cambridge Dry Gin

Caorunn

Citadelle

City of London Gin

Cold River

Conncullin Gin

Cotswolds Dry Gin

Dà Mhìle Seaweed Gin

Daffy’s Gin

Darnley’s View Spiced Gin

Death’s Door

Dingle Gin

Dodd’s Kew Organic Gin

Dorothy Parker

Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin

Dutch Courage Dry Gin

East India Company London Dry Gin

East London Liquor Premium Gin Batch No 1

Eden Mill Love Gin

Edinburgh Gin

Fifty Pounds Gin

Filliers Dry Gin Tangerine

Finsbury Platinum

Flemish OriGIN

Fords

G’Vine Floraison

Gilpin’s

Gin Mare

Ginerosity

Glendalough Wild Botanical Gin

Gordon’s Export

Greenall’s Original

Hayman’s Royal Dock

Hendrick’s

Hernö

Hibernation

HMS Victory Navy Strength

Hoxton

Inverroche Classic

Japanese Gin

Jensen’s Bermondsey Gin

Junipero Gin

Ki No Bi Gin

Kirsty’s Gin

Langton’s No 1

Listoke 1777

Liverpool Gin

London Hill

Makar Glasgow Gin

Martin Miller’s Westbourne Strength

Mascaró Gin 9

Mombasa Club

Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin

No 3 Gin

Nolet’s

Old Raj

Opihr Oriental Spiced

Oxley

Pickering’s

Plymouth Gin

Pollination gin

Portobello Road No 171

Sacred

Sipsmith

St George Terroir Gin

Strathearn Heather Rose Gin

SW4

Tanqueray No TEN

Tappers Darkside Gin

Tarquin’s

Telser Liechtenstein Dry Gin

The Botanist

The London No 1

Two Birds Gin

Van Wees Three Corner Dry Gin

Vidda Tørr Gin

Warner Edwards Harrington Dry Gin

Whitley Neill

Whittaker’s Navy Strength Gin

Wight Mermaids Gin

Wild Island Botanic Gin

Williams Elegant Crisp Gin

Worship Street Whistling Shop Cream Gin

Index

Picture Credits

About the Author

About the Publisher

Introduction

In one form or other gin has been with us for more than 600 years. It has been subject to wild swings of fortune, to gigantic ebbs and flows in popularity, and been courted and rejected by prince and pauper alike. In its many guises it has served as a medicine to the affluent, a tonic to the troops, and an elixir to the wretched rabble that populated the violent streets of London. Today it is enjoying a worldwide revival and has achieved a status as the very epitome of quality craft distilling.

Gin’s roots lie in Europe, quite possibly in Italy but most definitely in the Netherlands, where it was distilled for medicine, and juniper was first used to hide the taste of the naked spirit. It was given to British troops fighting in the Thirty Years War – Dutch courage – and it may be that returning troops brought it back, increasing its popularity, though a limited amount of distillation had already started in England by this time.

The better made ‘Dutch’ version of the spirit was enjoyed by the aristocracy, and a poorer, cheaper spirit became popular with the poor. When Dutch King William of Orange ascended the throne, he encouraged distillation and there may have been some patriotic consumption too. By 1730 there were more than 7000 shops in London selling nothing but spirits.

But gin had started to become a problem. Attempts to restrict widespread drunkenness and violence by making gin prohibitively expensive backfired spectacularly, prompting rioting and a surge in illicit distilling. Few official licences were taken out, but production in London reached a staggering 11,000,000 gallons.

By this time further licensing reforms meant that beer shops had sprung up across the country. To compete, gin distillers opened large gin palaces – imposing and relatively stylish places. But gin was about to undergo another sea change. The invention of the column still meant that the quality of gin in general rose, and a specific style of gin came into existence: London Dry Gin.

Gin became popular with the middle classes, and when the Empire spread out to India, its transformation was completed when it was discovered that quinine was a deterrent to malaria-carrying mosquitoes – and the perfect way to hide its bitter taste was to mix it with carbonated water and add it to gin, creating the gin and tonic.

By the twentieth century, though, it seemed gin’s best days were behind it. The spirit faced a two-pronged identity crisis. On the one hand, its debauched and negative reputation proved remarkably enduring – ‘gin-soaked’ and ‘mother’s ruin’ are not extinct even now. And on the other, the gin and tonic gained a reputation associated with the worse type of Englishman – and it did tend to be men – those associated with the closed-shop world of the golf club and sports bar, and the pre-drinks ritual when dining out.

Gin’s fortunes were revived in the 1970s, when cocktails became popular and drinks makers discovered recipes where gin was a key ingredient. Perhaps, then, we shouldn’t have been surprised by the surge in popularity in gin when a new generation of bartenders – now calling themselves mixologists – turned to provenance and history to create creative and exciting new cocktails. Nonetheless, today’s gin boom is unprecedented. A perfect wave of a thriving cocktail culture, a desire to drink less but better, a trend towards heritage and authenticity, and a worldwide passion for micro and craft distilling has meant the emergence of hundreds of new gins.