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Gin... Gin is a clear alcoholic beverage distilled from grain, with certain ‘botanicals’ mixed in the brew before fermentation. Most predominant of these are the juniper berries which give this spirit it’s distinctive taste & aroma, also & often brewed with other herbs, spices & fruits like... lemon, coriander, licorice, anise, bitter almonds & orange peel. The exact mixture of these & many more ingredients is a closely guarded secret of each 'Gin House'. Their proud heritage is contained within the secret recipe, unique to each respective house. Aged in barrels. Gin is of Dutch origin. Genever is Dutch for Juniper, (genevier is French) probably administered by monks of the 12th century to ‘Bubonic Plague’ victims as a medicine, Gin was later used by 16th century doctors to treat kidney ailments. Revered by English soldiers as ‘Dutch Courage’, Gin soon began to gain popularity in England, much because of the well used shipping lanes in & around Europe in the 14th, 15th & 16th centuries. By the late 1700s Gin was the national drink of Britain. This was attractive at the time because the French (The Enemy) was placing intolerably high taxes on their wine & Brandy... So the British Government allowed any person who applied to the 'Exise Bureau' to set up their on distillery. Just to avoid French taxes. Well before long, 20% of all English households were brewing their own Gin at home. The term 'Genevere' was shortened to 'Gin' at this time. The term 'bathtub gin' come from the fact that this was the biggest vessel in the house, so almost all home brewers were utylizing this vessel somewhere in their home production.. That was before regulation & taxation took hold of this spirit. By the late 1800s this was the cocktail of choice among travelers to exotic places infested with mosquitoes, because of the tonic in the ‘Gin & Tonic, it was popular thought at the time that the quinine of the tonic helped to ward off Malaria & the Gin made the Quinine taste better. Today Gin is the true choice of a traditionalist’s ‘Dry Martini’, and still the ‘Gin & Tonic’ reigns true to this day. Alas… For so few producers, so fine an elixir...
Bombay London Dry Gin http://www.bombaysapphire.com/ Beefeater Gin none Boodles Gin none Tanqueray Gin http://www.tanqueray.com/ Bafferts Gin none Junipero Gin http://www.anchorbrewing.com/about_us/junipero.htm Hendricks Gin none Seagram's Gin http://www.seagramsginlive.com/ Plymouth Gin http://www.plymouthgin.com/
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