Gin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gin is a spirit flavored with juniper berries. Distilled gin is made by redistilling white grain spirit which has been flavored with juniper berries. Compound gin is made by flavoring neutral grain spirit with juniper berries without redistilling and can be considered a flavored vodka.
The most common style of gin, typically used for mixed drinks, is London dry gin. London dry gin is made by taking a neutral grain spirit (usually produced in a column still) and redistilling after the botanicals are added. In addition to juniper, it is usually made with amounts of citrus botanicals like lemon and bitter orange peel. Other botanicals that may be used include anise, angelica root and seed, orris root, licorice root, cinnamon, cubeb, savory, lime peel, grapefruit peel, dragon eye, saffron, baobab, frankincense, coriander, nutmeg and cassia bark.
Plymouth Gin, the brand, like all gins claims to use a unique recipe - but "Plymouth" is a place designated type of gin, not just the actual brand name itself, and typically uses a subset of the botanicals above, similar to London dry gin. It has lemon and orange, angelica, anise, cardamom, coriander and Juniper.
Distilled gin evolved from the Dutch spirits jonge- and oude- Jenever or Genever (young and old Dutch gin), Plymouth gin, and Old Tom gin. Sloe gin is a common ready-sweetened form of gin that is traditionally made by infusing sloes (the fruit of the blackthorn) in gin. Similar infusions are possible with other fruits, such as damsons (See Damson gin).
There is now a legal definition under EU rules of what constitutes a London Dry Gin, and a London Gin. Essentially London Dry Gin must be an entirely distilled product, with the exception of a very small amount of permitted sugar, though this is not always present. A London Gin has non distilled additives (ex-sugar) in it, such as colouring like saffron and geranium blue, which do not distil.
A well-made gin will be relatively dry compared to other spirits. Gin is often mixed in cocktails with sweeter ingredients like tonic water or vermouth to balance this dryness.
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[edit] History
It is a common misconception that the word gin derives from the Swiss city Geneva. In fact, the word gin derives from the French word for juniper— genévrier— which is the fruit that flavours the drink. Its invention is often credited to the Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius.[1][2] It was sold in pharmacies and used to treat such medical problems as kidney ailments, lumbago, stomach ailments, gallstones, and gout. It had been present in England in varying forms since the early 17th century, and at the time of the Restoration enjoyed a brief resurgence. It was only when William of Orange, ruler of the Dutch Republic, seized the British throne in what has become known as the Glorious Revolution that gin became vastly more popular, particularly in its baser forms, when it was more likely to be flavored with turpentine, rather than the juniper of later London gins. Dutch gin, also known as jenever or genever, is a distinctly different drink from English-style gin; it is distilled with barley and sometimes aged in wood, giving it a slight resemblance to whisky. Schiedam, in the province of South Holland, is famous for its jenever. Jenever is produced in a pot still and is typically lower in alcohol and more strongly flavoured than London gin[citation needed].
Gin became popular in England after the government allowed unlicensed gin production and at the same time imposed a heavy duty on all imported spirits. This created a market for poor-quality grain that was unfit for brewing beer, and thousands of gin-shops sprang up throughout England. By 1740 the production of gin had increased to six times that of beer, and because of its cheapness it became popular with the poor. Of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London, over half were gin-shops. Beer maintained a healthy reputation as it was often safer to drink the brewed ale than unclean plain water. Gin, though, was blamed for various social and medical problems, and it may have been a factor in the higher death rates which stabilized London's previously growing population. The reputation of the two drinks was illustrated by William Hogarth in his engravings Beer Street and Gin Lane (1751). This negative reputation survives today in the English language, in terms like "gin-mills" to describe disreputable bars or "gin-soaked" to refer to drunks, and in the phrase "Mother's Ruin," a common British name for gin.
The Gin Act 1736 imposed high taxes on retailers and led to riots in the streets. The prohibitive duty was gradually reduced and finally abolished in 1742. The Gin Act 1751 was more successful, however. It forced distillers to sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin-shops under the jurisdiction of local magistrates. Gin in the 18th century was produced in pot stills, and was somewhat sweeter than the London gin known today.
In London in the early eighteenth century, gin sold on the black market was prepared in illicit stills (of which there were 1500 in 1726) and was often adulterated with turpentine and sulfuric acid. [1] As late as 1913 Webster's Dictionary states without further comment that 'Common gin is usually flavored with turpentine.' [2]
The column still was invented in 1832, and the "London dry" style was developed later in the 19th century. In tropical British colonies, gin was used to mask the bitter flavour of quinine, a protection against malaria, which was dissolved in carbonated water to form tonic water. This was the origin of today's popular gin and tonic combination, even though it is not necessary for the majority of today's consumers of the drink. Quinine is still prescribed for malaria in many developing countries where more recent treatments are prohibitively expensive.[3][4]
Gin is a popular base spirit for many mixed drinks, including the martini. Secretly produced "bathtub gin" was commonly available in the speakeasies and "blind pigs" of Prohibition-era America due to the relative simplicity of the production method. Gin remained popular as the basis of many cocktails after the repeal of Prohibition.
The National Gin Museum is in Hasselt, Belgium.
[edit] Cocktails with gin
Perhaps the best-known gin cocktail is the Martini, traditionally made with gin and dry vermouth. Other gin-based drinks include:
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Gin is often combined with a number of other mixers.
[edit] Brands of gin
[edit] Notable brands
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[edit] Historical brands
- Fleischmann's Gin - Marketed as the original American gin, first distilled in 1870[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Deegan, Grant (Fall 1999). "From the bathtub to the boardroom: gin and its history". MY2K: Martini 2000 1 (1). http://www.mixology.com/issues/my2k/science/gin.htm.
- Dillon, Patrick (2002). The Much-lamented Death of Madam Geneva: The Eighteenth-century Gin Craze. London: Headline Review. ISBN 0-7472-3545-7.
- ^ Origins of Gin, Bluecoat American Dry Gin, http://www.bluecoatgin.com/history_orgins.html, retrieved on 2009-04-05
- ^ Gin, tasteoftx.com, http://www.tasteoftx.com/spirits/gin.html, retrieved on 2009-04-05
- ^ http://www.drugs.com/mtm/quinine.html Quinine as treatment for malaria
- ^ http://www.priory.com/malaria.htm The use of quinine and other drugs
- ^ http://www.chefs-help.co.uk/drinkrecipe.php?nrecipe=5&item=Gin+Cocktail Maiden's Prayer
- ^ Orange Blossom Cocktail Recipe from the Free Online Bartending School
- ^ Fleischmann's Gin
[edit] External links
- Gin, the Original Flavored Vodka
- A thorough article about the history and types of gin
- Recipes with Gin
- Gin news page - Alcohol and Drugs History Society
- Gin in Victorian London
