Knowing and Understanding Gin

There is probably no distilled spirit category more connected in the popular imagination with England and the English than gin. Whether from cocktails mentioned in the plays of Noel Coward and the novels of Somerset Maugham, the advertising of various gin brands or simply because so many gins bear the legend London dry on the label, gin seems to be the spirit of England. And although the English did give gin prominence and bring it to the far-flung corners of the British empire, it was originally a product of The Netherlands.

Created For Medicinal Purposes

As was the case with many spirits, gin originally had a medicinal function. In the 17th century, sailors on Dutch East India Company ships were returning home with a variety of tropical diseases and Dr. Sylvius, a professor of medicine at the University of Leiden set out to find a cure. Although he was not successful in that regard, the doctor did discover that one of his concoctions, an infusion of juniper berries in alcohol offered other benefits as a sedative, a mild diuretic and as a stimulant to the appetite and tonic for the elderly. Like many spirits pioneers before him, the good doctor called his discovery aqua vitae. His countrymen called it jenever, the Dutch name for juniper.

What made the recipe so revolutionary was not the use of juniper - it had been used before in dozens of liqueurs - but the choice of grain alcohol. Up until that time, most European distillers produced brandy from grapes or other fruit. And while the Irish and Scotch had been making whiskies for centuries, they tempered them with years of aging in wooden casks. Unaged grain spirits, at least those produced with state of the art 17th century technology, were considered too harsh for human consumption. But jenever was different; it was actually palatable. And it was relatively inexpensive to produce.

Meanwhile, English soldiers who had been fighting on the continent during this time were introduced to what they termed, "Dutch Courage". They returned to England with a preference for this new drink, and the population-at-large soon grew fond of this palatable yet inexpensive spirit - so much so that it eventually became identified as the national drink of England. It was the English who shortened the name to gin and, in time, changed its formula too.

"London Dry" and Other Styles

When thinking of gin the most important thing to remember is that gin is a flavored spirit. Without the flavorings it would be vodka.

What we normally refer to as gin in this country is the London dry gin that English distillers developed after the invention of the continuous still in the 19th century. The Dutch also still make their Holland or Geneva gin, which is heavy-bodied and strongly flavored with a pronounced malty taste and aroma, but very little is seen in this country.

The possibility of creating purer spirits offered by the continuous still encouraged English distillers to try an unsweetened or dry style of gin. Sugars had been used to mask the rough and unpleasant flavors that could show up in older pot still production. Originally, the phrase "London dry gin" specified a geographic location - that the gin was produced in or near London. Now, the term is considered to be generic and is used to describe a style of gin, and virtually every gin on the market uses the term dry.

Gin is the distillate of a grain mash with various flavoring agents. It gets its primary flavor from juniper berries, but many other herbs and spices go into the makeup. And the botanicals come from all over the world: cardamom form Sri Lanka, cassia bark from Vietnam, orange peel from Spain, coriander seed from Czechoslovakia, angelica root from Germany. Most of the juniper berries themselves are imported from Italy. And there are dozens of other possible ingredients. Each distiller has his own secret formula and no two gin brands are exactly alike.

Production

The vast majority of gin found on retailers' shelves is either English dry gin or American dry gin. The English version uses 75% corn, 15% barley malt and 10% other grains for the mash. The fermentation process is similar to that of whiskey. Following fermentation, the resulting liquid is distilled and rectified through a column still, producing a pure spirit of at least 190 proof. Distilled water is added to reduce the spirit to 120 proof. The liquid is then redistilled with the many flavoring agents. Methods vary from producer to producer. Some combine the botanicals with the spirit and distill the new mixture, while others suspend the botanicals above the spirit in the still and let the vapors pass through the many flavoring agents. The spirit that comes off is reduced to bottling strength, anywhere from 80 to 97 proof, with distilled water.

American gin is produced using one of two standard methods - distilling and compounding. Distilled gin is primarily made by adding the flavoring agents during a continuous process. And there are two fairly similar methods of achieving this - direct distillation or redistillation. In direct distillation, the fermented grain mash is pumped into the still. Then it is heated and the spirit vapors pass through a gin head, a sort of percolator basket filled with juniper, herbs and other natural ingredients. It picks up the delicate flavoring agents as it passes through and then condenses into a high-proof gin. Water is added to bring the product down to its bottling strength - usually 80 proof.

The other method - redistillation - differs only in that the fermented mash is first distilled into a flavorless neutral spirit. Then it is placed in a second still, containing a gin head, and is redistilled, with vapors absorbing the flavoring agents.

Compound gin - a less costly method - is simply the combination of neutral spirits with the oil and extracts of the botanicals. However, the dominant flavor must be from juniper berries.

Federal regulations do not permit any age claims for gin, vodka and other neutral spirits.

Edited from:
Knowing and Understanding Distilled Spirits
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