Teacher - The spirit of gin : a stirring miscellany of the new gin revival

Also by Matt Teacher:

The Home Distillers Handbook: Make Your Own Whiskey & Bourbon Blends, Infused Spirits and Cordials (Cider Mill Press, 2011)

The Little Pink Book of Cocktails (Cider Mill Press, 2009)

The Spirit of Gin

Copyright 2014 by Matthew Teacher

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13-Digit ISBN: 9781604334623

10-Digit ISBN: 1604334622

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Cover design by Whitney Cookman

Interior design by Alicia Freile, Tango Media

Illustrations: Sherry Berger

Typography: Algerian, Birka, Chevalier Stripes, and Whitney

This book is dedicated to Mary Ann, Richie, Buz, Janet, Benny and Katie. Thank you for your never-ending love and support.

In the beginning there was gin, whiskey, rum, and cognac. And these four things were never to be mixed together.

Then came other things, such as vermouth, sweet liqueurs, sugar, and lemon, which were created to serve the greater glory of the first four elements of the world.

On the sixth day, God created the Barman. Instead of Eve, He gave him a shaker, then ice, and then a couple of glasses.

And He said: Mix for the joy of your neighbors.

My father, Giuseppe, was born in Verona, the son of an immigrant, the late Carlo. In 1929 my father was working as a barman at the Hotel Europa in Venice. One of his disciples was a young American named Harry. Harry was very rich, but to our great good fortune he did not have a credit cardit was one of the things that hadnt yet been invented. If there had been credit cards in 1929, there never would have been Harrys Bar. Ill tell you why.

One day young Harry ran out of money and my father lent him an amount to cover the hotel bill, the sizable bar tab, and the cost of the ticket to travel back to his home in Boston.

Two years later, Harry Pickering, that was his family name, returned to Venice to pay my fathers loan back. On top of that, he also offered an extra amount to become partners in a new venture, a bar, which they both agreed had to be called Harrys Bar.

I love gin. Gin and Tonic is the name of my boat and of my house in Punta del Este.

I am not very keen on vodka. Gin has never deceived me. Vodka did; at least once. One evening I had dinner at Harrys Bar with a few friends. I dont remember why, but we all drank vodka martinis. As I was trying to walk back home, I fell on the last bridge before my Venetian shelter. As it often miraculously happens to people who had too much to drink, I did not get hurt. But something else happened. The next morning my wife told me that as I saw her waiting, I asked her quite solemnly if she would marry me. I had forgotten that I had already married her 55 years before!

It never would have happened with gin.

This book is a jewel and a must-read for anyone who knows gin and loves it. We all have to thank Matt Teacher for having done it with dedication, love, and competence.

I am only 82 years old and I sincerely believe that gin is one of the great gifts that helps us get through the asperity of happenings with the proper lightness and a noble attitude.

Gin is luxury. Luxury is to be alive.

Arrigo Cipriani, Venice, Italy, 2014

I embarked on my research for this book as a gin enthusiast, appreciator and consumer with a common knowledge of its place in the world of spirits. I could not have dreamt that the story and journey that lay before me would hold such history and evolution, innovative wizard-minds and age-old wisdom, hard-cut facts and mythical legends, tradition and innovation. The spirit we call gin has, within it, an intricate societal role that is still unraveling today. At the moment, we are riding the wave of a new gin revival thanks to a remarkable number of new producersas well as established distillerswho have introduced a wide range of unusual botanicals to create stunning new flavor profiles. The journey is not over, and the adventure has only begun.

The Rival Majicians [sic] or Raising the Spirit, published in The Satarist [sic] in England (1808).

From the first written mention of the juniper-flavored spirit genever (or jenever) in the Middle Ages, when it became popular in the Lowlands of present-day Belgium and the Netherlands for its purported medicinal qualities, to the London Gin Craze in the first half of the eighteenth century where the public and Parliament battled to find a balance between life and law, to today, the juniper berry has been there. From the juice of gluttons to James Bonds lips, gin has seen its cultural status fluctuate within the tides of history.

Today we have the luxury of riding a growing surge of interest in all things local and craft. From coffee to jewelry and many things in between, the closer the source and the more natural the formula, the wider the appealand perhaps the better for you, as well as for your local economy. Gin is no exception.

Juniper berries.

Improvisation is what moves the tides of innovation and progress, popular taste, and, in plush times, a drive for something more. As our world begins the twenty-first century, gin, once again, has tiptoed out of the shadows and into our glasses in growing numbers. After I had the privilege of chatting up gin authorities around the world and discussing the products they produce and the cocktails they craft, one thing became cleardifferent ingredients and atmospheres produce different results.

The climate of the United States is much different than that of England; a different set of locally grown ingredients is available and therefore the products are distinctive. Brooklyns Greenhook Ginsmiths has produced Beach Plum Gin Liqueur, a modern American take on a sloe gin, crafted in the absence of fresh sloe berries yet delivering an accurate representation, along with its own unique perfection. Sloe berries dont cultivate on United States soil and to ship them in a timely, unspoiled fashion is not possible.