Jenkins - GIN: a short history

Today cocktails use a wide range of innovative ingredients; in this case a cocktail has been made from gin and kombucha, a type of fermented tea drink, and garnished with cucumber and rose. (Getty Images)

Gin is, at its simplest, a neutral spirit imparted with flavour from a range of plantbased materials referred to as botanicals, one of which must be juniper. If this was all there was to it, then gin would be just another one of many alcoholic spirits. The story of gin is, however, far more intriguing: it has undergone many changes in status and fortune in over 300 years since it was first drunk in Britain. The twists and turns of this intriguing history, as much as the botanicals used in its production, give gin the depth of flavour that have made it in recent decades a vastly popular drink once again. This book provides a short history of gin production and consumption in Britain and beyond.

The origins of gin can be traced to the use of juniper as a medicinal plant in the ancient world and in the use of alcoholic tonics in later centuries; when these were combined the ancestors of gin were created. Consumption of juniperflavoured spirits for recreation was first seen in the Netherlands and Belgium where the spirit still known today as jenever is manufactured.

When gin consumption increased dramatically in Britain in the first half of the eighteenth century a moral panic was created. The spirit was blamed for all of societys ills and it took almost fifty years to curb consumption. So strong is its association with degenerate behaviour that gin has provided the English language with several phrases from that era, such as ginsoaked, gin joint and gin mill, none of which have particularly positive connotations.

However, new technology in the nineteenth century enabled gin producers to improve the quality of gin on an industrial scale, leading to the development of London Dry gin. American influences led to the use of gin in cocktails so that by the 1920s it had entered a golden age of consumption and popularity.

Tastes would change in the decades after the Second World War and gin was in the doldrums for some time. The last twenty years, however, have seen the spirit soar in popularity once again. Craft producers and large distillers alike are today making gins of a quality and diversity never seen before.

From medicinal tonic to imported luxury, corrupter of the young to the basis for stylish cocktails and today a crafted product of distinction, gin is the most intriguing, versatile and adaptable spirit that can be found.

AVIATION

INGREDIENTS

60ml gin

15ml maraschino liqueur

7.5ml crme de violette

25ml lemon juice

METHOD

Add ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry.