Gin myths are just that

Gin is great stuff but has developed a bit of a bad reputation stemming from the 17th century Gin Lane.

Those of you reading this are probably already big fans of Gin but as your sitting there in the sun enjoying a refreshing G&T or sipping on that tantalising Martini the look of pure satisfaction on your face is bound to peak the interest of those less fortunate around you.

And I am sure you have witnessed the puckering of the lips and creasing of the brow that sometimes follows when you tell them you are drinking Gin.

Here are a few of the more common complaints directed at Gin and how you can turn them around and perhaps convince those less fortunate of what they are missing out on.

William Hogarths 1751 paintings Gin Lane and Beer street,
used to depict the evils of drinking Gin.

“Mothers Ruin isn’t it” yup quite possibly if you were living in 17^th /18^th century London. Gin does have a sordid past but that all adds to its intrigue. When

How is Gin made and what makes a Gin “Craft"

For those new to distilling here is a rundown on the basic process and the additional processes that set Gin apart from other spirits. I will follow this with a few insights into the workings of a craft distillery.

First things first you start with a volume of some form of grain, molasses, potato, or other sugar containing material. This is soaked/heated to extract the sugars then a yeast is introduced to the resulting mash the yeast turns the sugars into alcohol and voila! a little filtering and you have a liquid that is ready for distilling.

This resultant liquid is relatively low in alcohol so now it is time for distillation. The liquid is heated up to around 80 degrees C where the ethanol begins to evaporate and rise up the still. Now you will note that at 80 degrees C this temperature is not high enough to evaporate water so you are effectively extracting the ethanol out of the mix leaving the water behind in the still. As the steam rises upwards in the still it reaches a point where there is a condenser this condenser is essentially a part of the still that is being cooled.  So your vapour that is mostly ethanol is cooled back below the 80 degree C mark and becomes a liquid again. This liquid runs down a separate tube and is collected ready for phase 2.

Juniper Berries are what makes Gin Gin.

So Why is Gin Unique?

Gin still has another round of distilling to go. Where your vodka is ready to bottle and your whiskey is ready to go into casks Gin still has another round of distillation to instill its unique taste.

Why you should be drinking Gin

Why Gin, why not Whiskey, Tequila or even Vodka?

Don't get me wrong i love a good whiskey, Rum or even Vodka where Gin pips them all for me is in the variety of flavours and methods available to distillers of Gin.

For me there are 2 Key reasons to drink Gin:

1) Creativity: Gin is a spirit that is not heavily defined by restrictive regulations like Whiskey as long as there is Juniper in the product and it has been created through distillation your good to go. This leaves a lot of room to be creative there are thousands actually more like millions of different botanicals and combinations of botanicals that can be used.

2) Craft: Gin can’t simply be produced by adding flavouring as with most vodka in other words there is craft as well as tradition and innovation involved in how Gin is produced.