I have to start with an apology.

This article is disturbingly incomplete, and I feel that I have to apologise for the fact that I have not managed to provide you with a complete review of all of the different gins on the market.

It is something that I am planning to rectify as soon as possible, I will sacrifice both my liver and my cashflow in order for you to have all of the most relevant information.

Gin is…

… a clear alcoholic spirit distilled from grain or malt and flavored with juniper berries.

Maybe that is a bit of a simplistic definition, but it is basically correct. All gin has to contain a certain amount of juniper, and traditionally it has always been the most important flavour, but there are also a large number of other botanical ingredients that are infused into the spirit during distillation.

Every brand of gin has its own combination of botanicals, and its own unique flavour.

A bit of history

Although some Italian monks had used juniper as a flavouring in distilled spirits hundreds of years earlier, it was the Dutch who first starting infusing juniper into spirits distilled from fruit in the middle 1500′s.

The first person (probably) to use a spirit distilled from grain and infuse it with Juniper, was a Dutch physician, Franciscus Sylvius, in the 1650′s, and gin as we know it was born.

This ‘genever’(from the French word for juniper) was first sold in pharmacies as a tonic to help just about everything, from kidney ailments to gout.

Despite the fact that it was a Dutch invention, the English took Gin to their hearts, and within a short time it had become the national drink.

What followed were decades of ever increasing gin production, ever falling prices, and an ever more drunk poor population.

By the 1740′s the death rate had risen above the birth rate, due to sterility and infertility caused by excessive gin consumption, and it was estimated that the average Londoner was drinking 14 gallons (64 litres) of gin a year. Children were neglected, daughters sold into prostitution, and babies given gin to drink as a pacifier.

The government tried various ways of curbing societies enthusiasm for gin, and eventually introduced a ‘gin act’ which required anyone wanting to sell ‘Distilled spirituous liquor’ to pay a huge fee for a license.

Since then gin has somehow transformed from the drink of the poor proletariat into something thought of as much more upper class.

(There will be a much more complete history of gin coming in a separate article soon.)

What to drink

Like any other spirit, there are a huge range of different gins on the market today.

Also just like any other spirit, some are great and some are less great. The taste of gin varies hugely, it can be influenced by the type of still that is used, the base that the spirit is distilled from, the method of infusing, and of course the botanical ingredients that are used.

Following is a (continually updated) review of the brands that we love and hate.

Tanqueray

Despite the fact that it is now owned by international drinks giant Diego, Tanqueray has a much longer history. It was first distilled in 1830, and they seem to have learnt quite a lot about making a great gin in the 180 years since then. It’s a classic recipe, and the main botanical ingredients are juniper, coriander, and angelica root.

Tanqueray tastes like I somehow imagine that gin should taste. It’s herby but too much, and you can clearly taste the juniper coming through it.

In my opinion it is possibly the perfect gin for making a good martini, especially the breakfast martini.

Hendricks

Hendricks is a bit unusual, it is infused not just with the more standard botanicals, but also with a goodly amount of cucumber and rose petals.

I love the taste of Hendricks, it starts out with a punchy and slightly bitter alcohol taste, and then that disappears and you are left with a relaxing wave of cool and calming cucumberish flavour.

This gin isn’t herby or botanical tasting at all, it just makes you feel all calm and at inner peace. Perfect made into a G&T on a warm summers afternoon, garnish the drink with a slice of cucumber instead of lime or lemon, and just relax.

Bombay Sapphire

Some people call it ‘the vodka drinker’s gin’, but I don’t see that. It may be slightly lighter and have less of a bitter punch than some other gins, but Bombay Sapphire has a very clear and unique botanical taste of its own.

Bombay Sapphire is made from ten key botanicals: almond, lemon peel, liquorice, juniper berries, orris root, angelica, coriander, cassia, cubeb, and grains of paradise

Maybe my judgement is clouded by sentiment, this was the first ‘premium’ gin that I ever drank, but I think I can see around that, and I still think that for its price Bombay Sapphire is a very good marker against which to compare other premium gins.

My favourite way to drink Bombay Sapphire is just to put it in a classic G&T, together with a splash of lime cordial and a wedge of fresh lime, and let it’s botanicals come through.

Larios

Larios is a Spanish gin. It’s very generic, similar to Beefeater or Gordons, both in price and in quality.

It’s not horrible, but it isn’t going to set your world on fire either. There is no real predominant taste or character here, it just tastes like, well, gin.