Gin (Gin Ho)

Finally, on to the booze. Not surprisingly, we’ll start off with the spirit that’s present in this blog’s name. Also, gin has its roots in the Netherlands (where I live): its origin lies with jenever.

(Long ago, both ‘jenever’ and ‘genever’ were employed as a spelling. Somehow only ‘jenever’ survived in the end, but you’ll still often see ‘genever’ abroad.)

The characteristic element in gin is the juniper berry (which in Dutch translation is ‘jeneverbes’… hence the name of the Dutch counterpart). But other botanicals are also used to add to the flavour of gin.

I can compile a lot of information about gin, but you can easily find extensive information elsewhere on the net. So if you’re interested in its history or production, I recommend finding that yourself.

Well, apart from one detail that I think is fun to point out. We actually have the Spanish to thank for gin, in a way. That’s because the Spanish united the English and the Dutch in their war against the Spanish Empire. Around 1600, and in the Thirty Years’ War, the English that were fighting abroad alongside the Dutch got acquainted with Dutch Courage (the jenever that helped the soldiers through their hardships and battles). They took this Dutch Courage home to England, and started making it their own way. Thus, gin was born.

(Forget Franciscus Sylvius as the inventor of jenever/gin in 1650: he would have been way too late by then.)

For mixing, gin is a great base spirit. It’s quite neutral, but it still has character. Furthermore, it is dry. This makes gin a very interesting spirit with sophistication. Even while gin has a rather dubious history (think Gin Craze and bathtub gin) and requires no aging, it has worked itself up again. One could even make a case for gin to be the second most elitist of the base spirits that are employed in cocktails. Vodka, whisky, rum and tequila all have a foothold in younger generations, while gin is often disregarded. Only brandy tops gin in that respect.

If a recipe ever calls for gin without specification, it will mean London dry gin. There are many sorts of London dry gin: some low end, some high end… which kind you use would depend on your budget, the specific cocktail you’re aiming for, but also personal preference.

I’ve been using Bols Silver Top for ages, and recently switched to Gordon’s London dry. This could be considered a small upgrade: the Gordon’s seems to have a bit more crisp.

Incidentally, the Tanqueray London dry really seems to aim for the mixing public: the bottle itself is styled like a shaker.

Some gins don’t present themselves as London dry, but could still be used to excellent effect in the right cocktail.

Some recipes will specifically demand the use of Plymouth gin or Old Tom gin.

Plymouth gin is said to be slightly less dry and smoother than London dry. I managed to get hold of a bottle, but haven’t gotten around a comparison myself yet. But it’s a sure bet that if a recipe calls for Plymouth, there’s a definite reason for that.

Old Tom gin is characterized as the missing link between London dry and jenever. I’ll not get into the details; you can read all about that here and here. It has proven difficult to get hold of Old Tom so far, but there is hope. All things considered, I’m pretty sure that some of the smooth, young jenevers in my country are very much an alternative to Old Tom gin.

There is a mixed drink with gin that’s so common that it’s practically a drink unto itself: the Gin & Tonic. In some parts of the world, it’s even compounded further to Gin Tonic.

However, we don’t stock tonic in our bar yet, and there’s a bit more to a proper
G & T than just mixing gin and tonic. So we’ll have to make do with what we have for now.

Gin Ho

Again, not much mixing going on here. Still, I happened upon this recipe on CocktailDB, the Internet Cocktail Database. I heartily recommend this source for recipes and other cocktail information.

gin  (4 to 6 cl)

ice cubes

glass:  Old Fashioned

Serve the gin on the rocks.

In this case I went with Tanqueray. Since the ‘Special Dry’ kicks in at 47,3% ABV (alcohol by volume), it doesn’t hurt to get diluted a bit.