It’s the most popular spirit in the UK, having recently overtaken whisky and vodka in a survey of our favourite drinks. It has a long, fascinating and chequered history as a drink that has led to riots and ruin, as well as helping to ward off disease and sickness. And its recent resurgence has come about thanks to the growth of hundreds of “craft” gins and small distilleries that are satisfying our thirst for authentic alternatives to the big global brands. Gin is back.
Gin has a long and colourful heritage. Like many spirits, it began life as a medicinal beverage. It’s not known where it was first distilled, but it’s likely that it came out of a medieval monastery, where juniper berries, valued for their medicinal properties, were used to flavour the harsh raw spirit to make a drink known as genever (the Dutch for juniper). Genever (also known as jenever) was taken up in a big way in the Low Countries, and indeed is still drunk there today. It’s thought that it was drunk by English soldiers during the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 17th century to give them “Dutch courage”. English speakers shortened “genever” to “gen”, which eventually became gin.
A pint of ruin
When William and Mary took over the English throne in 1689, William put a tax on imports of French brandy and encouraged the distillation of gin, his own preferred drink (being Dutch). This unleashed a period of social upheaval that culminated in the “gin craze” of the first half of the 18th century, when hundreds of distilleries sprang up, many based in ordinary houses. There was a time when a pint of gin was cheaper than a pint of beer. The results were ruinous. Crime and ill-health soared as an increasingly ungovernable population soused itself in cheap gin. Little wonder that gin gained the nickname of “kill me quick”. Often it was flavoured with turpentine.
One response to this crisis was Hogarth’s famous engraving, Gin Lane, in which the disastrous impact of gin-drinking on that street’s ravaged inhabitants is contrasted with the healthy and morally upright citizens of Beer Street. Eventually, governments raised taxes on gin. At the same time, the price of grain was rising. These factors put an end to the gin craze by the middle of the 18th century.
Bitter experience
Elsewhere in the world, gin was actually responsible for bringing about improvements in health. As the British Empire expanded into tropical countries where malaria was rife, quinine - extracted from the bark of a tree - was used as a treatment. Quinine has a bitter taste, so it was mixed with gin to make it more palatable. The gin and tonic was born - a quintessentially English drink, made from a spirit with Dutch origins, mixed with the extract of a tropical tree. Today’s tonic waters still contain a small amount of quinine.
Meanwhile, for seasick voyagers and mariners, gin was mixed with aromatic bitters, such as Angostura, to settle their stomachs. The pink gin was born.
Wherever the British Empire spread to, gin went with it too, and one beneficiary was the Plymouth distillery, Coates, which began distilling gin in 1793. Being located in a major naval centre meant that Coates became one of the best-known gin brands across the Empire: at one point, it was supplying the Royal Navy with 1,000 barrels of gin a year. In 2004 it was renamed Plymouth Gin, and is now the oldest British gin distillery still operating in its original location.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, improvements in distilling techniques were helping to create smoother, more refined gins that became popular with the middle and upper classes. London dry gin mixed with tonic became a thoroughly respectable drink, and the rehabilitation of gin seemed complete.
Still crazy
However, gin was to experience another blow to its prestige - this time across the Atlantic, where prohibition in America led to the emergence of thousands of illicit stills, making gins (and other sprits) that were of very poor quality. These became known as “bathtub gins”, although they were not actually made in bathtubs - the name came about probably because the bottles were too tall to be topped off with water in a sink, so this had to be done via bath taps. (In tribute to this era, there is now a brand of gin called Bathtub Gin, made by Ableforth’s in the West Midlands.) Once again, gin became associated with crime and social breakdown.
Another negative association came in George Orwell’s novel 1984, in which the populace is subdued with endless cups of cheap and nasty “Victory Gin”, as in this passage: “As always, the gin made him shudder and even retch slightly. The stuff was horrible.”
But gin today iis a drink that genuinely transcends social boundaries. Though the gin and tonic has snooty associations, it has also enjoyed enduring popularity among working-class drinkers. The rock band Oasis, at the height of “lad” culture, referenced “gin and tonic” in their hit song, “Supersonic”.
Sloes and seaweed
And then, around a decade ago, something remarkable happened: a sudden flowering of new gin brands. As with the era of the “gin craze”, a change in regulations has helped this huge growth of “boutique” distilleries. To begin with, when the gin distillers Sipsmith wanted to distill gin in small quantities, HMRC said this would technically be classed as “moonshine” and banned it. Fierce lobbying led to a change in the rules, making it possible for micro-distilleries to flourish.
These new “craft” gins come in all manner of styles and flavours, among them seaweed and nettles, as well as the more traditional botanicals, and sloe gin and damson gin. Inevitably, the big distillers are trying to get in on the act, but the real growth is in the smaller companies (Sipsmith has now been taken over by the global drinks giant Beam Suntory).
The growth of gin - the “ginaissance” - has unleashed a new generation of distillers, who relish the ability to combine creativity and technology to create unique new drinks. Reflecting the somewhat mixed heritage of gin, there is even a small distillery in east London called Mother’s Ruin, many of whose ingredients are home-grown or foraged from the surrounding countryside. Mother’s Ruin also has a small gin and cocktail bar, the Gin Palace, on the site of its distillery: the “vibe” is casual, with eclectic bar furniture and people sitting outside in the warmer months.
A touch of glass
So what does this mean for those running pubs and bars? The first thing is that customers will often now ask for a gin by brand. People are getting to know their gins, and this connoisseurship should be rewarded by offering a range of gins. Tonic waters and other mixers, too, have become much more sophisticated, with brands such as Fever Tree offering alternatives to the old fizzy stalwarts (sssh, you know who). And remember that gin forms the basis of many cocktails, so putting these on your drinks menu will liven up your offering.
Think about what kind of glasses it should be served in, perhaps opting for something chunkier and more characterful. Many of today’s gin-drinkers prefer lime to lemon, and either way, they want it fresh, not from a preserving jar. Ask before adding ice, as some prefer it without. You could hold special gin-tasting evenings, setting aside an area of your pub for a sampling session.
As well as being a pleasure to drink, the new-generation gins can be a talking point. A bottle of Mother’s Ruin or Bathtub Gin on the shelf of your pub or bar would be sure to get the customers talking.
More reading: A Brief History of the Burger