Gin

Gin is a spirit, or strong alcoholic beverage. It is made from the distillation of white grain spirit and juniper berries (or sloe berries, in the case of sloe gin), which provide its distinctive flavour. The taste of ordinary gin is very dry (unlike sloe gin), and as such it is rarely drunk neat.

History

Gin originated in the Netherlands in the 17th century - its invention is often credited to the physician Franciscus Sylvius. From there it spread to England after the Glorious Revolution put a Dutchman on the English throne. Dutch gin, known as jenever, is a distinctly different drink from English-style gin; it is distilled with barley and sometimes aged in wood, giving it a slight resemblance to whisky.

In early-18th century England, gin was very cheap and became popular among the poor, especially in London. This was blamed for various social and medical problems, and may have been a factor in the high death rate that caused London's previously increasing population to remain stable. New taxes and restrictions on the sale of gin reduced the problem after 1751.

In the 19th century, gin became a more respectable drink, and was often drunk mixed with quinine-based tonic water in malarial areas of the British Empire. Many other gin-based mixed drinks were invented, including the martini. Gin, in the form of secretly-produced "bathtub gin", was a common drink in the speakeasies of Prohibition-era America. It remained popular as the basis of many cocktails after the repeal of Prohibition.

Common Mixers for Gin

Vermouth - in a dry (or gin) martini
Tonic water - in a Gin and Tonic
Ginger ale
Orange juice
Lemon juice - Tin roof, Tom Collins, Maiden's Prayer
Grapefruit juice - Greyhound

Famous Gin Brands

Beefeater - first produced in 1820
Bombay - distilled with eight botanicals
Bombay Sapphire - distilled with ten botanicals
Gordon's
Plymouth - first distilled in 1793
Seagram's
Tanqueray - 94.6 proof (sold as 80 proof in some regions, including Canada)
Swordsman
Anchor Junipero Gin - produced in California by Anchor Steam Brewery
Bafferts Gin - Triple-distilled with four botanicals in England
Bellringer Gin - 94.4 proof English gin.
Bombadier Military Gin
Boodles British Gin - 90.4 proof gin
Boomsma Jonge Genevere Gin
Burnett's Crown Select Gin
Cadenhead's Old Raj Gin - 110 proof gin
Citadelle - distilled with nineteen botanicals in France
Cork Dry
Cascade Mountain Gin - uses hand-picked wild juniper berries, distilled in Oregon
Gilbey's London Dry Gin
Greenall's Original Gin
Demrak Amsterdam - distilled five times with seventeen botanicals
Dirty Olives
Hamptons Gin
Hendrick's Gin - Infused with cucumber, coriander, citrus peel and rose petals
Juniper Green Organic Gin - first gin made from all organic ingredients in England with four botanicals
Leyden Dry Gin - Distilled three times in small batches, twice in column stills then in a pot still
Quintessential
Schlichte GinUrbrannt
Seagram's Extra Dry Gin
Tanqueray Malacca - triple distilled in small batches
Tanqueray No. 10 - distilled with fresh botanicals, not dries
Van Gogh Gin - Dutch gin produced with ten botanicals in small batches. Triple distilled, twice in column stills then in a traditional pot still

The Gin people of China

Gin, or Jing Nationality (京族) in Mandarin Chinese, is the name given to ethnic Vietnamese living in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They speak Vietnamese.