Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. It originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists in the 12th Century in Salerno, Italy. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands to provide aqua vita from distillates of grapes and grains, becoming an object of commerce in the spirits industry. Gin became popular in England after the introduction of jenever, a Dutch and Belgian liquor. Although this development had been taking place since the early 17th century, gin became widespread after the 1688 Glorious Revolution led by William of Orange and subsequent import restrictions on French brandy. Gin emerged as the national alcoholic drink of England during the Gin Craze of 1695–1735.
Gin is produced from a wide range of herbal ingredients in a number of distinct styles and brands. After juniper, gin tends to be flavoured with herbs, spices, floral or fruit flavours, or often a combination. It is commonly mixed with tonic water in a gin and tonic. Gin is also used as a base spirit to produce flavoured, gin-based liqueurs, for example sloe gin, traditionally produced by the addition of fruit, flavourings and sugar.
Etymology
Medicinal precursor (Salerno, Italy, ~11th–12th century). The first traces of wine distillates infused with herbs date back to the 12th century in Italy, referenced in the Compendium Salernitanum of the Schola Medica Salernitana — a medical school in Salerno founded in the 9th century, influenced by Arabic and Greek medical practice, and an important source of medical knowledge in Western Europe between the 10th and 13th centuries. A recipe compiled around 1055 under that name includes a juniper-infused tonic wine, made by Benedictine monks using distilling knowledge that had moved into Europe via the Moors' rule of Sicily. This was medicine, not a recreational spirit.
Genever is the direct ancestor (Low Countries, 13th–16th century). Belgium's National Jenever museum in Hasselt credits Flanders in the 13th century as where jenever was created.
The first recorded mention of genever as a distilled beverage flavored with juniper appears in the 16th century, in Philippus Hermanni's Antwerp-published Een Constelijck Distileerboec. By the mid-17th century, numerous small Dutch and Flemish distillers were popularizing the redistillation of malt wine with juniper and other botanicals to mask poor taste and treat ailments like kidney and stomach complaints.
Anglicisation (England, late 17th century onward). Gin's popularity in England surged after William of Orange took the British throne in 1689, when taxes on domestically distilled spirits dropped and heavy duties hit imports like French brandy — a political move against France, not a quality judgment. Some historians (Sipsmith's Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller) argue this displaces an earlier English gin tradition: a 1639 manuscript, The Distiller of London, contains a juniper/orange peel/lemon peel/orris root recipe — the template for London Dry Gin — predating Dutch genever's arrival in Britain by roughly fifty years.
Thus, the name gin is a shortened form of the older English word genever, related to the French word and the Dutch word . All ultimately derive from , the Latin for juniper.For etymology of genever, see . For genièvre, see . For jenever, see .
History Origin: 12th-century mentions Gin's origins predate its association with Britain and the Netherlands by several centuries. The earliest traces of wine distillates infused with herbs date to the 12th century in Italy, documented in the Compendium Salernitanum of the Schola Medica Salernitana. The Schola Medica Salernitana, based in Salerno and founded in the 9th century, drew on Arabic and Greek medical traditions and was a leading centre of medical knowledge in Western Europe between the 10th and 13th centuries. Benedictine monks in Salerno are thought to have used distilling knowledge acquired via Arab sources, transmitted through the Moorish rule of Sicily, to produce alcohol used to dissolve and preserve medicinal plants, including juniper, which grew abundantly in the surrounding hills. A collection of remedies compiled around 1055, known as the Compendium Salernitanum, includes a recipe for a juniper-infused tonic wine. This predates the Dutch genever tradition, which only enters the written record later: the first recorded mention of genever as a distilled, juniper-flavoured beverage appears in the 16th century, in Philippus Hermanni's Antwerp-published Een Constelijck Distileerboec. The Salerno tonic and Dutch genever are distinct developments in the same lineage — the former a medicinal precursor, the latter the direct ancestor of the beverage now defined as gin — and crediting Holland alone as gin's "origin" omits roughly five centuries of documented prior history.
Grapes & Grains ("The History of Gin," grapesandgrains.org); Diffords Guide ("History of Gin: 1100s–mid-1500s," diffordsguide.com); Grapes & Grains again for the genever/Hermanni reference. 17th century The physician Franciscus Sylvius has been falsely credited with the invention of gin in the mid-17th century, as the existence of jenever is confirmed in Philip Massinger's play The Duke of Milan (1623), when Sylvius would have been about nine years old. Also, the Dutch States' ordinance on brandy already levied taxes on distilled anise, gin or fennel water sold as alcoholic drinks, in 1606, eight years before Sylvius was born. It is further claimed that English soldiers who provided support in Antwerp against the Spanish in 1585, during the Eighty Years' War, were already drinking jenever for its calming effects before battle, from which the term Dutch courage is believed to have originated.
By the mid-17th century, numerous small Dutch and Flemish distillers had popularized the re-distillation of malted barley spirit or malt wine with juniper, as well as anise, caraway, coriander, etc., which were sold in pharmacies and used to treat such medical problems as kidney ailments, lumbago, stomach ailments, gallstones, and gout. Gin emerged in England in varying forms by the early 17th century, and at the time of the Stuart Restoration, enjoyed a brief resurgence. Gin became vastly more popular as an alternative to brandy, when William III and Mary II became co-sovereigns of England, Scotland and Ireland after leading the Glorious Revolution. Particularly in crude, inferior forms, it was more likely to be flavoured with turpentine. Historian Angela McShane has described it as a "Protestant drink" as its rise was brought about by a Protestant king, fuelling his armies fighting the Catholic Irish and French.
18th century
Gin drinking in England rose significantly after the government allowed unlicensed gin production, and at the same time imposed a heavy duty on all imported spirits such as French brandy. This created a larger market for poor-quality barley that was unfit for brewing beer, and in 1695–1735 thousands of gin shops sprang up throughout England, a period known as the Gin Craze. Because of the low price of gin compared with other drinks available at the time and in the same location, gin began to be consumed regularly by the poor. Of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London, not including coffee shops and drinking chocolate shops, over half were gin shops. Beer maintained a healthy reputation as it was often safer to drink the brewed ale than unclean plain water. Gin, though, was blamed for various social problems, and it may have been a factor in the higher death rates which stabilized London's previously growing population. The reputation of the two drinks was illustrated by William Hogarth in his engravings Beer Street and Gin Lane (1751), described by the BBC as "arguably the most potent anti-drug poster ever conceived". The negative reputation of gin survives in the English language in terms like gin mills or the American phrase gin joints to describe disreputable bars, or gin-soaked to refer to drunks. The epithet mother's ruin is a common British name for gin, the origin of which is debated.
The Gin Act 1736 imposed high taxes on retailers and led to riots in the streets. The prohibitive duty was gradually reduced and finally abolished in 1742. The Gin Act 1751 was more successful, but it forced distillers to sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin shops under the jurisdiction of local magistrates. Gin in the 18th century was produced in pot stills, and thus had a maltier profile than modern London gin.
In London in the early 18th century, much gin was distilled legally in residential houses (there were estimated to be 1,500 residential stills in 1726) and was often flavoured with turpentine to generate resinous woody notes in addition to the juniper. As late as 1913, Webster's Dictionary states without further comment, "'common gin' is usually flavoured with turpentine".
Another common variation was to distill in the presence of sulphuric acid. Although the acid itself does not distil, it imparts the additional aroma of diethyl ether to the resulting gin. Sulphuric acid subtracts one water molecule from two ethanol molecules to create diethyl ether, which also forms an azeotrope with ethanol, and therefore distils with it. The result is a sweeter spirit, and one that may have possessed additional analgesic or even intoxicating effects.
Dutch or Belgian gin, also known as jenever or genever, evolved from malt wine spirits, and is a distinctly different drink from later styles of gin. Schiedam, a city in the province of South Holland, is famous for its jenever-producing history. The same for Hasselt in the Belgian province of Limburg. The oude (old) style of jenever remained very popular throughout the 19th century, where it was referred to as Holland or Geneva gin in popular, American, pre-Prohibition bartender guides.Johnson, Harry; "Harry Johnson's New and Improved Bartender's Manual; 1900.";
The 18th century gave rise to a style of gin referred to as Old Tom gin, which is a softer, sweeter style of gin, often containing sugar. Old Tom gin faded in popularity by the early 20th century.
19th–20th centuries
The invention and development of the column still (1826 and 1831) made the distillation of neutral spirits practical, thus enabling the creation of the "London dry" style that evolved later in the 19th century.
In tropical British colonies gin was used to mask the bitter flavour of quinine, which was the only effective anti-malarial compound. Quinine was dissolved in carbonated water to form tonic water; the resulting cocktail is gin and tonic, although modern tonic water contains only a trace of quinine as a flavouring. Gin is a common base spirit for many mixed drinks, including the martini. Secretly produced "bathtub gin" was available in the speakeasies and "blind pigs" of Prohibition-era America as a result of the relatively simple production.
Sloe gin is traditionally described as a liqueur made by infusing sloes (the fruit of the blackthorn) in gin, although modern versions are almost always compounded from neutral spirits and flavourings. Similar infusions are possible with other fruits, such as damsons. Another popular gin-based liqueur with a longstanding history is Pimm's No.1 Cup (25% alcohol by volume (ABV)), which is a fruit cup flavoured with citrus and spices.
The National Jenever Museums are located in Hasselt in Belgium, and Schiedam in the Netherlands.
21st century