The Botany of Gin

Last night the wonderful people at Science Brainwaves organised a scientific evening called The Botany of Gin. Run by professional mixologist (what a great title) Noel Jackson, it was a session on the history of gin and what goes into its many different varieties. Of course, in the interests of science, we had to sample the different kinds.

Gin began life invented by a Flemish doctor as a stomach cure-all and was basically an infusion of juniper berries in alcohol. English soldiers discovered it out there, especially its calming effects before battle - hence the term Dutch Courage. When it came over here it was called "Hollands". When the government imposed a tax on imported spirits, London Gin was born - Gordons was established in 1793, and Beefeater in 1820. These are the two classic London gins. As well as juniper, Gordons has coriander, bitter orange peel, angelica and two other ingredients known only to 2 members of the Board. Apparently one of them is grapefruit!  It is brewed out of the same stills as Tanqueray and Tanqueray10. As well as the 4 standard ingredients (angelica, coriander, bitter orange peel and juniper), Beefeater contains orris root, liquorish, ground almonds and lemon peel. Who knew gin had so many ingredients? Of course, we had to taste London gin. So we did.

We also tried Old Tom Gin, which is a sweetend form of London gin and often contained turpentine. Not as nice! Noel took us through the GinAct of 1736, the Gin Riots, and then we had a taste of Plymouth Gin, which has a lot less juniper, and sweet orange peel, rather than bitter. Very good for cocktails as it's softer and smoother than London gin.

We also learned about tonic water which was developed in India as quinine sulphate dissolved in water as an anti-malerial drink. The gin was added to it to make it more palatable!

Bombay Sapphire got a mention (and of course we had a glass of it to taste.....). Not blue, it is colourless, was invented in 1987 in New York by Bacardi, and is distilled in a carterhead still, with the vapour passed through a basket containing the other ingredients (or botanicals) to extract the flavour. Not particualry special according to Noel. I must say, I agreed with him having tasted the others.
Finally we moved on to Hendricks, which is one of the new gins and flavoured with cucumber and rose - and produced by Grants the whisky makers in Scotland.

I make that 5 gins we tasted - London, Plymouth, Old Tom, Bombay Sapphire and Hendricks. I thought it was more, but my notes are a bit sketchy towards the end. Can't think why. 

In terms of the best? Well, definitely the London gins, which should be kept in your freezer to make the ideal g and t when you get home from work.

A great event, following on nicely from the Science of Cocktails last year, and I'll be watching out for the next one.