Gin

Gin is a distilled alcoholic beverage that gets its flavour from juniper berries. It’s one of the broadest categories of liquor, all of different styles and flavour profiles, that revolve around the single common ingredient, juniper. 

Born in the Middle Ages, gin has evolved from being nothing more than herbal medicine to a well respected spirit. Introduced to England as cough medicine from Dutch and Belgian traders, it’s been accepted, but hardly made an impact. Later on after William of Orange’s new law that included restrictions onFrench brandy, gin became more widespread. 

Today, it’s produced in various ways, from a number of different herbal ingredients, which leads to new brands with their own signature flavours and aromas emerging. While juniper still stays the fundamental of gin, a lot of producers add spices and floral and fruit flavours to the mix. 

In the last few years, the number of unusual production methods has increased dramatically. Most small distilleries are trying to find new methods of extracting flavours and using more unusual botanicals, all in order to push the category and find a niche. 

In general, especially for big names in the world of gin, flavour and aroma consistency is the key, much likewhiskey andcognac, however, variances occur quite often and that is because there are many types of seeds, herbs and berries used over the lifetime of the brand. Even a single batch of juniper berries can have variances completely naturally and that’s up to the distillers to make sure that the flavour stays consistent. 

How does one drink gin? Gin is often added to cocktails or simply with tonic water. The more expensive gin is recommended to be sipped, not shot or mixed. The spirit is also used as a base for many sweet fruity liquors, like a Sloe gin. 

If you want to purchase a bottle, buy gin in our liquor store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada or shop online at ZYN.ca!