Geraldine Coates explores how ‘mother’s ruin’ has become the star of the cocktail scene.

 

The story of gin begins in the sixteenth century when gin’s first cousin, genever, became the national drink of the Dutch. This marriage of grain spirit, juniper berries, herbs and spices was well known in England from the 1640s onwards, due to the hundreds of mercenaries returning from long wars in the Low Countries where they had encountered the local brew as a fiery grog given to steady nerves before battle. Dutch Courage they called it.

 

Then however, the English, unlike their Celtic neighbours, were not generally spirits drinkers. Once Dutch King William arrived on the British throne in 1688, drinking habits changed dramatically. Genever now known as gin became the drink at court. The fashion for gin, alongside legislation to deregulate distilling and a ban on the import of anything French, created a domestic distilling industry for the first time. There followed the well documented years of gin madness, especially in London where, in 1733, the city officially produced 11 million gallons of gin, 14 gallons for every resident – man, woman and child.

 

In 1751 came the first effective legislation to tackle the gin epidemic. Over the next fifty years increasing control and taxation drove out the back street boys leaving only reputable companies. These, the gentlemen distillers of London, took advantage of the invention of the continuous still to make pure spirit in cost effective quantities. Now, instead of disguising the flavour of rotgut alcohol with sugar and strong flavourings,  the new type of spirit could be redistilled, or ‘rectified’ with subtle botanical flavourings to produce a clean, unsweetened, colourless drink known as London Dry Gin. From the 1850s onwards, the London Dry style came to define the category.  It still does apart from a few exceptions, of which more later.

 

Arguably the 1950s and the 1960s were gin’s heyday. This was a time when if you walked into any bar anywhere and ordered a martini you would be served a gin martini. Probably around 50 per cent of any cocktail list would be made up of gin-based drinks. But all that ended with the growing dominance of vodka. By the 1970s gin was almost stagnant in terms of growth.  Even worse it had lost its iconic image and was perceived as the opposite of cool.  

 

It’s all change again and gin is once more the star of the cocktail scene. Its revival began in 1988 when Michel Roux, the creator of Absolut Vodka, developed a speciality premium gin, Bombay Sapphire. Stylish packaging and a less juniper-dominated taste profile attracted a younger audience. The brand is now number two in the UK with the largest percentage of drinkers in the 25 – 34 age bracket. But perhaps the most significant achievement of the Bombay Sapphire phenomenon was that it proved it was possible to reinvent an entire category.

 

The success of Bombay Sapphire was the catalyst for a wave of activity in the gin market, with new product development and innovation coming from both newcomers and long established brands. Behind all this energy is a clear strategy - to create distinctive products for the super premium market and to respond to the demands of the burgeoning cocktail sector.  There is no question that the rebirth of cocktail culture is driving gin’s recovery.

 

No two gins taste quite the same and high quality gins with interesting new flavours inspire today’s mixologists to come up with drinks that showcase gin’s unique personality as well as different brands’ specific botanical recipes. These appeal to educated and sophisticated consumers who are now exploring gin outside the G and T box.  So there is a reborn interest in classic gin cocktails like the Dry Martini and a desire to experiment with the new gin martinis made with fresh fruit, herbs and spices. When it comes to long drinks, the G and T is being edged out by glamorous versions of the Tom Collins such as the Crimson Fizz.

 

The top end of the market is where it’s at. That means high strength gins (40% abv and above) in the London Dry style, made with a high quality grain spirit, redistilled or rectified with a range of natural botanical flavourings, principally juniper and coriander.

 

Unhampered by tradition, new arrivals to the category have not been afraid to experiment. Hendrick’s Gin adds a final distillation of rose petals and cucumber to create what its producers describe as “A Most Unusual Gin”. Hendricks has successfully introduced the concept of serving the G and T with a cucumber wedge instead of the more traditional lemon or lime in order to enhance the distinctive flavour of the brand. Broker’s Gin is a big flavoured gin made with 10 different botanicals including nutmeg and liquorice. Juniper Green Organic Gin, the world’s first Soil Association certified organic gin, is aimed at the quality conscious, environmentally aware consumer. Blackwoods Nordic Dry from Shetland-based Blackwood Distillers has a weird and wonderful botanicals mix that includes Shetland-grown wild water mint, sea pinks and angelica alongside the more traditional ingredients.

 

The established players have diversified too. A major innovation was Diageo’s introduction of Tanqueray 10 in 2000. Made with fresh fruit botanicals as well as the more traditional ingredients, Tanqueray 10 is adored by the style set. Indeed it is considered the gin for the Dry  Martini. Another major development from Diageo was the launch last year of Gordon’s Distiller’s Cut - a high strength gin with lemon grass and ginger botanicals.

 

GJ Greenall are seeing tremendous growth with their excellent premium Original Warrington Dry Gin and have launched the super premium Q which uses the less common cubeb berries in the botanicals mix. Allied Domecq, owners of the venerable Beefeater ultra London Dry gin, recently launched Wet, a pear flavoured gin, in the US and Spain. Sadly for us (since Beefeater is such a superb gin), most of Beefeater’s activity is concentrated in these markets.

 

Plymouth Gin is not a London Dry gin. Indeed Plymouth Dry has its own appellation controllée and, by law, can only be made within the city of Plymouth. Once an iconic brand, from the 1960s onwards it was passed around amongst brand portfolios which virtually destroyed its image and values. In 1996 Plymouth Gin was acquired by private investors who re-established the distinctive character of the brand with great success. Now part of the Swedish Vin & Sprit Group, Plymouth is on a roll. It is the fastest growing premium imported gin in the US. In the UK sales were up 10 per cent last year.

Another brand of gin with an EU designation of origin is Xoriguer Gin from Menorca which is currently launching its first ever sales and distribution drive in the UK.

 

So has all this activity had any effect on the bottom line? Recent research demonstrates that gin sales are gently on the rise with growth led by the premium sector and the fashion for in-home drinking. Indeed 75 per cent of gin volume is now generated at supermarkets and off licences: the inventions of the style guys are now the drinks people make at home. So don’t be surprised to find that the next time you’re offered a gin it’s an Angel Face, a Negroni, a Bramble, or any one of the many gin cocktails, new and old, that are currently fashionable.