By Kara Mae Adamo.
Over the last decade nothing has pleased me more than watching gin make an epic comeback in the bar scene. Like the Betty White of liquors, it made a splash in the 1920s and 1930s, kept going throughout the decades, took a bit of a break in the 90s, and then the 2000s hit and it’s seen a resurgence in popularity like no other.
So, what is it, exactly?
Gin is basically vodka, but with attitude.
Like vodka, the distiller starts with fermented grains but then they start playing.
The addition of various berries and herbs turns what would initially be a clean, odorless beverage into something wholly unique from bottle-to-bottle, drink-to-drink.
In Europe, gin has sort of been an on-and-off fan-favorite for centuries. Italian monks distilled juniper berries as far back as the 11th century, but it was the Dutch who really began coveting the drink as, in Holland, they were making gin and using it as medicine back in the 1550s. During the Thirty Years War, the English got a hold of it and loved it so much they began calling it Dutch Courage. Once the war was over, they took “the ole’ Dutch Courage” back home with them and, as opposed to Rose in Titanic, really never did “let go.”
By 1638, King Charles I formed the Worship Company of Distillers. Since then, we’ve all sort of assumed gin was an English thing and, all things considered, I suppose it is. William of Orange–yeah, I know, another Dutch guy, but his wife sat on the English throne, so roll with me here–specifically advocated for gin distilleries during his wife’s reign.
Actually, to be honest, William of Orange really just liked to drink and supported anybody willing to make it easier for people to do so, but he really liked gin.
But seriously, he was like a lobbyist for the stuff. During their reign, wages were sometimes paid in gin. It sort of makes sense. Gin was cheaper to produce than beer and the water was absolute garbage, so people drank gin all the time. By the early 18th century, about 10 million gallons of gin were being distilled in London alone, and thousands of dram shops dotted the city.
My kind of place.
At one point, gin was used as a medicine and the most commonly referred to, gin and tonic, sprang onto the world stage in the early 19th century when, in an attempt to ward off malaria, the soldiers in the British East India Company began adding gin to the quinine (tonic) they were drinking with the hopes that it would fix the rather off-putting taste.
As with bourbon, there are about a million different boutique gins out there, and each of them has their own personality and story.
Lately, I’ve been getting into Barr Hill Gin and Bluecoat Gin.
Bluecoat Gin is ironic because, while gin was and is traditionally associated with the English, this particular distillery celebrates our side of the revolutionary war. It’s handcrafted in our nation’s birthplace: Philadelphia, and the culture around it is something I totally jive with, celebrating–in their words–“Revolutionaries, Artists, Thought Leaders, Free-thinking Rebels, & Entrepreneurs.” Bluecoat only uses organic ingredients, and they focus on three recipes: American Dry, Barrel Finished, and Elderflower Expression.
The American Dry is a throwback to traditional gins–it’s a clean juniper-forward delight that really speaks to traditionalists the way a gin should, but instead of letting juniper do all the talking, they infuse their batches with citrus by adding lemon and orange peels. This is where they really grab me, as I am a huge orange peel fan. There is a spice to the flavor of this recipe that is tempered by the soft, almost woodsy notes.
Their Barrel Finished gin is created by taking the American Dry–already a winner in my book–and then letting it sit in new American oak barrels for three months. This rounds out the gin and allows it to take on a beautiful gold color matched only by the subtle caramel notes from the barrel.
Then we have the Elderflower Expression. They take the American Dry batch but, during the maceration process (that’s what happens when the skin of berries is in contact with water for an extended period of time), they add Elderflower berries to the mix. This one is super floral.
The other gin I’ve fallen in love with this year is Barr Hill.
So this kid named Tom Hardie buys a bee hive at 12 years old. He becomes obsessed and eventually goes on to make honey for 48 years.
Then, he decides he wants to get into distilling. He meets a homebrewer named Ryan Christianson and the two of them get it into their heads that they should start turning Tom’s honey into gin.
Thus is born this beautiful, captivating gin which I point people to constantly even though my bar doesn’t even stock the stuff.
Like Bluecoat, Barr Hill includes orange peels in their recipe. Being from Florida, the first thing I thought of during a gin tasting with some reps was the famed Orange Blossom Honey of my youth. I was particularly homesick at the time, and it made me warm and fuzzy–and I’m not just talking about the buzz I caught drinking the stuff.
Eventually, Barr Hill started experimenting with barrel aging and this resulted in their award-winning Tom Cat Gin, which is possibly my favorite gin on earth right now. Order it with tonic water and slices of orange instead of lime and watch this thing really come to life. It’s incredible.
So, a special thank you to the Italian monks, the random dutchmen, the Charles I, William of Orange, and all of the American revolutionaries that chose to snag gin, change it, and allow it to evolve repeatedly over time. We owe you.
Until next time,
Cheers.
Kara Adamo is a bartender, booze nerd, and booze writer. She is the author of Fancy Grape Juice: De-Snootifying the World’s Snootiest Beverage; Artimals: Coloring the Whimsical Wild; and Brews & Hues: A Coloring Book About Beer. Adamo currently lives in Washington DC.
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