Beginner's guide to GIN! A history & tasting of various styles
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
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Today’s video is all about Gin! This is an essential bottle to have behind your bar, but with so many producers and styles to choose from, it can be overwhelming. To further understand this category of spirits, we’re going all the way back to the beginning. We’ll cover gin’s history, some various styles, a few of my go-to gins, and of course we’ll taste along the way! With new expressions of gin continuously being introduced, there’s no need to feel intimidated. This is an exciting time to explore new bottles! Cheers!
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Video/editing/illustrations by Azusa Inaba 🎥 🎨
TIME STAMPS
Intro: 0:00
What is Gin?: 1:21
Genever: 2:24
Early Gin: 3:45
Cordial Gin: 5:39
Old Tom: 6:39
A New Still: 8:01
London Dry: 8:45
Other Dry Gins: 9:58
Plymouth: 10:58
Navy Strength: 11:53
New American: 13:40
Barrel-Aged: 16:44
Sign Off: 18:01
For further reading on everything spirits-related (and a source for much of this information), I strongly recommend: The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails 📖 amzn.to/30Ij7I8
THE BOTTLES ON THE TABLE
Bols Genever Original
Plymouth Sloe Gin
Scofflaw Old Tom Gin
Beefeater London Dry Gin
Broker’s London Dry Gin
The Botanist Islay Dry Gin
Martin Millers Gin
Plymouth Gin
Plymouth Navy Strength
Tanglin Black Powder Gin
St. George Terroir Gin
Journeyman Bilberry Black Hearts Gin
Death’s Door Gin
Koval Barreled Gin
THE TOOLS
The Glencairn Glass: amzn.to/3icRVr7
My workhorse double jigger: amzn.to/3lmmKrK
My go-to large shaking tin: amzn.to/33vnMLJ
My go-to small cheater tin: amzn.to/3qecbe5
Hawthorne strainer: amzn.to/2VBUSWh
Fine mesh strainer: amzn.to/4akT1dn
My favorite mixing glass: amzn.to/46KrrTX
Bar spoon: amzn.to/3wkkDhg
Julep strainer: amzn.to/3mymEyA
Rubber bar mat (6"x12"): amzn.to/3h2IJER
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Now who brought the tonic water?
I was gonna reply with a joke about mass-market tonic water, but I can't top Brendan Behan's.
I'm not a fan of gin. Have a couple bad'exeperiences when I was young including sneaking into the parents liquor cabinet as a teen and getting sick from it. Maybe I should give it another chance.
I brought the Cocchi Americano; does that help?
@@DryWall-wd4ei Been there , done that in 1964.. I remember it well. Barfed in a swimming pool.
Omg yes. The whole history of the gin and tonic and the anti-malarial properties of quinine could be a video in itself!
As much as I love the cocktail recipes, I find that I am most interested in the “history” portion. Loving these long form videos breaking down individual spirits!
Appreciate the comment. Always so much to cover with these deep dives. Cheers
Echoing Lucas here. The deep dive and history segments are the best, and having a whole episode of just that is just perfect
Yes, Anders, keep it up! Your style is informed and trustworthy. I will keep watching these. (Hi, Oz!)
I appreciate them, too. It gives me more context about what to use and when, based on the type of gins available. Within the era of cocktail, I want to recreate.
Love the history content. As a bourbon and rum lover, my fascination with gin began recently with a bottle of The Botanist. I always thought of gin in the same vein as vodka as a boring alcohol additive for cocktails. Wow, was I wrong! I enjoy exploring the different offerings by local distilleries and growing my gin collection. I justify it to my wife by stating I'm not buying more whiskey, lol.
I, too, was a whiskey enthusiast, and The Botanist was my first gin as well! (I blame Binging with Babish) I also categorized gin in the same way, but now I absolutely love it. In fact, I think I like gin more than whiskey 👀
I found botanist within the last year and love it also!
Botanist is truly one of the best value for price gins that aren’t London Dry. Super good.
as a dutch person I have to say the seccond pronunciation you did was spot on.
As I understand it, one reason for producing Plymouth Navy Strength is that it was used by Royal Navy surgeons as both an anesthetic and an antiseptic during and after surgical procedures. This, of course, predated the availability of drugs designed specifically for these purposes. The higher ABV of Navy Strength more quickly rendered the patient insensible to pain, and topical application was more effective at killing bacteria in and around the surgical site. The higher ABV also more effectively held (and still holds) all those botanical flavors in the gin until ice or tonic water releases them.
That was my first thought as well. Still, the gunpowder relation is another great thing to know! Thanks Anders!
Cool piece of history to add on- British soldiers often made trips to their colonies, often places like India where Malaria was endemic, and so had to drink quinine water, which when mixed with sugar became tonic water. They used the gin to help make that bitter concoction go down more smoothly. Also as sailors, they often suffered from scurvy, which a dash of lime juice in the G&T remedied.
I’m so happy that you dedicated a portion of the show to talking about Plymouth Gin. I live in Plymouth, and Blackfriars is a source of a lot of pride for our city. I’m not a gin fan myself, but it still makes me happy that such a popular gin is unique to us.
(Note: HMNB Devonport is still here! I don’t know how much it affects our booze industry to have the military so close as it once did, but I felt it was still worthy of mention)
Whitby Gin is run by a young couple, and they do several different gins. Everything that they do is to represent the local area of North Yorkshire Moors, including the unique design of the bottle. They even do a flavoured gin called Prince Of Darkness that came out to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, that has very strong links to Whitby. They will also be moving their site to two barns on the site of Whitby Abbey in the near future to keep the links with the local community as strong as possible. Worth a look for uniqueness.
I'm not into gin, but the Japanese Suntory Roku was a discovery. I started working at a bar where they were wondering what they could do with it, can we get it on the menu, etc. So, when a gin-based dealer's choice came in, that's where I gravitated, and now it's one of my go-tos. The juniper is very subtle, everything else takes over, and I love that.
The place i work at has a cocktail that contains lemon grass shochu, and suntory gin. Its a riff on a college cocktail that involved vodka, but its basically that, lemon, maracuya, and a beer of your choice, most preferred cider. its delicious, and one of the very few gin cocktails that are shaken for a good reason -- because, though shaking gin bruises and loses the herbal elements and back-end, it also aerates it and it comes out sweeter.
I wanna join in and say that I've been watching your videos for a long time now, and I've always loved the way they're structured, I love the personality you and Oz give them, always entertaining, and I'm always looking forward to see the next one. Y'all have only gotten better with the years. I genuinely appreciate what y'all do!
There’s been a real gin renaissance in Britain in the last couple of years, because they loosened the regulations, now there are thousands of small gin producers as a opposed to the dozen there were before.
Anders, I'm a gin guy, but I live in Louisville, Kentucky, which is not a gin town. When I moved back here in 2010, the owner of a small liquor store told me that "brown liquors are dead," and that virtually everything he sold was vodka or tequila. Fourteen years ago. Now , there are more barrels of bourbon aging across the state than there are people in Kentucky. But not much gin. But I found a bottle of Brokers this morning, and this tutorial went as well with it as the Schweppes tonic. Cheers!
Love these longer format history pieces, thanks for the content!
As someone who grew up hating on all things carbonation, the gin and tonic convinced me that I hated gin for the longest time. Then, I came to your channel, looked for gin drinks that didn't have them, and voila, it's now my second favorite type of liquor behind rum, and let's be honest, alcohol made from sugarcane is a hard act to follow for anything. Your channel enlightened me a ton to a new world of mixed drinks, and this video is a great primer I wish I had months ago.
Terrific video! Thanks so much for demystifying these different styles!
Hi Anders, such a great video-I really enjoy all the details and history portion of your videos and your cocktails are always spot on!! Enjoy your weekend & CHEERS!🍹
Excellent video. Great history lesson and great flavour profiles on everything mentioned.
Thank you for this history. I really love the long form videos that dive into details about a spirit. I revisit the rum episode regularly. I love gin and the different varieties. This was really fascinating. Thank you.
such a great video! I can't get enough of these history lessons!
Thanks for spoon feeding the information to me. This was so educational and wonderfully done. Answered so many of my questions! You’re the best anders! 👏🏽
Adding to the chorus of appreciation. Your deep dives on different spirits are just wonderful. Excellent history with lots of info mixed with the tastings, great format. I always learn something new! Thanks!! ❤
What a great video! Very comprehensive, love the lore, true or not. It helps to understand how all the styles are connected throughout history. It makes me want them all lol
Thanks Anders! Love your channel. I was actually sipping a Corpse Reviver Number Two when I saw this video in my feed. Gin is deff a fav of mine so I clicked on the video right away, and as always I was not disappointed. You are my go-to-guy when it comes to spirits and cocktails. I have learned so much from your channel and not only have I enjoyed making a lot of the cocktails you've shown, I've also used the knowledge you've given me to impress ladies I know, so seriously man, thanks again! Also - Hi Az, you're great too!
Great vid. Thank Anders. I found myself building a personal bar around Gin and Whiskey love vermoth based cocktails and really enjoy your content. Keep up the good work man.
This came out at such a perfect time for me. Gin was the next spirit to check out on my entry to cocktails so thank you Anders for giving me characteristics for everything under the sun.
I love the history you share about each of the different types of Gin. It really helps us understand how and why varieties of Gin have their distinct flavors. This is what sets you apart from other content creators in this genre. Great video!
Lovely video, Gin actually started my passion for spirits and distilled drinks. It's so exciting every time I get a new bottle because idk what to expect, the variety is overwhelming! That St. George Terroir is so unique! one of my latest favorites.
I LOVED THIS VIDEO. Gin is my favorite spirit but I knew practically nothing of its history and not much more about the varieties. Thank you for doing this research and sharing this info.
The music choices for the different eras of gin were so perfect. The neo-swing for the 20’s and bossa nova tune for the 60’s. Beautiful.
Also, you did cover my favorite gin. St. George is one of the most amazing spirits I’ve ever tasted.
Thank you for all your videos. I learn so much.
Really great video once again. I've been wondering about some gin styles you mentioned. Not wondering anymore. Thanks!
Hey Anders! Thanks for making this excellent video. I am fairly new to the world of alcohol and recently made my first ever gin purchase (beefeater). I immediately fell in love and am very excited to explore more gins soon, so this couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you!
Thanks Anders for the History on Gin. I found it very interesting. Keep them coming. Cheers/Salud!!
I went through a big gin phase last year and researched like crazy but kept getting stumped and stuck. Thanks for filling in some of the gaps! Love these histories!
This is a wonderful channel! It's what I feel has been missing in How To Drink for the last couple years. Thanks Anders!
I just started out drinking and loving spirits especially rum. Your rum guide helped me really a lot and I want to explore more so this comes right at the perfect time.
I subscribe to about a dozen bar tender channels but you are by far the best. I love every part of your videos. The history, unique drinks along side classics but mostly you voice / personality. Thank you.
I remember visiting the Plymouth Gin distillery as a child/teenager (I grew up in Cornwall)...it's been a favourite gin ever since 😊😊
Great video as always! What I love about gin is all the terroir gins. Every time I go on a trip I buy a bottle of a local gin, made with local or even native botanicals, it’s a great way to bring back the smells, flavors and memories of my vacations.
Being a huge gin fan, I was excited to watch this. It did not disappoint. I’ve had a bottle of The Botanist on my bar for a few years now. I think it might be time to crack it open. 🍸
Love these videos, Anders! I think I requested a history of gin around a year ago, so I was delighted to see you post this!
Gin holds a special place in my heart. It's really the spirit that got me into the world of drinking for pleasure (and not just to get wasted). And you're right, I do have a favourite! I'm particularly fond of Harris Gin from Scotland, which uses sugar kelp as a botanical. I also love Mermaid Gin, which is from a small distillery on an island in the south of England where I grew up.
As an island boy living far inland now, the flavours of those particular gins are so reminiscent of the coast and sea. It really is just home in a bottle
My favorite is St. George Terroir. I really like the subtle pine notes mixed in with the juniper. The combination reminds me of my grandparents house, growing up.
I love exploring the different riffs on gin that the smaller distillers have come up with. Empress 1908 is one of my favourites. Also one of the local distilleries to my area Dillion’s has put out a few really good tales on gin. I recommend their rose gin.
I learned so much in the video despite a 10-year love affair with gin. Fascinating about the origins of Navy Strength. I was glad to see your love for my favourite gins; all four of my must-have bottles were at least mentioned. Plymouth is my forever number one!
Gin is my favorite spirit. As I’ve gotten older, I have decided that Plymouth gin suits me best. Thanks for this video. I learned a lot.
Love love love gin… I started with Tanqueray, moved on to Hendrix and Bombay Sapphire, and I just bought my first bottle of Plymouth ❤
same path. have a bit of Hendrick's to finish before I crack open the Plymouth Navy Strength.
I have been a Bombay Sapphire fan since my twenties. But this made me want to check out the Sloe Gin cordial and the Old Tom. Really love the history and introduction to all the other liquor options. The "navy strength " gin was an eye opener.
Marvelous segment! Thank you so much. I learned so much. I love gin, and now I know I'll find gins I love even more.
on the cheaper side I really like Roku gin from Japan. My current favorite is a German gin Monkey 47, it works well with sweeter drinks like the Bees Knees. As far as the prohibition era gins, we detailed this in our podcast, crime organizations would provide widows and housewives with stills and all the ingredients to make gin, and bottle it., but the bottles were too tall to add water in the kitchen sink...so they did that in the bathtub. If I remember right it would cost about 75 cents a gallon to make and they would sell it to a speakeasy for 10 to 15 dollars a bottle, which was how Capone became very rich.
This episode filled me with joy. I love gin so much!!!
Interestingly, my neighbor did launch their own gin recently. It's called Two Shores. Really great stuff.
Thank you so much for explaining the varying types of gin and what drinks they usually go into. Please make videos with more gin recipes.
These deep dive histories are awesome!! They’re so detailed damn
Thank you for the history lesson, very interesting! In the past, I only used to drink Tanqueray gin,...but then got turned onto Aviation gin by certain celebrity & enjoyed that. So I started trying other gins & was amazed by all the different varieties! From your suggestions I'm looking forward to trying The Botanist, Plymouth, Terroir & Koval.
Love to see you repping Chicago and the region so much in this video! So many of our local faves
I have only had one barrel aged gin and really liked it. That gin worked great in an Old Fashioned, used angostura orange bitters instead of the original angostura. Great video!
Great info! Thank you for doing the research and sharing
Amazing video man! Completely love your history videos on spirits 🎉
Barrel aged gins are my favorite! I strongly recommend making it to make a mint-julip style coctail, especially with fresh speramint.
Nice vid! Looking forward to the next beginner’s whiskey/tequila guide video. I like the way you gather information and put it together for us to enjoy!
As someone who lives in Plymouth, the gin distillery has such a lovely bar with some class food n cocktails, and you can take the tour and learn it's history! It's very lovely during the summer evenings here
One of your best videos yet, Andres. You are the first person to demystify the world of gin for me. I'm a Botanist man myself, but I do like Plymouth Navy Strength, though I can't get it at my local Binny's anymore. Go figure. Thanks so much!
Appreciate that. I think we've got a similar taste for gin!
As I’m not a big gin fan, the St. George is the only one that I’d drink on its own. It’s truly special.
For cocktails I use either Botanist or Malfy (the citrusy kind). So I guess I’m in the contemporary gin camp. We learned something today.
My personal favourite is one coming from Quebec, Ungava
It has boreal herbs in it and it's fantaaaastic. I make variants of the bee's knees with it, love it a lot
Gin is amazing in its varieties. There is a distillery in Juneau, AK called Amalga that makes gin flavored with spruce tips and it is one the most interesting things I've ever tasted.
Great episode! Always love to learn about spirits and their history
Great video, as ever! Two gins I can highly recommend are Audemus Pink Pepper (French) and Rambla 41 (Spanish). Both excellent and very different but equally versatile.
Love this video. Never was a gin liker at all! Now, with some understanding I’m coming around to it. There are some good ones.
there's a microdistillery local to me that makes really good gin, and i love that they bring out impressions for each season and using botanicals to fit, whilst maintaining the juniper berries
probably a nightmare to get a hold of if you're not in the UK, but i definitely recommend checking out Psychopomp if you ever make a trip here
This was a specially nice one, Anders, thanks!
Thanks for the SOT feature! Great video as always.
Wild local botanical find are my favorite current genre of Gin. Micil Irish Gin is a current favorite, and we have Rowhouse Spirits’ Wendigo Gin (a Philadelphia Gin) on our shelf as well. A past favorite was Tinto from Portugal, which was rested in red wine barrels and included poppies in their botanical blend.
*Wild Harvested featuring local botanicals…
One gin (actually two) I can strongly recommend come from Backwards Distillery in Casper, WY. I love both their gins, one of which is a Navy Strength. They use natural and local ingredients, plus the water comes from a sitting in the region, if I recall correctly. You won’t regret it
So I became a gin fan when I was working in, of all places, Sumatra. I was working with a bunch of ex-pat Brits who would have gin parties. There’d be 30-40 different gins there and we’d sit in the jungle and drink gin, pick guitars and sing terribly out of tune (there wasn’t a whole lot else to do). And it was this epiphany…holy cow, I REALLY like gin! It’s my main go-to for summer cocktails, of which the French gimlet may be my favorite. But gin is SO good on a hot summer night.
Love these deep dives into the breadth and the history of spirits.
If you come to San Francisco, take a hike on Mount Tam and then you’ll understand the nose on the Terroir gin from St. George. It smells of Northern California. It’s my favorite sipping gin.
Really liked this format, the editing, mixed use of typography, imagery and visualisations.
"Gin was Mother's Milk to her".
One of my favorite lines from a play, ever.
Whenever I see a new gin on my local bar's shelf ( Gracias a Dios Agave Gin), one with a different ingredient like kelp (but NOT turpentine.) or even a fun "bottle" ( Engine, out of Italy btw) I will always give it a taste. I have rarely been disappointed. Thanks for all you do.
She bit the bowl off the spoon!
Love a Pygmalion/My Fair Lady reference.
I've been trying different gins for various drinks over the last few years. I prefer the Botanist for gin & tonics because of the botanical flavors and Martin Miller's gin for the Aviation and French 75. I have tried Plymouth and I must admit I was not a fan - it tasted very flat to me even though it is well regarded. One gin that I would recommend is a little difficult to find: Sazerac makes Henry Ramos gin which it seems you can only purchase in Louisiana. We discovered it when visiting New Orleans. It makes an awesome Bee's Knees cocktail. And I haven't even mentioned Hendrick's. Great video, Anders!
Loved this! Need to re-watch, my baby decided she was going to intermittently interrupt. I was super excited about this video, 😢but it took me two weeks to watch the first time. I recently finished the Book of Gin audio book on audible. Even if you've read it, I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator's version, good driving or lunch time listen. Appreciate you sir!
That was exciting journey through centuries! Thank you Anders!
For American style I highly recommend Young & Yonder’s H.O.B.S (Harbor Of Broken Souls) Gin which hands down has the best label artwork in spirits!
Another fascinating episode! It gave me an idea which I’d like to pass onto you. Could you do a Gin and Tonic episode one day where you compare gin and tonics made with tonic water vs a tonic syrup like El Guapo? I think that it would be a fascinating video for gin and tonic lovers. Keep up all of the great work! Cheers!
This might be your best video yet. You legit took us to school on that one. Awesome vid!
I’m a big fan of both you and gin, sir. London Dry is my go to as I prefer a stout juniper flavor with more botanical notes than citrus. I enjoy all of your content and look forward to your videos every week!
Thanks so much! Happy weekend
This was awesome. Gin is the best! This was a great video, very informative. I'm going to seek out the St. George... very intriguing and a nice price point. Thank you and cheers!
Anders, you are always so entertaining and informative! I love gin too!
Well done sir. Really enjoyed that as I am moving towards gin a bit more.
A really excellent coverage of gin. The Botanist is marvelous. Would love to see a discussion or a cocktail featuring aquavit sometime!
That was truly fascinating! Plymouth Gin has long been my favorite but I had no idea that it was its own distinctive category.
Plymouth gin is hands down my favorite gin. It's a little more expensive so I usually opt for lower cost options like Beefeater or Bombay Sapphire. Cheers!
I've been to a number of gin tastings at distilleries and none of them have been nearly as informative and interesting as you are in this video.
They could really learn a thing or 2 about presenting their gins in this way!
This was a terrific episode! Nice job
Absolutely love sloe gins! 100% worth checking out if you haven't
I learned a lot from this one! I prefer a classic London Dry over the New Western gins I've tried, but you've piqued my interest in picking up a Plymouth next time I'm at the package store. Great job, Anders and Az!
Thank You Sir!!! very educational…
YESSSS IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS
I appreciate this channel. Wow, that Prohibition chapter gets dark!!! Great content.
YAAAAAAYYYYYY I love gin thank you so much!!
Love the video. Gin has long been my favorite, and is the spirit I have the most of. I have Bombay, Hendricks, Empress, Roku, and Tanqueray for mixing for others, the Botanist, Monkey 47, Grey Whale, Gin Mare, Volcanic, Dutch Courage for me. I also have a few old toms and barrel aged gins, my favorite of which is Barr Hill Old Tom. There's more I can't remember (my total is around 30) In a cocktail or on the rocks gin is always good.