Gin has a long history and folklore associated with it. For a full background, please check put the books Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason, by Jessica Warner and/or ” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Gin: The Much Lamented Death of Madam Genever by Patrick Dillon. Another contemporary work is Classic Gin by Geraldine Coates, which is a trifle out-of-date (many new brands are not in this book), but is good for a beginner. (See boozebooks.com  or check Spiritsreview.com/books  for more information)

There has been a huge flood of gin to the market in recent years. This is due to a number of factors, some of which I will enumerate here. First and foremost, it is relatively cheap and fast to make – cost and production time is minimal – it costs far less than whiskey to produce ( which involves both barrels and aging for years potentially – a significant cost) and less distillation time than vodka.

Gin is also an easier product to sell than just vodka because it can be made more interesting and nuanced than a lot of vodka – most of which is fairly flavorless and is extremely price sensitive i.e. a race to the bottom on price ( and profit margin) which plagues the vodka trade and makes it a harder sell than gin.

Gin comes in several different styles and types but the major ones are these:

· Genever: This is the original style of gin (gin is a corruption of Genever or Jenever). Dutch in origin, it may or may not  be flavored and or aged. Jonge (Young) Genever is either not aged or aged less than 6 months; Oude (Old) Genever is usually aged more than 2 years; Zeer Oude (Very Old) is even older. Look for an age statement on the bottle. (I discovered I have a 20 year-old bottle!) Genever gin is usually aged in cellars in reused casks (some I saw were over 100 years old), so they age MUCH slower than, say, bourbon). That being said, they can be quite subtle and wonderful. An excellent website with much more information is : http://www.belgiangenever.com/Home_Page.html
· London Dry Style: The most common type of gin found in the rest of the world. Usually flavored with juniper and anywhere from 6 to 20 more ingredients depending on who makes it (most recipes, especially proportions, are trade secrets). Most are not aged, the exceptions being Seagram’s (2 months) and a really interesting one called Kensington which is aged in bourbon barrels (see Reviews | Gin | Kensington).

· Old Tom: An almost extinct form of gin. It is a London dry type to which was added glycerin and sugar to sweeten it. A modern day analog is Seagram’s Gin Liquor. Very popular in London in gin’s heyday (1700s), as all the flavorings covered the fact that the alcohol base was usually rotgut (much like a number of flavored vodkas these days).It is making more of a comeback, one of the larger brands is Haymans Old Tom Gin (imported by Haus Alpenz) and there are several made by various craft distillers.

· Plymouth Gin: Another variation closer to London dry than Genever but subtlety different. The only surviving example is the brand actually called Plymouth Gin, which comes in two strengths.
Plymouth Gin is also considered by many to be the original Martini gin.

· American Style,  American Dry Style, New World Gin : Somewhat ill-defined till now, but  rapidly emerging category of gin. This is a different style of gin from the much more common London Dry style or classification which differs in the use of botanicals and is less plump or a bit more spare than most London Dry gins.

In most brands, this means less Juniper and more of another botanical, and/or citrus .This does not mean to convey less taste or a lighter version of London (like Bafferts Gin “The Vodka Drinkers Gin”) or the plague of light whiskies in the 1970’s. It is a distinct emerging style of gin that is very refreshing both in taste and a willingness to break traditions for the sake of taste. It is mirrored by the microbrew industry of beer- more quality, diversity and risk to develop new, bold and quality products to confront the ocean of mediocrity and soulless generic gin and all the London Drys that try to mimic the leading premiums out there.

This style has also seen a surge in the aging this style leading to something with more Genever style characteristics (think Irish Whiskey with herbs and other botanicals)

Many producers are using bourbon barrels which have much more char, are more reactive and fresher than their Genever counterparts so aging while shorter, can yield much more pronounced results.