Psychic Blog

Gin has seen something of a revival this year with many new brands and twists on flavours appearing. So, are they worth trying this Christmas?

Interesting Facts

The word Gin takes its name from a Dutch word ‘genever’ meaning juniper.

Gin must include juniper in order to be called Gin.

There are as many as 67 species of juniper.

Juniper is an evergreen conifer, that varies in shape and size depending on its location.

The smooth pine cones (berries) take 18 months to grow and they will change colour from green to a dark blue/purple.

Romans and Egyptians believed that juniper had medicinal properties.

The Taste

How would you describe the taste of Gin to someone who had never had it? Resiny, bitter-sweet, green, pine-like, citrusy possibly…

The newer makers of gin are partnering the original taste with new botanicals, like citrus peel, angelica root, liquorice, cardamom, coriander, orris root, cassia and more.

Largely speaking Gin now falls into one of four categories: Classic, Floral, Herbal or Citrus.

A classic Gin mixed with a tonic would be the closest thing to a G&T that our Victorian ancestors might have had.

If you find a classic gin to just be a bit too zingy, then floral might suit, the drink is infused with more subtle flavours, mixing them with a newer type of tonic that enhance the sweetness is the way to go.

Herbal is probably the newest type of Gin, distilleries are using herbs like thyme, wild mint, basil etc to provide a complex and fragrant drink, they are best mixed with a very subtle tonic to not ruin the flavour and be poured into a wide glass to truly experience the aromatics.

Citrus as it sounds is Gin with added flavour from orange peel, lemon peel or even grapefruit peel. They produce a refreshing zesty and punchy drink, that can even be paired with ginger beer for a new take on G&T.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/