Gin

Gin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Distilled gin is made by redistilling white grain spirit which has been flavoured with juniper berries. Compound gin is made by flavouring neutral grain spirit with juniper berries without redistilling and can be considered a flavoured vodka.

The most common style of gin, typically used for mixed drinks, is London dry gin. London dry gin is made by taking a neutral grain spirit (usually produced in a column still) and redistilling after the botanicals are added. In addition to juniper, it is usually made with amounts of citrus botanicals like lemon and bitter orange peel. Other botanicals that may be used include anise, angelica root and seed, orris root, licorice root, cinnamon, cubeb, savory, lime peel, grapefruit peel, dragon eye, saffron, baobab, frankincense, coriander, nutmeg and cassia bark.

Plymouth Gin, the brand, like all gins claims to use a unique recipe - but "Plymouth" is a place designated type of gin, not just the actual brand name itself, and typically uses a subset of the botanicals above, similar to London dry gin. It has lemon and orange, angelica, anise, cardamom, coriander and Juniper.

Distilled gin evolved from the Dutch spirits jonge- and oude- Jenever or Genever (young and old Dutch gin), Plymouth gin, and Old Tom gin. Sloe gin is a common ready-sweetened form of gin that is traditionally made by infusing sloes (the fruit of the blackthorn) in gin. Similar infusions are possible with other fruits, such as damsons (See Damson gin).

There is now a legal definition under EU rules of what constitutes a London Dry Gin, and a London Gin. Essentially London Dry Gin must be an entirely distilled product, with the exception of a very small amount of permitted sugar, though this is not always present. A London Gin has non distilled additives (ex-sugar) in it, such as colouring like saffron and geranium blue, which do not distil.

A well-made gin will be relatively dry compared to other spirits. Gin is often mixed in cocktails with sweeter ingredients like tonic water or vermouth to balance this dryness.