As World Gin Day looms, we ask: Is the gin craze 2.0 finally over?
World Gin Day is a relatively new phenomenon. Founded in 2009 by London-based gin enthusiast and educator Emma Stokes – the author of The Periodic Table of Cocktails, also known as Gin Monkey – it is intended as “a global celebration of all things gin”.
The gin boom of recent years means that consumers are spoilt for choice when it comes to juniper-flavoured spirits, but it is interesting to consider how we got here.
Gin production probably began in the 11th century, with Benedictine monks flavouring aqua vita with juniper berries – which aren’t in fact berries, but female pine cones – that were readily available to them in southern Italy. This was primarily intended for medicinal purposes, but it clearly had broader appeal, and by the 13th century it was being produced commercially as far afield as Belgium and the Netherlands.
It has been suggested that English drinkers were first introduced to the spirit in the 16th century, when soldiers were posted to Antwerp during the Eighty Years War, to support their fellow Protestants against the Spanish. They would drink gin to calm their nerves before battle, providing a possible origin for the phrase “Dutch courage”.
The English love affair with gin didn’t really take off until a century later, however, when William of Orange assumed the throne. Grain-based gin offered an alternative to the brandy that was imported from France, during a period when political and religious conflict made the trade highly contentious. From 1689, the Government enacted legislation to restrict brandy imports and encourage the domestic production of gin. The country was soon awash with the stuff, and by 1721 Middlesex magistrates were already complaining that it was “the principal cause of all the vice & debauchery committed among the inferior sort of people”. In 1743, England’s per capita annual consumption of gin was 10 litres.
The excesses of England’s “Gin Craze” were memorably captured by campaigning artists of the period, like the writers Daniel Defoe and Henry Fielding, and the engraver William Hogarth, whose 1751 work Gin Lane remains the definitive depiction of the era. Serious concern about the harms of overconsumption led to the introduction of the Gin Act that same year, which – alongside the rising cost of grain – led to more moderate drinking. Depressed wages, increased food costs, and a ban on the use of domestic grain for gin production meant that the market did not really recover until the emergence of gin palaces during the reign of Queen Victoria.
Important developments that restored gin to prominence during the 19th century include the invention of column distillation, which allowed for the cheap mass production of neutral-flavour spirits; the widespread consumption throughout the British colonies of gin and tonic, which contained the anti-malarial quinine; and the emergence of modern cocktails, in which gin became a common base spirit.
Gin remained popular throughout the 20th century, but in the last decade it has seen another period of expansion, driven by artisan producers and more educated consumers.
One of the features of this new boom has been a proliferation of increasingly inventive flavours, which have blurred the lines not only between gins and gin-based liqueurs, but between gins and other categories of drinks entirely. This has also resulted in a push-back from some purists, who want a more traditional, straightforwardly juniper-flavoured spirit.
The last couple of years have actually seen a decline in gin sales in the UK. The £800m decrease between 2019 and 2020 can be partly explained by Covid lockdowns, but despite a recovery in 2021, sales were still only 61.5 per cent of the total value in the last full year before the pandemic, and the category is performing poorly relative to vodka. Sales of flavoured gins held up better than traditional “unflavoured” gins, falling 26.6 per cent in two years and 46.6 percent respectively.
Nevertheless, there are great options out there for fans of gins that taste like gin, and here are some that you might want to explore when you’re selecting a bottle to celebrate World Gin Day.
Four top international bottles to break out for World Gin Day on saturday
135° East Hyogo Dry Gin
This gin is made at the Kaikyo Distillery in Akashi City, Japan, which is situated on the 135th meridian east of Greenwich. Like some other Japanese gins, it’s made with a mix of traditional London dry gin and Japanese botanicals, but it is distinguished by the use of vacuum distillation, where lower temperatures preserve some of the more delicate flavours, and by the use of a sake-based spirit. Inspired by the early 20th century liberal experiments of the Taishō Democracy, this gin celebrates the centenary of the Yonezawa family producing spirits. Slightly sweet, with bitter yuzu, tannic sencha, and prickling sansho, 135° East is a fabulous fusion of flavours, perfect for World Gin Day. 700ml (42% ABV) RRP £32.00, buy from: waitrose.com
Pickering’s Gin
Founded in 2013, on the site of the kennels at Edinburgh’s old Royal Dick Veterinary School, Summerhall Distillery produces a range of gins, including a Bombay (made to a recipe from 1947) and a Navy Strength , which clocks in at an impressive 57.1% ABV and is the official gin of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Its core gin follows the recipe of the Bombay, but omits the cinnamon for a classic juniper-forward flavour, with citrus from lemon and lime, licorice notes from fennel and anise, and a hint of cloves. “Gin Jolly” distillery tours are available. 700ml (42% ABV) RRP £32.95, buy from: pickeringsgin.com
Quarter Light G/n
Given the success of low and no alcohol drinks it is surprising it has taken this long for someone to come up with the idea of wine-strength spirits. Launched last August by London-based Soho Works members Fabian Clark and Rohan Radhakrishnan, and made by ex-Diageo distiller Anthony Wilson, this crushable, quarter-strength, full-flavour gin balances juniper, coriander and angelica with sweet orange and citrus peel. Its ethos of “We’re here for a good time, and a long time”, extends not just to relaxed all-day drinking, but to the environment, with 1 per cent of annual sales going to charities that tackle climate change. 700ml (12% ABV) RRP £27.00, buy from: quarterproof.com
Tide’s Fortune Essex Dry Gin
The East Coast Distillery opened during lockdown, in a former milking parlour near the Walton Backwaters. It produces gins flavoured with an inventive blend of traditional and locally foraged botanicals. Its signature Essex Dry Gin includes standard botanicals alongside freshly gathered sea buckthorn berries, and sea purslane, resulting in a juniper-forward gin that is tart and herbaceous, with lemon, aniseed, and a hint of salinity. The distillery is open to visitors making it a fantastic spot to visit on a weekend trip to the north Essex coast – peraps on World Gin Day. 700ml (40% ABV) RRP £39.00, buy from: eastcoastdistillery.co.uk