5 things you didn’t know about gin

Despite the fact that most of the gin comes from London, Gin was created by a Dutch physician. It was called the “Dutch Courage” as it was known to improve the circulation of the body and hence, was given to the Dutch soldiers during the war. It was during this war, the English discovered gin and then brought that idea back home.

Good news to the cocktail lovers! Gin is supposed to be consumed as a part of a concoction. Most of the classic cocktails contain gin. This is because gin can be flavoured with various kinds of herbs and spices, thus enabling it to be used in many different cocktails. It certainly uplifts the entire drink by tying the flavours together..

At least most aren’t. An exception is the Plymouth gin which has always been made in Plymouth, England since the 1790s. There is a Colombo Gin too, named Colombo No.7 Gin. It is worth mentioning that this is made using ingredients grown on Sri Lankan soil; especially the cinnamon which was first obtained from Cinnamon Gardens situated in Colombo 07. It is distilled and packed in England and is available for purchase at Wine World.

While vodka is traditionally pure alcohol mixed with water and thus being quite tasteless, traditional gin is the distilled alcohol but infused with many botanicals to obtain that unique gin flavour.

Since gin is flavoured vodka, you could use a good quality vodka that can be infused with juniper berries, cinnamon and other herbs. There are many recipes and methods online. Some even have a ready-made gin making kit as well. Just ensure you don’t make it in the bathtub!

Do not try this at home or ever! Since gin was very easy to make, there were many who were making it in bathtubs and selling them illegally! All that was required was a very cheap grain alcohol and juniper berry juice. This was left to ferment and then distilled from the tub. Of course, this wasn’t hygienic and drinking this lead to many diseases and even fatalities!