Innehållsförteckning för Gin V1 från Gin Magazine

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Is gin dead? The cynical answer is ‘yes’, but I would argue it’s more complicated than that. As we move through 2023, gin as we know it will not be the same. As a gin producer for the last six years, I sometimes find it hard to hear how our category is currently looked at. I get journalists, bartenders, and buyers saying that no one wants gin anymore, and that people are on to the next spirit. Is this true? Does no one want gin? As consumers, we are led by trends. But trends develop or change, and none can last forever (see my Spice Girls moon boots for their opinion). No trend has been able to grow year on year without evolving. So yes, gin as we know it…

In popular culture, the portrayal of family business often goes hand in hand with family drama. Hit American series Succession shows the struggles – both corporate and emotional – of the Roy family over the future of their media empire in the face of patriarch Logan’s ill health. Arrested Development stars Jason Bateman as the reluctant head of the Bluth family, attempting to keep the family business afloat (and his relatives at peace) after his father is sent to prison for fraud. In classic British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, brothers and business partners Derek and Rodney Trotter spend most of their working hours at loggerheads. The Haymans aren’t like that, and nor is their business. For 160 years, the London-based family has quietly been making gin with minimal fuss…

It was once the case that the flavour profile of a gin was mostly determined by its botanical mix. Traditionally, gins made in the UK are made with neutral grain spirit, often produced from wheat. This serves as a blank canvas for botanical artistry: the splatters of colours, the heady sienna tones of spice, the vivacious crimson tones of berry, and the heady purple juniper hues. But ideas are evolving. Vodka is expanding from the long-held standard of neutrality, to include vodkas showing great character from the base material. Gin has likewise evolved to include all manner of base ingredients, with these bringing an extra dimension to character, be it flavour or texture. English distiller William Chase’s potato-based gin is an example of earlier creative thinkers using different base materials…

INDUCTEE NO. 14 Jonathan Adnams, Copper House Distillery Jonathan joined brewing company Adnams, based in Suffolk, England, in 1975 as an apprentice brewery engineer and has since worked in all areas of the company. He joined the board of directors in 1988, running Adnams’ pubs and property, before assuming the role of managing director in 1997. In August 2006, Jonathan took over the role of company chairman, the position that he still holds today. Jonathan has been instrumental in propelling Adnams forward in terms of innovation and sustainability, leading the project teams responsible for the redevelopment and modernisation of the Sole Bay Brewery. He was the inspiration and driving force behind the concept and building of the Copper House Distillery in 2009, which took Adnams into the world of distilling and has…

I have a load of bottles that have an inch or two of gin left in the bottom. Can I mix them together? NITA, WATTON You can definitely combine gins to create an ‘infinity bottle’ or ‘house blend’. This has been popular within the whisky community for many years (Mrs Smith even keeps her Scotch blend in a small cask) and it has gradually been adopted by those gin folk ‘in the know’. I’d start with dry gins, only as they are easier to blend than sweetened, infused, or fruit gins. By sticking to dry gins, you can follow a pretty simple rule: if you wouldn’t drink it neat, don’t put it in the blend. You might also want to watch out for certain overpowering flavours such as lavender, cardamom,…

In August 2020, Canadian-American actor and film director Ryan Reynolds announced the sale of Aviation American Gin, the brand of which he was a co-owner. Launched in Oregon in 2006 by craft distilling outfit House Spirits, Aviation had already played a significant part in boosting the popularity of craft gin in the US before Deadpool star Reynolds acquired a major stake in the brand in early 2018. Reynolds’ support led to a meteoric surge in sales, and it wasn’t long before drinks conglomerate Diageo came knocking with a buy-out offer. Diageo eventually bought Aviation Gin, along with a few other drinks owned by its parent company Davos Brands, for a reported US$610 million. Reynolds reportedly retained an ‘ownership stake’ in the brand and has continued to act as an ambassador,…

Gin was not the predominant alcoholic beverage in history of the Robicquet family. For Jean-Sébastien Robicquet, Cognac had been the most important in his life from a young age, coming from a family that had been heavily involved in the industry for hundreds of years. His professional introduction to the world of spirits came at Hennessy, one of the global leaders in Cognac, helping the brand’s growth in the Singapore market. Robicquet founded spirits producer Maison Villevert in 2001, named after the 16th-century manor house in the Charente region in south-west France where it is based. At the request of Diageo, the first venture for the company was to produce a French grape-based vodka, Cîroc. Since then, Maison Villevert has produced and packaged not only Cognac and vodka, but also…

It goes without saying that London is a gin lovers’ paradise. Although England didn’t invent gin – the common understanding is that it morphed from genevers produced in the Netherlands and Belgium – Londoners have had a taste for it since the English ‘Gin Craze’ in the early 1700s, and the city gave its name to a gin style now regarded as a global standard: London dry. Whether in classic cocktail havens such as Satan’s Whiskers, Martini destinations such as the Connaught Bar, or elegant yet intimate spots such as Bar Termini, a great gin cocktail lies around most corners in London. 8 at The Londoner 38 Leicester Square, London WC2H 7DX thelondoner.com You could say 8 at The Londoner, on the eighth floor of The Londoner hotel, is all…

Once the preserve of a few eco-conscious trailblazers, sustainability is now driving the entire drinks industry narrative. From the effect of recent global events on supply chains and market prices, to increasingly stringent legislation and the growing discernment of consumers, sustainability in all its guises – economic, environmental, and social – is now a commercial imperative and one that is too deeply embedded to be sidelined. New producers might have the advantage of being able to invest in environmentally friendly equipment from the get-go, but expectations are soaring and sustainability statements have to stand up to increasingly intense scrutiny. Existing brands, meanwhile, are wasting no time in tweaking their operations to align with current best practice. But it is those at the vanguard who are pushing the sustainability agenda through…

Hotel Bar of the Year EAGLE HOUSE HOTEL, BAR AND DISTILLERY Over the past five years, the Eagle House Hotel, Bar and Distillery has become a well-regarded part of the hospitality scene in Cornwall, England. Located in a historic building near Launceston Castle, the 14-bedroom hotel offers fine dining championing local ingredients, while its light and airy bar, located in the renovated atrium, is stocked with more than 50 gins and boasts panoramic views over the surrounding countryside. The hotel’s own Eagle One gins are produced on-site on a bespoke 230-litre still, offering a special treat for gin-loving visitors, and the team hero their gin range – including seasonal ‘spring’, ‘summer’, and ‘winter’ editions – in the selection of drinks offered at the bar. As well as being a destination…

If you had been reading the news in the first two weeks of 2023, you’d be forgiven for thinking that gin was at the start of an unstoppable downward spiral, with distilleries closing and various commentators – full of hyperbole – keen to add a few more nails to the coffin. Apparently, things looked bleak. Or did they? Taken in context, things have probably never been so good for gin; it has never been so established or widely loved. The fact that there are no longer reports of “gin being the next big thing” is, in some ways, positive: it means that gin is the big thing NOW. During the last 12 years, I’ve spent a solid proportion of my time writing about spirits and I’ve repeatedly heard (and thought…

There is no shortage of distilled booze in South America. Both grape-based, Chile and Peru have pisco while Bolivia is big on singani. Sugarcane spirits are popular across the entire continent, particularly in Brazil. Despite it being mostly drunk domestically, Brazilian cachaça’s gargantuan volumes make it one of the world’s most consumed spirits. Gin, on the other hand, has no history in South America. “In 2015 it was impossible to drink a Gin and Tonic in a Brazilian bar, or even to buy a bottle in a supermarket throughout all of Brazil except for Sao Paulo, Rio, Salvador, and a few other big cities,” says Laerte de Araujo Lima, a leading Brazilian gin social media communicator and podcaster who goes by the moniker Gin Tonic Brasil. Since then, things have…

Bob Nolet’s early youth in the 1970s was filled with aromatic botanicals, malt wine, and distilled spirits. He and his older brother Carl used to play between pallets, roving Nolet Distillery in the small Dutch city of Schiedam, while their father Carolus worked around the clock upstairs. He was tasked with developing new recipes and products to save the family business that had been around since 1691. “My father never burdened us with his worries, but there’s was no escaping he worked tirelessly,” says Bob. The Dutch spirits landscape at that time was awash with cheaply made lower-quality products. Everybody produced everything, from liqueurs to brandy and from bitters to genever. Brands were even selling below cost price to compete, sometimes without any plan of action – it was all…

Protests in the streets. Road blocks. Savers holding up banks to demand access to their own deposits. Over the past few years, Lebanon has been experiencing increasing civil unrest as a result of a paralysed financial system – a prolonged economic depression that the World Bank has deemed one of the worst globally since the mid-19th century. While it only became fully apparent in 2019, Lebanon’s current economic instability traces its roots back to the late 1990s, in the aftermaths of the country’s 15-year-long civil war. In 2020, Lebanon’s financial emergency was further exacerbated by the Covid-19 outbreak and, shortly after, by a devastating explosion at the Port of Beirut. Besides the terrible human cost, the latter tragedy reportedly caused more than US$15 billion in damage to property and infrastructure.…

This year’s Gin Magazine Awards were presented in February at a glittering gala dinner at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel in central London. It was the first time the awards had been held in person since 2020, with the 2021 and 2022 awards results announced virtually. It was a fitting return for the global ceremony, with guests from more than 25 countries in attendance to share an evening of fine dining, musical entertainment, and, of course, gin. Although there is now some distance between us and the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the intervening years have been far from easy for gin producers. And for some, residual troubles from this period have been compounded by supply chain challenges and the escalating price of raw materials, energy, and transportation linked to…

WORLD’S BEST LONDON DRY Best New Zealand Roots Marlborough Dry Gin 45% Good classic gin aroma with fresh pine notes. Punchy, pronounced, and spicy. A well-integrated palate with lots of powerful citrus fruit and herbs, spice notes of cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and a big dollop of juniper. Spicy white pepper in the finish. Delicious and very well made. COUNTRY WINNERS Argentina Destileria Thevenon La Francesa Gin 40% Australia HM Gin Rare Dry 43% Austria Wharfedale Gardens London Dry Gin 46% Belgium Dada Chapel Distillery Organic Dry Gin 47.4% Brazil BEG Gin 44% Canada The Gnu Normal London Dry Gin 40% Chile Gin Provincia Patagonia 43% Colombia  Selva London Dry Gin 40% Croatia Aura Gin Karbun 39.2% Cyprus  Aoratos Dry Gin 43% Denmark  Mad Owl London Dry Gin 46% England…

Bethany Whymark After studying English literature at university, Bethany spent five years working as a journalist for regional newspaper groups in the east of England before moving into the spirits industry. She now edits Gin Magazine, trade website TheDrinksReport.com and Rum Magazine. David T. Smith David T. Smith is an independent spirits writer and consultant who specialises in gin. He is a chair judge for a number of spirits competitions and has written widely on the subject, incuding The Craft of Gin, Forgotten Spirits and Long Lost Liqueurs and Gin Tonica. He was winner of the 2016 Gin Communicator of the Year award. THE PROCESS • All samples are blind tasted, with ABV and style the only information disclosed.• Samples are tasted individually over a two-week period.• Tasters are provided…