My palate is easy to please with most spirits. I’ll enjoy almost any whiskey, vodka or tequila you pour me. But when it comes to gin, I am as discerning as Federer tweaking his racket strings before the Wimbledon finals. Gin is the wild card of spirits: The best pours are perfumed ambrosia, the foundation of unforgettable cocktails; lesser gins are often unforgettable, too, but for all the wrong reasons.
Gin-making, like chess, is easy to learn but painstakingly difficult to master. At its core, gin is a neutral spirit — usually rye, barley or wheat distillate — infused with botanicals. Gin’s hallmark flavor comes from juniper berries, but distillers tinker with an apothecary’s chest of tree barks, roots, flowers and herbs in their closely guarded recipes. Perfecting flavor profiles takes years of trial and error. “Excellent gin requires extreme precision,” says Jason Hedges, the beverage director of Manhattan’s Back Bar. “Even if the ingredients and distilling equipment are first-in-class, you can’t make great gin unless you nail the ratios of botanical oils. It’s both science and art.”
The surging popularity of pre-Prohibition cocktails has spurred a renaissance in fine gins. “Renewed interest in classic cocktails and a greater willingness to experiment behind the bar has introduced a slew of new gins — many of which are fantastic,” says Laila Bazahm, the chef-owner of El Raval, a renowned cocktail-centric restaurant in Austin, Texas. Mixologists view gin the way chefs view pork — the most interesting and versatile ingredient in their repertoire. “Gin’s range of flavors is dazzling,” says Nadine Pizzuto, the director of service at Riverpark, a fine-dining mainstay in New York City. “One brand might be herbaceous, another floral, and yet another citrusy.”
Whether you seek a balmy refreshment to sip on a summer evening or a bold base for creative cocktails, there’s a perfect gin out there. Below, we’ve ginned up a primer on the spirit and a round-up of the best gins out there.
Gin’s origins
Gin’s origins lie in the 16th-century Netherlands, where distillers infused clear spirits with juniper to create a purportedly medicinal decoction known as genever. Juniper had long been prized for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties, and the Dutch viewed genever the way French monks did Chartreuse — good for what ails you. The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) introduced the spirit to British soldiers, and genever, anglicized as gin, quickly became a craze in England. Over the centuries, gin has evolved into five distinct categories.
Types of gin
London Dry gin
London Dry gins, despite the name, need not come from England’s capital. As long as distillers follow strict guidelines set forth by the European Union, gins from Brooklyn and Boston to Bombay and Budapest qualify as London Dry. All London Drys are double-distilled, with botanicals added before the second distillation. Sweeteners and post-distillation additives are verboten. Juniper dominates the flavor profile, and ingredients like citrus peel, coriander seed and angelica root — a type of wild celery — are also common.
Plymouth gin
Under the European Union’s Designation of Origin laws, Plymouth Gin, like Parmesan cheese or Champagne, must be made in a specific region — namely, Plymouth, England. Plymouth gins are sweeter and earthier than their London Dry counterparts, with juniper flavors present but less pronounced. The recipes for Plymouth Gins are jealously guarded, but cardamom and orris root are sidekicks to juniper.
Old Tom gin
Old Tom gin originated in 18th-century England, and the colorful name refers to wooden feline carvings (old tom cats) once popular as decoration in British pubs. Old Tom gins bridge Dutch genever and London Dry styles, drier than the former but sweeter than the latter. They are less juniper-forward than London Drys, and distillers add sweeteners like cane sugar and honey after distillation. The sweet flavors make an excellent base for classic cocktails like the Martinez or Tom Collins.
Genever gin
Genever, the O.G. of all gins, still survives in Holland. The base distillate is usually a mix of rye, barley and corn, with the latter grain lending a rich creaminess to the spirit. As in the olden days when distillers touted genever as a nostrum, juniper is the star; however, hard spices and even hops deepen genever’s flavor profile. Genever’s silky viscosity and slight sweetness make it a great substitute for bourbon. Swap bourbon for gin in a genever julep, a riff on the Kentucky classic, or a genever Old Fashioned.
International Style gin
This category is where gin gets as experimental as avant-garde jazz. International style, also called New Western style, derives from the London Dry style, but distillers experiment with unorthodox ingredients with all the gusto of mad scientists. Juniper is typically present in International-style recipes, but the piney berries are not necessarily the driving flavor. In the free-wheeling international waters, you’ll find gins with tropical berries, astringent tree barks, pungent seeds and exotic flowers. International Style gins are strong contenders for the most interesting flavors of any spirits.
Best gins
Revivalist Garden Gin, distilled in Pennsylvania’s lush countryside, employs a mix of exotic botanicals and herbs harvested from the distillery’s garden. Scintillating with gardenia, spearmint and licorice notes, Revivalist Garden Gin is an entry-level gin par excellence. The well-balanced and soft flavors make a terrific base for simple cocktails like martinis or gin and tonics. As the name suggests, this fragrant beauty pairs well with warm afternoons on a comfy chair by the garden.
Perhaps it’s the benign influence of High West Distillery, but Park City, Utah, has blossomed into a hotbed of craft spirits. Alpine Distilling scours the globe for the choicest botanicals — juniper from Croatia, coriander from Egypt, ginger from Guatemala — and culls water from the cold, crystalline springs of the Rocky Mountains. Sweet citrus notes like orange blossom and candied lemon shine in the initial sips, yielding to chai spices like cardamom and white pepper. The delicate citrus and floral notes are worth appreciating neat, and Alpine Distilling gin is delicious in gin-based caipirinhas, that citrusy cooler emblematic of Brazil’s paradisiacal beaches.
Austin breeds innovation like West Texas breeds all-American football stars, and the creative elan of Texas’ capital ripples through its thriving craft spirit scene. Still Austin distills The Naturalist, their flagship gin, in bespoke small-batch stills, extracting every molecule of aromatic terpenes from their botanicals. The nose brings to mind St. Germain, and like the French aperitif, elderflower is a key ingredient. Two types of cinnamon enliven the gin with a pleasant heat reminiscent of Hot Tamales candy. Try The Naturalist in tiki drinks — the spicy kick melds delightfully with the sweet tang of tropical fruit.
Silent Pool, crafted in the verdant dales of Surrey Hills, England, is like a summer breeze through an orchard captured in glass. The gin cleaves to the London Dry style, with well-articulated juniper notes, but peach, apricot and lemon notes complement the piney zip. Whispers of gardenia, honeysuckle and jasmine tantalize the palate after the initial rush of pine and citrus. Try this clean, refreshing elixir in a gin gimlet.
From fashion and supercars to the culinary arts and cinema, obsessive attention to detail is the touchstone of Japanese craftsmanship. Japanese spirits are no exception to this ideal of perfection, and Roku gin is near flawless. Suntory employs first-in-class stills to produce masterful distillate and harvests botanicals — a medley of quintessential Japanese flavors like sencha tea, yuzu and sakura flowers — at the peak of ripeness to ensure exquisite fragrance. Riff on a whiskey highball, that Tokyo cocktail lounge mainstay, with a Roku gin highball. The simple cocktail calls only for gin, tonic water, ice and a citrus slice for garnish (you can call it a gin and tonic if you must).
As much as I enjoy savoring gin neat, its olfactory fireworks burst most brilliantly in cocktails. Simon Ford, the founder of Fords Gin, set out to distill the perfect cocktail gin; after tinkering with nearly 100 recipes, Ford realized his lofty goal with his namesake cocktail gin. Made with a secret recipe of nine botanicals, Fords Gin might well approach the mystical archetype of the London Dry style. Mix it into martinis, Negronis or Bee's Knees, and toast the Herculean work ethic of one of England’s most acclaimed spirits-makers.
When the summer sun blazes, is there anything more revivifying than citrus and cucumber? Crafted near the misty Pacific shores of British Columbia, Empress 1908 Cucumber Lemon is as cooling as a sea breeze on the promenade of Victoria Island. The botanicals bring to mind British high tea, with cucumber, lemon in black tea and hints of jasmine flower. Try it in a royal tea cocktail, a quintessentially British tipple of Earl Grey tea, lemon, sugar and gin.
If there’s one grand takeaway from Plato’s “Symposium,” it’s that the Greeks cherish fine libations second only to Truth and Beauty. Stray Dog, flavored with bold botanicals from the Greek isles, is the most provocative pour on our list. The gin features mastika resin, a piquant tree sap from an evergreen tree native to the Cycladic islands. Mastika has been prized since ancient times for its health benefits, and the resin enlivens Stray Dog with strident pine notes — pinene darts even sharper than juniper. Hints of herbs de Provence like rosemary and sage shine through in later sips.
If you’re going to sip London Dry, you might as well sip the same recipe as Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle (that’s Downton Abbey to the rest of us, thank you very much). Yup, this citrus and cardamom scented gin uses the same lavender planted on the estate back in the 9th century, and offers a classic juniper-forward spirit that can easily be sipped straight on the rocks, as well as mixed in a cocktail. Other botanicals include lime flower and orange zest, giving it a soft finish after a bold first taste that would taste just as good upstairs as it would downstairs.