1955 The U K B G Guide to Drinks (2nd edition revised)

GIN

"Gin"is normally made from a spirit distilled from grain—usually maize. The distillation is carefully effected in a patent still (Coffey's apparatus), so as to eliminate the fusel oil and other impurities, and the spirit thus obtained (ethyl alcohol) is then rectified or re-distilled in a special still to make sure of removing even the faintest traces of any impurities that may remain from the first distillation, and to soften the spirit so that it reaches the vats perfectly pure and mellow. The rectified spirit comes over from the still at high alcoholic strength which is much too strong to be drunk,and requires to be reduced with distilled water to the usual selling strength and awaits the addition of the distillate from the flavourings of berries and aromatic roots, etc. The principal of these is the Juniper berry. These little berries although grown in England and Ireland, are mostly imported from the Continent. Dark blue in colour, they contain an oil which imparts its flavour to the gin and gives it that medicinal property which has made it so popular. The corriander is another seed used as flavour and is next in importance as an ingredient. The properties of this seed are also medicinal. Several other ingredients are used by the various distillers to produce the distinctive flavour of their gin. Every gin distiller has his own recipe, which in some cases has not altered since the firm first made gin. The flavourings are steeped in a certain quantity of the rectified spirit then distilled, and the spirit, known to the distiller as' flavour ', which flowsfrom the still, contains that blend of flavours which, when added to the vat of the rectified spirit, then produces London Dry Gin. Some distillers do not make their' flavour' as a separate distillation, but distil the various flavourings with sufficient spirit in one operation so that the resulting distillate makes the completed gin. Other distillers place the flavourings in a cage, inserted in the neck of the still, through which the spirit vapour passes, becoming im- 237