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"The Infamous Liquor, the name of tvhich deriv'd from
Juniper-Berries in Dutch, is now, by frequent use from a word
of midling length shrun\ into a Monosyllable, Intoxicating Gin."
Gin Drinks
Of all popular alcoholics, gin probably leads in favor,
especially in tropic and sub-tropic countries. To go high
bat Avitb the language, gin is an aromatized potable with
a characteristic flavor derived from the juniper berry.
The word "gin" is merely a shortening of the liquor's
original name, geneva, taken from an old Dutch word,
genever, a name for the juniper berry.
In old writings (such as one of 1706: "Geneva, a kinde
of Strong Water, so called") are found many references
to this liquor. Its shortened form Gin, formerly denoted
a double distilled spirit of British manufacture, imitation
of the original liquor, marketed by theDutch as Hollands
geneve, later known as Hollands, but today called Hol
land Gin.
That the British form of geneve was for many years
even as now a popular drink, is amply proved by litera
ture of the past. For example, in 1709 "The Gypsie
With Flip and Geneve got most Damnably Typsie," and
in 1728, Dean Swift, driving home a simile, wrote: "Their
chatt'ring makes a louder din than fishwives o'er a cup
of jin."
Our so-called dry gin, usually coupled with the infor
mation on the bottle that it is "London Dry Gin," as
popular in this country and the British possessions, as it
is in the Merry Old Isle. First made in England by a
redistillation process repeated frequently before bottling,
it is quite different from the old Holland gins which
verge on the sweet side.
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