This article is in Chemistry in Australia magazine: Issue September 2023
Author: Graham P. Jones and Michael R. Hickinbotham
Image: Daria Ustiugova/iStockphoto
From medicinal uses to a craft explosion, gin’s history – and its list of ingredients – is long and varied.
‘A gin and tonic, please.’ The bartender looks around at approximately 150 gins in the bar: ‘Which one? And which tonic would you like, from our choice of around 12?’
This is a huge shift from 20 years ago, when Australian bars would perhaps have three or four gins and one or two tonic waters. The changes in Australia, and in North America and the UK, are a result of the changes in regulations that have allowed small craft distilleries to flourish – but more about these later.
So, what is gin?
In its simplest form, gin is a mixture of flavoursome botanicals, water and pure alcohol (ethanol) distilled to produce a distillate, which is then diluted with water to produce a ‘distilled’ gin, or simply a mixture of botanicals steeped in a mixture of pure alcohol and water, filtered and then diluted with water to bottle strength (about 40% alcohol by volume (ABV)) – so-called ‘bathtub’ gin. The botanicals, by law in Europe and in the US, must include juniper berries (Juniperus communis) and the gin must derive its main characteristic flavour from juniper berries and be bottled at not less than 40% ABV (80° proof) in the US, 37.5% ABV in Europe. Gin may be aged in oak containers. In Australia, there are no official regulations other than to be called a spirit it must have a minimum of 37% ABV.
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