Gin  

Gin is made from a distillate of a fermented grain batter to which juniper berries or blackthorn berries (Blackthorn gin) are added during the distillation process. The predominant taste of juniper berries is legally determined. In addition, spices such as coriander seeds, angelica root, dried lemon, lime or orange peel and iris root are used as an addition. The diversity of herbs and spices is increasing.

The EU has set 37.5% as the minimum alcohol percentage, in the United States it is 40%.

The more alcohol the drink contains, the stronger the taste becomes. Normal gin is not consumed as pure due to its dry taste. Gin with blackthorn berries is less dry.

Flanders Spirits uses different techniques to make its gins, namely distilling and infusing. Our premium gin's (D-Gin) are distilled several times, which increases the purity of the alcohol. As a result, they fall under the ultimate premium gins category and are somewhat more expensive. D-Gin comes with an alcohol content of 40 ° and is bottled in bottles of 50 cl. Rei Gin, on the other hand, is a standard Gin and is therefore less expensive to produce. Rei Gin also comes with an alcohol content of 40 ° but is bottled in bottles of 70 cl.

In addition to the many different herbs that are used to make our base, D-Gin Gold Edition and Rei Gin Gold are further flavored with bitter orange peel. This produces a soft but tasty gin of the citrus gin type. In addition, both gins are presented with gold glitter in the bottle to create an enchanted effect in the bottle and in the glass. Make sure you shake the bottle before you pour it. D-Gin Ice Crush Edition and Rei Gin Sky are flavored with ginger, resulting in a soft and fresh gin of the spicy gins type. D-Gin pink summer edition and Rei gin Rose are our slightly sweeter gins and are flavored with rose petals. These gins are of the floral gins type.

Rei gin Dry and Rei gin Elderflower are another type of gin, these are the London Dry gins whose Rei gin Elderflower was infused with citrus fruit and elderflower. These gins can be drunk pure or used in various cocktails.

The difference between Gin and Geniver  

The agreement between gin and jenever is simply the juniper. The difference is in the type of alcohol. Gin must be made with neutral grain alcohol. Neutral alcohol is distilled up to 96%, just like with vodka. In addition, gin consists of malt wine, which has a strong grain taste, comparable to whiskey that has not yet matured.

This gives gin a more difficult character and therefore makes it less suitable as a cocktail drink. Gin is usually drunk pure, both at room temperature and chilled. Gin is flavored with different herbs during distillation, this makes the taste so specific and unique, and is therefore very suitable for use in cocktails. The difference between gin and gin is therefore very clear, both in terms of taste and in use.

The history of Gin  

The earliest known reference to gin appears in the 13th-century encyclopedic work Der Naturen Bloeme (Bruges), with the earliest printed recipe for gin dating from the 16th-century work Een Constelijck Distileerboec (Antwerp).

The doctor Franciscus Sylvius has been wrongly credited with the invention of gin in the mid-17th century, the existence of gin is confirmed in Philip Massinger's play "The Duke of Milan" (1623), when Sylvius would have been about nine years old . It is more argued that English soldiers, who supported Antwerp against the Spaniards in 1585 during the Eighty Years' War, were already gins drunk for their calming effects on the battle, from which the term "Dutch courage" is supposed to have come into existence. According to some unconfirmed sources, Gin is from Italy.

By the mid-17th century, numerous small Dutch and Flemish distillers had popularized the re-distillation of malt wines with juniper berries, anise, caraway, coriander, etc. These were sold in pharmacies and used to treat medical problems such as kidney disorders, stomach disorders and treat gallstones. Gin appeared in England at the beginning of the 17th century and enjoyed a brief revival at the time of the restoration. Gin became enormously popular as an alternative to brandy when William III, II & I and Mary II became co-sovereigns of England, Scotland and Ireland after leading the "Glorious Revolution", especially in rough, inferior forms, where it previously probably was flavored with turpentine. Drinking gin in England increased significantly after the government allowed unlicensed gin production, and at the same time imposed a heavy tax on all imported spirits such as French brandy. This created a larger market for poor quality barley that was unsuitable for brewing beer, and in 1695-1735 thousands of gin stores emerged throughout England, a period known as the Gin Craze.

Due to the low price of gin, compared to other drinks at the same time, and at the same geographical location, it was regularly consumed by the poor. More than half of the 15,000 pubs in London were gin stores. Beer kept a healthy reputation because it was often safer to drink the brewed beer than unclean pure water. Gin, however, was blamed for various social problems and it may have been a factor in the higher death rate. The reputation of the two drinks was illustrated by William Hogarth in his engravings "Street of Beer and Gin Lane" (1751) described by the BBC as perhaps the most powerful anti-drug poster ever conceived. The negative reputation of gin survives today in the English language, in terms such as "gin mills" or the American expression, "gin joints" to notorious bars or "gin-soaked" to refer to drunks. the epithet "mothers ruin" is a common English name for gin whose origins are the subject of constant discussion.

The Gin Act 1736 imposed high taxes on retailers and led to riots in the streets. The prohibitive duty was gradually reduced and eventually abolished in 1742. However, the Gin law 1751 was more successful; it forced distillers to sell only to authorized retailers and to bring gin stores under the jurisdiction of local magistrates. Gin in the 18th century was produced in pot-stills and was slightly sweeter than the well-known London gin. In London, at the start of the 18th century, a lot of gin was legally distilled in residential homes (an estimated 1,500 were built in 1726) and it was often flavored with turpentine to produce resinous woody notes alongside juniper. Even in 1913, Webster’s Dictionary states, without further comment, "regular gin" is usually flavored with turpentine.Another common variation was distillation in the presence of sulfuric acid. Although the acid itself does not distill, it imparts the extra odor of diethyl ether to the resulting gin. Sulfuric acid subtracts one water molecule from two ethanol molecules to make diethyl ether, which also forms an azeotrope with ethanol and therefore distills with it. The result is a sweeter mind and one that may have an additional analgesic or even intoxicating effect.

Dutch or Belgian gin, also known as geniver or gin, has evolved from malt wine alcohol and is a clearly different drink than later gin styles. Schiedam, a city in the province of South Holland, is famous for its gin production history. The same applies to Hasselt in the Belgian province of Limburg. The 18th century gives rise to a style of gin, referred to as Old Tom gin, which is a softer, sweeter style of gin, often by adding sugar. Old Tom-gin faded in popularity at the beginning of the 20th century.

The invention and the development of the distillation column (1826 and 1831) made the distillation of neutral alcohol practical, enabling the creation of the 'London Dry' style that emerged later in the 19th century.

In tropical British colonies, gin was used to mask the bitter taste of quinine, which was the only effective anti-malaria compound. Quinine was dissolved in carbonated water to form tonic water; the resulting cocktail is gin and tonic, although modern tonics only contain a trace of quinine as a flavoring agent. Gin is a common alcohol base for many mixed drinks, including the martini. Secretly produced "bathtub gin" was available in the "speakeasies" and "blind pigs" of the Ban era in America as a result of the relatively simple production.

Since 2009, the second Saturday in June has been declared World Gin Day.

London Dry Gin or Plymouth Dry Gin  

Although the name suggests otherwise, this gin should not come from London. It is about the way this gin is made. It is made in the original way whereby distillation is done once together with the addition of all ingredients and herbs. After this process, only water is added and bottled.

Distilled Gin  

Distilled Gin goes through the same process as London Dry Gin or Plymouth dry Gin, but with Distilled Gin extra ingredients and herbs are added at the end.

We know this species as the original "premium gins", whereby the gins are distilled again with, for example, orange or lime, or spices.

There is also the possibility of infusing with, for example, rose petals or cucumber.

Compound Gin  

With Compound Gin, the label only states that it is a gin. This type of gin is widely used as a supermarket's own brand. Flavors and or extracts have been added to these gins without being distilled; this makes their production much cheaper.

Old Tom Gin  

This species is nowadays produced more because of the comeback of gin and cocktails with gin. Old Tom gin is much sweeter than the classic gin due to the addition of sugars, and is therefore ideally suited for cocktails.

Ultra Premium Gin  

Ultra Premium Gin is a purer gin than the other variants. Ultra Premium gin has been distilled several times, making this gin much purer than other types of gin. Due to the higher production costs, this gin becomes more expensive to sell.

Gin Infusing  

Infusing gin ensures that new flavors and structures are created. An infusion is the withdrawal of flavorings in liquids or solid products.

The best known infusion is perhaps the tea by infusing tea leaves in warm water. This is also possible with gin. Flavoring agents are added to the distillate during infusion. Varying infusions are endless, any desired flavor can be added to liquid. Herbs and spices are often added to an infusion to create a certain taste.

When the odor molecules are exposed to other ingredients, air and heat, a series of chemical reactions begin. The original geochemicals are converted into other substances, which increases the complexity of the infusion.