Few spirits have a history so colorful, contentious, and iconic as gin. At the center of the notorious gin craze that ravaged 18th-century London, gin was reviled as the source of moral decline and societal collapse. But over the centuries, it remade itself as a popular foundation for refined cocktails and craft experimentation. Now, gin is in the middle of a worldwide renaissance, with craft distilleries opening on every continent and consumers celebrating its botanical nuance.
Let’s dive into the thrilling history of gin, the notorious “gin craze,” and how this drink came to take over the globe.
The Origins of Gin
Gin’s history dates back much further than it gained its contemporary appellation. Its precursor was a medicinal spirit called genever, which was created in the Netherlands during the 16th century. Genever was a malted grain spirit infused with juniper berries and other plants. Juniper was highly valued for its perceived medicinal virtues, used to cure a range of conditions from kidney sickness to digestive issues.
It was Dutch doctor Franciscus Sylvius de la Boe in the mid-17th century who is widely credited to have perfected the genever. Dutch soldiers allegedly consumed it before charging into combat—a practice which led to the idiom “Dutch courage.”
English troops who served with the Dutch in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) introduced the taste for genever to England. The English eventually reformulated it into the popular drink now called gin, discarding much of the malty sweetness of genever and adopting a drier flavor.
The Gin Craze in England
The popularity of gin in England reached epidemic levels during the late 17th and early 18th centuries due to a confluence of politics, economics, and societal conditions.
In 1688, William of Orange, a prince from the Netherlands, took the English throne. His reign promoted trade with the Netherlands, and gin became the fashionable drink among the English aristocracy. Meanwhile, the English government put onerous taxes upon imported French brandy (due to political rivalry with France) and lifted restrictions on the production of spirits in England.All of a sudden, gin was not only trendy but had become very cheap to make and to purchase. The result was the infamous Gin Craze, a period from about 1720 to 1751 when gin consumption in England—particularly London—skyrocketed.
Its peak saw gin commonly found and within reach of the poorest citizens. Gin was sold by street vendors in cups, and more than 7,000 “dram shops” blanketed the city. It was commonly cut with turpentine, sulphuric acid, and other toxic additives to boost strength or dilute the supply. The outcome was a social and public health disaster: public drunkenness, crime, and destitution.
A noted 1751 satirical engraving by William Hogarth, Gin Lane, shows the agony of London’s gin-drenched proletariat in
Gin’s Refinement: From Villain to Virtue
During the decades and centuries that passed, gin changed. Distillers created more sophisticated ways of making it, and gin lost its status as an inexpensive, hazardous liquor.
By the 19th century, gin was a mainstay of British colonial existence. In India, British officials and soldiers were given rations of quinine to ward off malaria. To get the bitter quinine powder down, they took to mixing it with soda water, sugar, lime, and—naturally—gin. Thus was created the legendary gin and tonic, one of the world’s most popular cocktails today.
London Dry style developed during this period with its sharp, dry, and juniper-dominated character. London Dry gin became the template for cocktails of the late 19th and early 20th centuries’ exploding bar culture, from the Martini to the Negroni.
In Prohibition-era America (1920–1933), gin was among the most bootlegged liquors. Its fairly straightforward production meant that even novice distillers could produce crude “bathtub gin,” which fueled speakeasy culture of the Roaring Twenties.
The Modern Gin Renaissance
By the end of the 20th century, gin‘s popularity had declined somewhat, eclipsed by vodka and other liquors. But beginning in the 1990s, gin started to come back with a bang—one that continues to the present.
Several factors contributed to the global gin renaissance:
Craft Distilling Movement
The growth of craft distilleries also spurred innovation and experimentation. Distillers created small-batch gins with distinctive botanical combinations, an expression of local terroir and imagination. You can now discover gins infused with anything from lavender and cucumber to seaweed and black pepper.
Cocktail Culture
The revival of cocktail culture was also a major factor. Timeless gin classics such as the Martini, Negroni, and French 75 were rediscovered, and bartenders across the globe created innovative new gin cocktails.
Global Appeal
Gin‘s versatility and variability have turned it into a global phenomenon. In Spain, the ritual of gin-tonic became an art form with ostentatious garnishes and high-end tonics. In Japan, craft distillers add indigenous botanicals such as yuzu, cherry blossom, and green tea. Australia, South Africa, and Latin America now enjoy robust craft gin cultures.
Gin Around the World Today
Gin has really gone international. Here are just a few vignettes of the spread of the gin craze:
Spain: Spain is the world‘s largest gin-consuming per capita population, and it has taken the gin and tonic to a whole new level, presenting it in big balloon glasses with fancy garnishes.
Japan: Delicate, subtle flavors are what characterize Japanese gins, with many of them featuring indigenous ingredients. Roku and Ki No Bi are fine examples of Japan’s mastery of craftsmanship.
United States: The U.S. craft distilling phenomenon has given birth to hundreds of creative gins, ranging from classic London Dry expressions to in-your-face, modern interpretations.
Australia & New Zealand: Distillers here are adopting local botanicals such as Tasmanian pepperberry and lemon myrtle to craft signature flavor profiles that are specific to their surroundings.
Africa: South Africa‘s craft gin industry has exploded, with native botanicals including rooibos and fynbos.
Not even in nations where gin was never historically prominent is it any longer out of place. Craft distilleries are opening there, and consumers are adopting the spirit for its versatility and complexity.
Why We Love Gin
One of the reasons gin remains popular is because it is inexhaustibly diverse. Technically, gin has to be juniper berry-dominated, but after that, anything goes. Distilleries can play around with thousands of herbs, spices, fruits, and flowers, creating citrus gins, floral gins, herbal gins, spicy gins, or earthy gins.
Gin is also very versatile. It excels at traditional cocktails, modern creations, or with a dash of tonic and a squeeze of lime. Whether you like the dry sophistication of a Martini, the bitter refinement of a Negroni, or the cooling simplicity of a gin and tonic, there‘s a gin cocktail for all.
The Future of Gin
The gin craze isn’t slowing. Market analysts forecast more growth in both the mainstream and premium segments of the market. Sustainability, local sourcing, and creative storytelling are set to define the next stage in the evolution of gin.
New drinkers are finding gin not as something relegated to the past but as a means of creative expression, culture, and craftsmanship. In keeping with the spirit of its colorful and extensive history, gin is still a beverage that tastes of the time—always changing, always ageless.
Final Thoughts
From its humble beginnings as a medicinal draught to its infamous Gin Craze, and from its colonial exploits to its world renaissance, gin has undergone a dramatic journey. What was once damned as a plague on society is now prized as an emblem of artisanship and imagination.
The next time you take a sip of expertly chilled gin and tonic or enjoy a botanical rich craft gin, you‘re not only drinking—you‘re tasting centuries of history, ingenuity, and culture in a glass.
Cheers to gin: the spirit that won the world, botanical by botanical.