Mother's Ruin, Mother's Day gin tasting

A brief history of gin - aka Mother’s Ruin

Gin is predicated by the use of juniper and it is the monks of the 13th century who we have to thank for this. These guys were distilling sharp, fiery, alcoholic tonics (aqua vitae) with juniper believing it to have medicinal qualities.

In fact the medicinal use of juniper in doctor’s kits has a long history dating through the centuries; for example, the Romans were using it for purification and the Plague doctors of the 1300s stuffed the beaks of their plague masks with juniper to supposedly protect them from the Black Death.

It was the Dutch and Belgians who really took it to a commercial level with the creation of the drink Jenever. The earliest known written reference to Jenever appears in the 13th century encyclopaedic work Der Naturen Bloeme (Bruges), with the earliest printed recipe for Jenever dating from 16th century, using malt wine, juniper berries and herbs.

It was the Brits who took it to the next level and the word Gin is an anglicism of Jenever. It is thought that the term Dutch courage stems from the use of Jenever for its calming effects before battle by English soldiers in the Eighty Years’ War.

Gin craze of the early 1700s in England

William of Orange became king of England in 1688 and gin surged in popularity as an alternative to Brandy which had been restricted through law due to political and religious disputes with the French.

At the same time affluence was on the up - as the price of food dropped and income grew meaning that people had more disposable income to spend on drinking.

By 1721 however, Middlesex magistrates were already decrying gin as "the principal cause of all the vice & debauchery committed among the inferior sort of people".

Daniel Defoe (who wrote Robinson Crusoe and was known as novelist, journalist, merchant, pamphleteer and spy) commented - "the Distillers have found out a way to hit the palate of the Poor, by their new fashion'd compound waters called Geneva, so that the common People seem not to value the French-brandy as usual, and even not to desire it".

'Mother's Ruin' - As more women became hooked on gin between 1720 and 1757, this led to the mistreatment of their children and a rise in prostitution. Women became more addicted to gin than their male counterparts – gaining the juniper-based spirit the nickname 'Mother's Ruin'.

Daniel Defoe (who had originally campaigned for the liberalisation of distilling) later complained that drunken mothers were threatening to produce a "fine spindle-shanked generation" of children.

The Gin Acts of 1736 and 1751 were passed to try and restrict the consumption of gin.

A licence to sell and make gin was around $8000 - but this just forced the movement further underground. The 1726 act also made it illegal to sell gin in quantities less than two gallons, and anyone caught breaking the law could be fined, whipped, or imprisoned. This resulted in the creation of the Puss & Mew vending machine (a world first). This took the form of a large cat into the mouth of which a coin could be slipped. If the cat meowed the coin would be accepted and then gin would emerge from a tube in the cat’s paw.

The Act of 1751 dropped the licence price but required licensees to trade from premises rented for at least £10 a year and this brought the drink into a slightly more reputable phase and consumption began to decrease.

**Citadelle Rouge (France) 41.7% -**
**maceration**

France’s first gin made at the Château de Bonbonne in South West France, where flowers, fruit and herbs flourish - owned by Alexandre Gabriel, the owner of Maison Ferrand.
The base gins at Citadelle are made using 19 botanicals and uses progressive infusion.
Progressive infusion - A base spirit is infused with Juniper (genévrier) at 80% abv then progressively diluted with further botanicals being added over 5 days. Firstly **citrus (orange** **lemon)** then **spice (sichuan pepper, coriander, nutmeg)** - then savoury notes florals and **herbs (fennel, star anise, violet)**
Botanicals -
Rouge is designed around red berries - fresh **cranberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackcurrant and rhubarb.**

**Canaima 47% (Venezuela) - maceration**

Made in Bolivar in Venezuela by the same distillery famous for Dimplomatico rum - Destilerias Unidas S.A. (DUSA)
Botanicals
10 exotic ingredients including - Merey, Acai, Uva de Palma, Tupiro, Seje, Copoazu - Plus eight traditional gin botanicals.
Macerated in separate base grain spirit and then redistilled and blended.

**Mothers Ruined Citrus Gold Gin** 41.5% **(NZ) - maceration**

Based on Wellington’s south coast
Botanicals - sweet grapefruit, Pink Lady apple, dehydrated Cutler grapefruit (for extra sweetness) and a secret garden botanical.
Colour changing gin
The colour change is the result of a change in the pH of the drink when you add the tonic - gin is slightly alkaline, and tonic is acidic. The pigments in the flower and apple peel are what are known as ‘universal indicators’ and show as different colours depending on the acidity of the liquid.

**Etsu Double Yuzu 43% (Japan) - maceration**

Etsu is an artisanal gin born from an ancestral recipe. It means “pleasure” in Japanese. Made at the Akita distillery in the north of Honshū Island
Botanicals - Japanese yuzu, juniper berries, liquorice and angelica roots, coriander seeds and matcha tea.
The botanicals are macerated for 7 days in sugar cane alcohol at 67% abv.
The botanicals are removed from the alcohol which is reduced to 30% abv before distillation.
The gin is distilled once with the botanicals in a copper still. The alcohol then comes out at 83% abv.
The alcohol degree is reduced before filtration to 43% abv with water from the Ōu Mountains, the longest mountain range in Japan, which brings purity and freshness.

**Rockrose Scottish Navy Strength Gin (Scotland) 57% abv - vapour basket gin**

Navy strength gin is gin with an alcohol content of more than 57% ABV. The British Royal Navy played a key role in the history of gin, including the development of navy strength gin. The high alcohol content is due to the practical reason that gin and rum were stored in wooden barrels below deck with gunpowder. If the barrels leaked, the alcohol content had to be at least 57% so that the gunpowder would still burn.
Made by Dunnet Bay Distillers in Caithness (the very top of Scotland). They have two stills called Elizabeth and Margaret
Botanicals - Juniper (Italian and Bulgarian) rhodiola rosea, sea buckthorn, rowan berries, blueberries, lemon verbena, coriander, licorice, cinnamon, European blaeberry, rose root, orris root
The higher ABV version of Rock Rose gives a strong warm pine release at the front of the drink with notes of lemon sherbet. The heart of the drink is very bold berries from the blaeberries, rowan and hawthorn. These give way to the deeper earthier notes that are hidden in the original Rock Rose, such as angelica and orris.

And finally… the Negroni.

History - The basic recipe – an equal-parts cocktail of gin, vermouth and campari – is first recorded in French cocktail books of the late 1920s, alongside many similar drinks.

The most widely reported account of its origin is that it was first mixed in Florence, Italy, in 1919, at Caffè Casoni (now Caffè Giacosa), on Via de' Tornabuoni, by bartender Fosco Scarselli, for his customer Count Camillo Negroni. The story goes that the Count asked the bartender to strengthen the Americano by adding gin, rather than the normal soda water. The bartender also added an orange garnish rather than the typical lemon garnish of the Americano to signify that it was a different drink.