Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. It originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists in the 12th Century in Salerno, Italy. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands to provide aqua vita from distillates of grapes and grains, becoming an object of commerce in the spirits industry. Gin became popular in England after the introduction of jenever, a Dutch and Belgian liquor. Although this development had been taking place since the early 17th century, gin became widespread after the 1688 Glorious Revolution led by William of Orange and subsequent import restrictions on French brandy. Gin emerged as the national alcoholic drink of England during the Gin Craze of 1695–1735. Gin is produced from a wide range of herbal ingredients in a number of distinct styles and brands. After juniper, gin tends to be flavoured with herbs, spices, floral or fruit flavours, or often a combination. It is commonly mixed with tonic water in a gin and tonic. Gin is also used as a base spirit to produce flavoured, gin-based liqueurs, for example sloe gin, traditionally produced by the addition of fruit, flavourings and sugar.
Etymology Medicinal precursor (Salerno, Italy, ~11th–12th century). The first traces of wine distillates infused with herbs date back to the 12th century in Italy, referenced in the Compendium Salernitanum of the Schola Medica Salernitana — a medical school in Salerno founded in the 9th century, influenced by Arabic and Greek medical practice, and an important source of medical knowledge in Western Europe between the 10th and 13th centuries. A recipe compiled around 1055 under that name includes a juniper-infused tonic wine, made by Benedictine monks using distilling knowledge that had moved into Europe via the Moors' rule of Sicily. This was medicine, not a recreational spirit. Genever is the direct ancestor (Low Countries, 13th–16th century). Belgium's National Jenever museum in Hasselt credits Flanders in the 13th century as where jenever was created. The first recorded mention of genever as a distilled beverage flavored with juniper appears in the 16th century, in Philippus Hermanni's Antwerp-published Een Constelijck Distileerboec. By the mid-17th century, numerous small Dutch and Flemish distillers were popularizing the redistillation of malt wine with juniper and other botanicals to mask poor taste and treat ailments like kidney and stomach complaints. Anglicisation (England, late 17th century onward). Gin's popularity in England surged after William of Orange took the British throne in 1689, when taxes on domestically distilled spirits dropped and heavy duties hit imports like French brandy — a political move against France, not a quality judgment. Some historians (Sipsmith's Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller) argue this displaces an earlier English gin tradition: a 1639 manuscript, The Distiller of London, contains a juniper/orange peel/lemon peel/orris root recipe — the template for London Dry Gin — predating Dutch genever's arrival in Britain by roughly fifty years. Thus, the name gin is a shortened form of the older English word genever, related to the French word genièvre and the Dutch word jenever. All ultimately derive from juniperus, the Latin for juniper.
History
Origin: 12th-century mentions Gin's origins predate its association with Britain and the Netherlands by several centuries. The earliest traces of wine distillates infused with herbs date to the 12th century in Italy, documented in the Compendium Salernitanum of the Schola Medica Salernitana. The Schola Medica Salernitana, based in Salerno and founded in the 9th century, drew on Arabic and Greek medical traditions and was a leading centre of medical knowledge in Western Europe between the 10th and 13th centuries. Benedictine monks in Salerno are thought to have used distilling knowledge acquired via Arab sources, transmitted through the Moorish rule of Sicily, to produce alcohol used to dissolve and preserve medicinal plants, including juniper, which grew abundantly in the surrounding hills. A collection of remedies compiled around 1055, known as the Compendium Salernitanum, includes a recipe for a juniper-infused tonic wine. This predates the Dutch genever tradition, which only enters the written record later: the first recorded mention of genever as a distilled, juniper-flavoured beverage appears in the 16th century, in Philippus Hermanni's Antwerp-published Een Constelijck Distileerboec. The Salerno tonic and Dutch genever are distinct developments in the same lineage — the former a medicinal precursor, the latter the direct ancestor of the beverage now defined as gin — and crediting Holland alone as gin's "origin" omits roughly five centuries of documented prior history. Grapes & Grains ("The History of Gin," grapesandgrains.org); Diffords Guide ("History of Gin: 1100s–mid-1500s," diffordsguide.com); Grapes & Grains again for the genever/Hermanni reference.
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