Chattanooga Pulse

As with last week’s selection, rum, gin is also a spirit that has not had its share of the limelight as a weekly Great Buy.  “Great Buys” is where Riley’s Wine and Spirits on Hixson Pike in Hixson picks a favorite item from our large selection of wine and spirits from around the world and shares a bit of its history with the readership of The Pulse.  This week’s selection:  Hendrick’s Gin from Scotland.

Gin was first conceived as a medicine when it was distilled in 17th-century Holland by a University of Leyden chemist named Dr. Franciscus Sylvius.  It is made by distilling oil from juniper berries and then redistilling them with pure alcohol.  Its original name was genicure (French for juniper) but was later corrupted to genever by the Dutch.  The British, nicknaming it “gin”, took an instant liking to the spirit, a bit of luck considering that they were desperate to find a cheaper beverage, as French wines and brandies were heavily taxed.  Soon enough gin had become England’s drink of fashion.

Sometime in the 1860s, a San Franciscan bartender named Jerry Thomas first combined gin and vermouth (dry vermouth is white wine flavored and fortified with herbs and spices) creating the  “martini”, which would give gin worldwide recognition.

Today, gin is still made from neutral spirits distilled with juniper berries, which come from evergreen trees—now you know where gin’s unique aroma comes from.  The blend is then redistilled in a pot still.  For added flavor, ingredients such as spice, herbs and fruit are hung above the pot.  These ingredients mix with the rising vapors, giving gin subtle flavors, such as licorice, apples, orange, lime, lemon and grapefruit.

Most gins on the market are not aged but some distillers do so in order to add flavor, to darken its color and smoothen its texture.  There are two major types of gin: Dutch and London Dry.  Both are made using the two-step distilling process, with Dutch gin made in pot stills, and London Dry in column stills.  London Dry is unsweetened gin and considered the better choice.

Hendrick’s Gin is something a little different.  Produced in Girvan, Scotland by William Grant and Sons, it is a blend of two gins from two different distillation processes.  The first gin is produced in what is known as the Bennett Still.  Here the neutral spirit is mixed with a botanical recipe and water, then left to steep for 24 hours.  Once the ingredients are merged, the still is boiled into vapors, then turned back into liquid.  The result is a gin heavy and oily in texture, with strong flavors of juniper.

The second gin is made in the still known as The Carter Head Still.  This still differs in that only the neutral spirit and water are mixed together, with the botanical ingredients kept separate in a basket just above the still, making the botanicals mix with the neutral spirit with vapors only.  Naturally, this produces a gin sweeter in taste and lighter in texture.  Once these two are brought together, Hendrick’s adds essence of cucumber and rose petals, adding to a creation not only unique in its origin but most certainly in taste as well.

Hendrick’s Gin was voted “Best Gin in the World” by The Wall Street Journal in 2003 and also won a double gold medal at the San Francisco Wine and Spirits Competition in 2004.  Riley’s recommends Hendrick’s Gin in a martini up with tonic water—it is with these mixers that you can best taste the two merging gin-distilling processes represented in this outstanding spirit.

Cheers!