Gin the Mood: 50 gin cocktail recipes that are just the ticket

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In a warning to anyone building up funds for their old age, a cautious investor asks: How could my 'safe' pension fund plummet by 30% - a year before I retire?

He articulates very well how juniper was used from a medicinal perspective. There was this growth in myth and folklore through people like Pepys—and other writers of that time referencing their plights, whether it was gout or colic. He’s doing the tasting notes of the tonic water by themselves but there’s an implied pairing that’s a lot more general. I actually think that rule of thumb is more helpful than saying, ‘use Schweppes with Gordons and use this with that.’ It’s much more, ‘if you like that tonic, then this is the kind of gin that you might opt for.’ And vice versa.Price of electric vehicles could shoot up after China threatens to curb exports of key raw material used to make batteries Today, jenever is geographically protected. The way that they distil it is using a high percentage of barley. A lot of that base spirit comes through into the end product. If you distilled any alcohol all the way through to 96/97% ABV, you’d have vodka. If you did it to 60% or 70%, you’d have what is called, in the industry, ‘new make spirit.’ That’s the kind of stuff you’d put in barrels for whisky or Armagnac or Cognac or brandy. Jenever is that. I think of gin, or a gin and tonic, as the most traditionally English drink imaginable. But, like so many great things, it actually came from the Low Countries. Is that right?

From your point of view, what is your favourite gin? What would you buy in terms of value for money? There are obviously way more than 300 gins to choose from these days (this book was published in 2015) – there are probably 300 different ones in Australia alone. However, Aaron’s style of writing is refreshingly approachable. Nepotism aside, this book makes a change from many of the gin books available. They begin the story with the decline of the gin in the late 1950s before moving on to the how’s and why’s of the gin renaissance. We meet in 58 and Co's distillery in Haggerston, east London, nestled between other budding startups keen to run their business from the iconic railway arches. As the name suggests this is an A-Z of everything you need to know about gin. It covers Ingredients, distilling techniques, tasting notes, interesting asides and features on many gin-based drinks from around the world.I look at it as if I'm creating brand ambassadors. The idea of creating something that has people laughing and enjoying - my mum always had an incredible table, always feeding people, she was the ultimate host. Gin school is that for me. Introducing people, connecting people, creating a memory.' I don’t feel that his understanding of gin is anywhere near that calibre. I think he was asked to write a book by his editors because it was a trendy topic, as opposed to him having inherent knowledge.

It was very different, in that the Brits did not have the distilling heritage or prowess or knowledge. Right at the start, and certainly in the 1600s, it was far inferior to jenever. But they were trying to replicate it and so they created their own version that became known—just reduced to that one monosyllable—as ‘gin.’ Certainly in East London, one in four doors would have had some form of gin still. There were patches. In Whitechapel, and Holborn to a certain extent, and around Seven Dials, there would have been quite a lot. And I suppose around St Paul’s, going east. Yes, it reminds you of a place. A good example of this is St. George’s Terroir Gin, which is Californian gin. It’s very well-crafted. The flavours are deliberately reminiscent of a Californian forest on a sun-drenched afternoon. So you get that Douglas fir, bay laurel, warming sun sensation coming through in each and every sip. She concedes people might see gin school as an important revenue stream but, as with her entire approach to the company, she takes a more holistic view.Jessica’s book is about 70 years of history—a very specific period—whereas Richard’s goes right the way through to Prohibition. Some of the American books on that history focus on booze and not necessarily gin, whereas Richard remains on topic.