We are bringing back our ‘Spirit of The Month’ feature! Each month we will focus on a particular spirit and share some recipes, brand stories and interesting facts so you can sharpen your cocktail knowledge! First up, Gin.

A big reason we love Gin, is because unlike other spirits it was designed to be mixed in cocktails and not drunk on its own. The botanicals in Gin (such as herbs, spices etc) come to life when they are mixed and add that awesome complexity we love! All gin uses juniper as the main ingredient, however there is enormous diversity in how different gins taste. A skilled distiller knows how to balance the botanical flavours to make a quality product.

So here are 4 interesting facts you may not know about this popular spirit

1.Gin is the original ‘Dutch Courage’

Although commonly classified as England’s national spirit, gin actually originated in Holland. The English discovered it when fighting the Thirty Year War in the 17th century and Dutch soldiers were drinking it before battle – hence where the term ‘Dutch Courage’ originated from.

2. The country who consumes to most amount of gin is The Philippines

Surprisingly our friends in the Philippines consume almost half of the $60 million cases produced each year, a huge 43% of the world market! The United States and Spain are a distant second and third.

3. The original martini was made from gin, not vodka

The classic martini is gin, dry vermouth and optional bitters. This was until Smirnoff ran a clever campaign involving a vodka martini and the man himself James Bond, and hijacked Gin’s position in the iconic drink. How rude!

4. Gin can be used for medicinal reasons

Gin has a long history of being used for medicinal purposes to treat such ailments such as scurvy, malaria and kidney problems. The Royal Navy mixed gin with lime cordial to stop scurvy, which is when the cocktail called ‘The Gimlet’ was born. We’ll cheers to that!

How To Make a Classic Gin and Tonic

The iconic drink, Gin & Tonic, first originated in India and is now a stock standard world favourite. But, making the perfect G&T is a subject of great debate! What ratio to use? Lime or Lemon? Stirred or not? Well, here we share our favourite may to mix G&T’s, we hope you love it too!

Fill a highball glass with ice, pour in 50ml Gin and 150ml Tonic (always use a 1-3 ratio), squeeze and drop in a lime wedge and stir, simple!