BülowbarEverything suits here.

All about gin

It is again and again fascinating which flavourful ranges juniper brandy GENEVER, better known as GIN, can show. Its special taste is owed to juniper berries (lat. juniperus). It derives from a spirit distilled from fermented grain and redistilled step by step after adding a specific aromatic set of “botanicals” – herbs, fruits, and juniper berries.

Just shortly for the next bar table: Gin can be made from almost anything distillable. Per definition gin is a spirit with the flavour of juniper made by redistilling drinkable spirit after flavouring with juniper berries. It was invented by the German Franciscus Sylvius as Genever (derived from juniperus) in the middle of the 17th century presumably for medical purposes – his special subject was digestion. British soldiers liked it very much, they brought it to London. Its popularity caused a gold-rush mood in the back yards. Soon the Crown saw itself forced to launch a purity law. The result: Gin now became a trendy drink even for the aristocracy.

The medical use of gin as malaria prophylaxis ensured the increasing popularity of the distillate. However, in fact the quinine containing tonic water is what chases the mosquitos. Quinine, a bittern extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree, is dissolved in carbonated water to form tonic water. A sweating person exudes the bitter substance through the pores, by that the sweat receptors of mitches are deceived – and the mitches are kept a bay. Especially in the former crown colony India malaria was widespread. Fortunately this tonic water had such a disgusting bitter taste that the soldiers added some of the popular gin to make it drinkable. One of the most successful long drinks was born: gin & tonic.