World Gin Day – June 8, 2024

History of World Gin Day

Gin is a distilled juniper-flavored alcohol enjoyed widely across the globe. The spirit was initially treated as a medicinal liquor and was made by European monks and alchemists in the process of creating aqua vita. The oldest record of gin goes back to juniper-surrounded Benedictine monasteries in southern Italy. Juniper was an essential part of doctors’ kits during the period. Doctors during the Bubonic Plague, for example, used to stuff the beaks of their plague masks with juniper to protect themselves from the Black Death. The earliest known written record of ‘jenever’ — traditional Dutch gin — was from the 13th-century encyclopedia “Der Naturen Bloeme.”

By the mid-17th century, Dutch and Flemish distilleries began selling gin as a treatment for kidney problems, lumbago, stomach ailments, gout, and gallstones. Gin was soon viewed as a substitute for brandy in England by the late 1600s. The liquor began increasing in popularity and by the 1720s, an estimated quarter of households in London were producing their own gin. This period came to be known as ‘the Gin Craze,’ wherein the British Parliament tried to pass a series of laws trying to curtail the mass consumption of gin.

Today, gin has seen a resurgence due to a rise in the popularity of mixology. Gin — usually containing a minimum of 40% alcohol — is easy to blend into cocktails. Popular alcoholic beverages include gin and tonic and martinis.