Admittedly. I've only liked gin since it became popular. On the one hand, this has to do with the fact that I was too young to drink this "juniper spirit" before. In this context, however, I have to define what I mean by "popular".
By that I don't mean the explosion of gin variety over the last five years. It's more about the emergence of the first new gins that joined Gordon's and Bombay Sapphire on the bottle shelf.
Hendrick's, of course with Tonic Water, cucumber and pepper, was then also the first gin I like to remember. Not only with its - at the time - unique flavor profile, but also with its unusual bottle shape, it clearly distinguished itself from its competitors.
And Hendrick's also differed from other gins in another respect: the price. The price range that was used to describe expensive gin ten to fifteen years ago is now the average.
You can easily find price tags of CHF 40, CHF 50 but also CHF 60 or more on the well-stocked gin shelves. But what are the reasons for this premiumisation of the gin market and why does a gin often cost more than a fine single malt or a cognac?
As prices rise, the way we drink this spirit is also changing. Hardly anyone would think of drinking 18-year-old Yamazaki with a Coke - even if, of course, everyone is allowed to consume his or her drink the way he or she wants.
We'll have gin & tonic later. Now it's time to drink gin straight.
Those who dig deep into their wallets to treat themselves to an exclusive gin will at least taste it neat before the tonic turns the gin into a highball. Those who focus more on the taste and less on the beautiful bottle of a gin should get involved with the exciting, complex aromas of gin.
Base alcohol and botanicals
The two parameters that influence the aroma of a gin are, at best, the same reasons why a gin costs what it does. What base alcohol was used? Which botanicals were used? In addition, there are other cost drivers such as the method of distillation and the method of storage.
The marketing effort or the market influences of supply and demand can affect the price and thus our expectations of the quality of a gin, but in the blind tasting these parameters can be faded out.
When it comes to basic alcohol, the most expensive thing is undoubtedly the alcohol tax, which in Switzerland is CHF 29 for a litre of pure alcohol. For a 7-litre bottle of gin at 40 per cent by volume, this is just over CHF 8, and for a Navy Strenght gin it is as much as CHF 11.50, although of course this tax also applies to all other spirits.
Of the gins that have come onto the market in recent years, only very few are likely to come from alcohol that has been produced by the gin producers themselves, i.e. fermented and then distilled. But in some cases, the distillate with which the botanicals are macerated nevertheless plays a role. For example, in the case of Le Gin by Christian Drouin, who uses a brandy made from cider as the basis for his gin.
This example has also been followed by the apple processor Möhl from eastern Switzerland, which recently also produced a gin whose alcohol comes from apples. Other examples are the G'Vine from Cognac (made from grapes, of course) or the Alata Valais Gin from Morand, which has a brandy made from Williams pears as its base.
In the same house, a beer brandy from Brasserie des Franches Montagnes was distilled last year, which serves as the basis for the Gin de Brasserie Gnôles des Franches.
According to Swiss (and also European) law, the base spirit for distilled gin must be at least 96% by volume. Therefore, the in-house alcohol production costs usually exceed the resulting benefit.
It becomes really exclusive when the producer grows the botanicals himself, harvests them himself or at least processes them himself.
The second parameter that influences both the price and especially the taste of gin is the botanicals. While the usual botanicals can be purchased in large batches from wholesalers, you have to dig deeper into your wallet for particularly exotic, exclusive or even organic spices.
In this case, the harvest quantity depends on the season, but the central cost driver is clearly the production factor labour. For the American Brooklyn Gin, for example, the zests of the citrus fruits are peeled by hand and freshly macerated. Merlin Kofler and his team, who produce the Zurich Turicum Gin, also pick fir tips, lime blossoms and rose hips by hand.
Once a spirit has spent some time in a wooden barrel, consumers automatically view it in a different light. For aesthetic reasons alone, amber-coloured distillates invite pure enjoyment - even if, compared to whisky, rum and the like, barrel-aged gins are usually only allowed to rest on wood for a few months.
Drinking gin pure is worthwhile in any case and invites you to get to know this fascinating spirit in its most original form.
Gin producers are all the more courageous in their choice of barrels. In addition to oak, wood from other trees is also used.
Thanks to barrel-aged bottlings, the category of high-end gins manages to dance on two weddings at the same time. Even though the vast majority of these gins continue to play in the orchestra, together with vermouth and bitters or Tonic Water, many of these gins are also convincing solo artists. They have to be, because the decision to buy is usually made after pure tasting.
This article appeared in
Issue 3-2020
BAR NEWS magazine as single issue
