Big Book of Gin: How to drink and enjoy gin

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When I look at, say, Olivia Williams’s book which is a nice read, or Lesley Jacobs Solmonson’s, which is also a good read, they’re really just summarizing similar content without necessarily covering any new ground. But the spirit's long history has at times been murky, its history firmly rooted in and tied to Empire, a slide into being known as "mother's ruin", and a large part to play in the rise of abstinence movements. A huge part of the resurgence in recent years has been, to be honest with you, about connecting with people, products, and provenance. This beautifully illustrated book will introduce you to a host of cocktails from the classic to the cutting edge and showcases the versatile potential of gin.

But in the same way that Dave had a nice list of gin brands out there for you to go, ‘oh, I’ve hadn’t heard of that one. Enter Dan Jones, bestselling gin author and cocktail enthusiast, who will make you love this tasty drink even more.

It truly is a global history, focusing on the development of gin styles from sweet and malty to dry and crisp, along with relevant period illustrations giving the reader a broad sense of just how important gin has been in the world of spirits. I think you’re absolutely right to choose your last book about tonic because it’s so much associated with gin. Gin: A Global History and Vodka: A Global History are two delicious, well-mixed cocktails of history and booze. We tell the stories of the spirits, where Scotland’s gin industry has come from and where it’s going. The book will entice both cocktail aficionados and students of socio-political change, as it chronicles gin's evolution from humble berry to modern alcoholic marvel.

The first one on the list is Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason (2002) by Jessica Warner. 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.

In this fascinating new instalment of the British Library’s pocket philosophies, gin is explored through its origins in Holland, where it was popularised by William of Orange; its roots in medicine; its capacity to provide an albeit destructive escapism during the Gin Craze; its influence on language – responsible for the coining of ‘dutch courage’; and its current status as a popular social beverage and a pastime for those keen to experiment with flavouring their own gins.

I actually think that rule of thumb is more helpful than saying, ‘use Schweppes with Gordons and use this with that.

You hear these amazing statistics—of the birth-rate being lower than the death rate but also the human stories of these outrageous acts that were going on at the time.

As she explains very well in the book, even in the first couple of years, people just didn’t know how to deal with it. If you are in possession of the goods you are under the duty to retain them and take reasonable care of them.I find it quite difficult because it’s one of those things where I can’t separate the people, the production and the place in which it’s made, to the end outcome.