Gin: A Short History

If you are gin aficionado, this slim hardback volume, a mere five-and-half-inch square, should be next to your gin bottle. Gin—A Short History by Moses Jenkins is a beautiful, well-illustrated little volume with everything you need to know about gin, just the basic facts with no fillers added. This is a British publication, with some ten illustrated cocktail recipes but quantities are in metric units that you need to translate if you have no metric measuring tools. Gin is British in its birth starting in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Jenkins explains its production and its history from its early times, nicely illustrated with both historic and contemporary photos and sketches. He elaborates on the use of botanicals (the plant-based material that gives the unique flavor), and the use of juniper berries, the essential botanical that turns the base spirit into gin. He elaborates on several distilling processes in use in Britain that creates the flavor of the many available British and American gin distillers. For the dedicated gin drinker, this book is a good reading and reference material. Have one for yourself or get one as a gift.