The Gin Men

The History of Gin – From Dutch Genever to Modern Craft Gin

The History of Gin

Gin has a rich and storied history spanning several centuries and continents. From humble medicinal roots to one of the world’s most beloved spirits — here’s the full story.

Juniper berries and botanicals — the building blocks of every gin since the 16th century.

Origins: The Birth of Gin (11th–16th Century)

The story of gin begins not in a cocktail bar, but in a monastery. As far back as the 11th century, European monks and alchemists were distilling alcohol and infusing it with herbs and botanicals to create medicinal elixirs. Juniper berries were a common ingredient, valued for their supposed ability to treat gout, kidney problems, and stomach ailments.

The true ancestor of modern gin emerged in 16th century Netherlands: genever (or jenever). Made from malted grain spirits and flavoured with juniper, genever was sold in pharmacies as medicine before people discovered it was also rather enjoyable to drink.

Gin Arrives in England: The Gin Craze (17th–18th Century)

English soldiers fighting in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) encountered genever and fell in love with it — famously gaining “Dutch courage” before battle. They brought it home, and when William of Orange became King of England, Dutch drinking habits came with him.

What followed was the notorious Gin Craze (roughly 1720–1751). The British government had relaxed regulations on grain distilling to support domestic agriculture, flooding the market with cheap, often poorly made gin. Consumption skyrocketed. Gin became known as “mother’s ruin” — associated with poverty, crime, and social collapse. William Hogarth’s famous engraving Gin Lane (1751) captured the chaos of the era.

The government eventually imposed the Gin Acts (1729–1751), regulating production and taxing sellers. The quality of gin gradually improved, and the craze subsided.

The Gin Craze gripped London in the early 18th century.

Refinement & Empire: London Dry Gin (19th Century)

The invention of the column still in the 19th century transformed gin production.

The 19th century transformed gin from a cheap spirit to a refined one. The invention of the column still allowed for cleaner, purer distillation, and the London Dry Gin style emerged — lighter, drier, and more aromatic than its predecessors. Botanicals like coriander seed, angelica root, and citrus peel joined juniper as defining flavours.

Gin also became a symbol of the British Empire. In colonial India, British officers were prescribed quinine to prevent malaria. The bitter taste was unpleasant, so they mixed it with sugar, water, lime — and gin. The gin and tonic was born. One of the world’s greatest cocktails exists because of malaria prevention.

Prohibition & the Long Quiet Period (Early 20th Century)

Gin’s reputation took a hit during Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933). With legal spirits unavailable, people made crude “bathtub gin” — mixing neutral spirit with juniper oil in, quite literally, bathtubs. The results were often unpleasant, and gin’s image suffered for decades.

Through much of the mid-20th century, gin was seen as an old-fashioned drink — your grandparents’ tipple. Vodka became the dominant white spirit, and gin faded into the background.

The Craft Gin Renaissance (2000s–Present)

Then something remarkable happened. Starting in the early 2000s and accelerating through the 2010s, gin experienced one of the greatest revivals in spirits history. The driving forces:

  • Craft distilling — small distilleries experimenting with local botanicals and unique flavour profiles
  • The cocktail revival — bartenders rediscovering classic gin cocktails like the negroni, martini, and aviation
  • Consumer curiosity — drinkers seeking authentic, complex flavours over bland vodka
  • Gin tourism — distillery visits becoming part of food and travel culture

Today there are thousands of gin distilleries worldwide — from Scotland to Japan, Australia to Iceland. Distillers are using botanicals from every corner of the globe: Japanese yuzu, African buchu, Indian cardamom, local wildflowers. Gin styles range from classic London Dry to contemporary, from pink and fruity to intensely herbal.

We are, without question, living in gin’s golden age.

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