Gin

London Dry Gin image 1

London Dry Gin

Originally a style of gin but now a legal category of gin defined by its production process. Despite the name, London Dry gin can be produced anywhere in the world and sadly the term now provides little indication to a gin's flavour, other than its being dry due to the addition of sugar or sweeteners not being permitted.

London Dry emerged as a dry refined style of gin, originally only made in London, soon after the 'Coffey' continuous still was invented in 1831, enabling production of a highly rectified (nearly pure) spirit. The high distillation strength removed the unpleasant flavours found in earlier gins so the new spirits could be sold unsweetened or "dry".

Being traditionalists, on this website, when referring to flavour styles of distilled gins we consider juniper-forward gins with classic botanicals such as coriander seeds, angelica root, citrus peel and orris root to be London Dry in style. Classic examples of this style that still survive are Tanqueray and Beefeater, although only one is now distilled in London and both are bottled in Scotland. Sipsmith's Gin and Portobello Road Gin are good examples of modern London Dry-style gins still made in London. Rutte Dry Gin is one of the numerous examples of London Dry-style gins now made in other cities and countries. All the aforementioned gins are also categorised as being London Dry due to their production process.

Although 'London dry gin' dominates the global marketplace, there are several other types, and indeed styles of juniper spirit...

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