Gin must be made from ethyl alcohol flavoured with botanicals – of which juniper mustbe the predominant flavour.

It must be bottled at a minimum of 37.5% ABV.

London Dry Gin is made in a traditional still by redistilling high grade ethyl alcohol with natural flavourings. After this distillation, it must be at a strength of 70% ABV (before being diluted to something more palatable..!).

Further ethyl alcohol may be added after distillation, but absolutely no artificial colours or sweetness are permitted.

Distilled gin is made by redistilling neutral alcohol with approved natural AND/OR artificial flavourings.

As with London Dry Gin, alcohol may be added after distilliation, but with Distilled Gin, more artificial colourings and sweetness may be added too.

Compound gin is made by a simple process of flavouring neutral spirits with essences or other natural flavourings – but without the redistillation process.

Because of this, it is not regarded as highly as gin which has been distilled.

Scottish gin has the same definitions as the other gins in our list, but as numbers are growing we’ve decided to categorise these separately as people often like to know where their gin comes from.

Many, but not all, Scottish gins may originate from a whisky distillery and often use a wide range of foraged botanicals which represent the geography of where they originate.

American gin differs slightly as is can be made ‘from the initial distillation (of grain) through the mashing (cooking) process’, redistillation, or by mixing neutral spirits – with juniper berries, other aromatics and extracts of them.

As with the gin we know and love, the main flavour must be juniper, however the minimum bottling strength is 40% ABV (or 80° proof in USA-speak).

Old Tom refers to an 18th Century Gin recipe – supposedly named after a cat which fell into a vat of spirit, or more likely after ‘Old Tom’ Chamberlain of Hodge’s Distillery.

Old Tom gin is sweetened, and can be described as a missing link between London Dry Gin and the sweet Dutch Jenevers.

In my youth, Sloe Gin could be made from taking a batch of sloe berries, picked from country-lane hedgerows, and soaking them in a plain gin – with plenty of sugar to help extract the juice from the berries. 

The result over time was a lovely syrupy liqueur, perfect for cold winters days.

That can still be done, but these days distilleries are more likely  to flavour neutral grain spirit and then bottle at ABV of over 25%.

Sloe Gin works so well, so why not Rhubarb and Ginger, or Raspberry, or Clementine or, yes, even Yorkshire Tea.

See Flavoured Gin above.What makes something a liquor? The ABV.

Gin, in it’s truest definition, is bottled at a minimum of 37.5% ABV. A liqueur however, is bottled at a lower ABV (low-20’s) and more often than not will contain added sugar.