Raise your glass to a G&T
‘MISTRESS OF INEBRIATION’: THE MAKING OF GIN IS A LOVING ART
Master distiller of Beefeater in London gives his thoughts on a visit to SA.
Three hundred years ago Gin was the mistress of an inebriated London. It took two centuries of debauched reputation for the juniper-berry distilled spirit to shed its image and leap into popular culture as a cocktail-maker in the roaring nineteen twenties.
Gin has clawed its way into becoming one of the trendiest of the twenty-first century.
Master distiller of Beefeater in London, Desmond Payne, said that few other spirits have the characteristics of gin, and ergo its resurgence and sustained popularity as a base for cocktails and a growing variety of long drinks. He said a gin and tonic, the classic incarnation, is one of the many ways that bartenders and mixologists have invented to further accentuate gin’s unique characteristics.
Payne said that there are more than ten thousand gins in the world today, and the number is growing. He added that while many gins are passed off as craft product, it can be misleading as all variants are distilled the same way. He said it is a manual process and everything is still done by hand. No gin could be made without a manual process.
Payne said: “Juniper berries are hand-selected to ensure consistency; botanicals are created through a distiller’s knowledge of flavour experimentation. All gins, no matter the size of the brand, are in fact craft.”
Every year Payne evaluates around two hundred different samples of juniper to ensure that the next batch of Beefeater, the gin he has overseen for several decades, remains consistent. Gin is distilled from a neutral alcohol base; juniper is the key ingredient in any gin. It is added and then the botanicals follow.
He said: “We put together a blend every year that represents the Beefeater style. It is the alcohol, then selected juniper, and that is followed by coriander seeds and citrus peels, and so on. It is an especially important, hands-on process all the time to ensure that we get it right.”
Payne’s passion for what he does is evident in the boundless enthusiasm with which he waxes lyrical about every aspect of the spirit. Making exceptional gin is his mission.
Said Payne: “To make a great gin, a distiller must ask himself, juniper plus what? Each distiller will have a slightly different method in his process. For example, for Beefeater we when we put all our botanicals into the still with the alcohol, we leave it there for 24 hours so that the flavours get to know each other. This process adds to the overall complexity of the final product’s taste.”
He said that when creating new variants, inspiration could come from anywhere: “I get inspiration from everywhere. I never quite know where next.
“It could be something I’ve pulled out of a hedgerow that smells good. In my mind I can see how flavours could work together. And the other important thing I learned from that process is that two plus two doesn’t make for pretty decent flavour. Really nice flavours can be put together and they clash.
Flavours may seem to clash outside of a gin infusion, but distilled, it is possible to produce something completely unexpected and delicious. Beefeater remains the most awarded gin globally.
According to Payne the best way to breathe in the complexity of these flavours in gin is to mix a bit of the gin with water and take in the fragrant aroma.
In competitions taste and flavour tests are also determined through mixing it with tonic water. Payne said that the bulk of gin is still consumed with this mixer.
Initally gin did not palm in accolades, instead it attracted taxes to curb it. History suggests Londoners were permanently drunk on it. It was a cheap drink compared to wine, beer and other spirits.