In 1688 the Dutch King William of Orange reduced the tax on distilling. At the same time, they had bumper harvests. So they had stockpiles of grains, causing the price to plummet. So these events created the first Gin. Its main ingredient was juniper berries, which gave it its distinctive flavour.

Of course, it’s no surprise that by the following year, British distillers had created 22.7 million litres of Gin, a grain spirit flavoured with juniper berries.

It was so popular that by the 1720’s it was cheaper to buy a pint of Gin than a pint of beer. By the 1740s, London distillers were producing 8 million gallons a year; a quarter of London homes had a working gin still.

It’s also a time when the death rate was higher than the birth rate. But, despite drinking an average of half a pint every day, early Gin was of poor quality and often flavoured with stomach churning ingredients, including malt spirit, oil of turpentine (which smells like pine) and salt with only a tiny amount of juniper.

Gin quickly became popular in Great Britain and was soon produced in large quantities. By the mid-1700s, it was being consumed by all levels of society, from the wealthy to the poor.

But that changed in 1761 when Thomas Dakin challenged the status quo. His original recipe of juniper berries, coriander seeds, angelica root, bitter almond, cassia bark, liquorice root, lemon peel and orris root was a far cry from the standard concoctions of the time.

Yet the recipe was just the beginning. Dakin’s family also pioneered a revolutionary way of distilling called vapour infusion in the 1830s after purchasing rectifying columns in 1831 and 1836. They still use it at Bombay Sapphire today.

So it’s time to enjoy Bombay Sapphire Gin Cocktail.

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