With the numerous juniper trees surrounding the Benedictine monastery in Salerno, Italy, it’s of no surprise that the berries from the trees easily provided both inspiration and ingredients for the 11th century monks there to distill what we now know as gin.
In fact, their gin was distilled of wine (watch this space) and was meant as medicine and was the beginning of what is now a thousand years of experimentation and formulation – crafting blends from secret recipes and botanicals collected from travels throughout the globe (remember those days?).
From Italy to Holland to Elizabethan England, gin adopted national flavours and had a storied place in the history of each country. From Dutch Independence to English Gin Acts, the rise of what gin has become today, started in perhaps more recessed corners of history.
Intriguing and captivating, I wholeheartedly recommend a dive into the many books and stories you can easily find on the matter, Gin cocktail in hand most definitely.