Gin, Explained

Updated September 2026

Gin has one requirement: juniper must be the dominant flavour. Everything else — the other botanicals, the base spirit, the strength — is open, which is why the category runs from austere and piney to barely juniper-flavoured at all.

Three things the style names are widely misunderstood to mean:

London Dry is a production method, not a geographic origin. It never had to be made in London. It requires all flavour to come from botanicals distilled with the spirit, with nothing added afterward but water. Gins from Scotland, Spain, Kentucky and Japan carry it legitimately.

Plymouth Gin is no longer legally protected. It held EU Protected Geographical Indication status from 2008, but the designation lapsed after non-renewal in 2015. Retailers still claim otherwise.

Navy Strength is 57% ABV — and the category name was coined in 1997, in a marketing meeting, to describe Plymouth’s 57% bottling. The gunpowder-test history is real. The label is younger than the internet.

In the US, a spirit must be 40% ABV or higher to be labelled gin. Sloe gin, typically around 25%, is therefore a liqueur.

Start here

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Questions answered

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Recipes & cocktails

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Prices & value

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