Timeline for Relationship between Geneva and gin?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 10, 2020 at 11:25 | comment | added | tomd | As regards the Webster quote, I agree entirely. But it is the malt, and the malting process, that produces the glucose (grape sugar) that is anaerobically converted by yeast into alcohol (ethanol). The fact that juniper berries are there from the beginning does not change that, but may give rise to distinctive congeners. The same surely applies to the OED quote. AFAIK, juniper berries (strictly speaking a cones) do not contain grape sugar, or any source of glucose, and while they may be present in the fermentation mix, there is always another source of glucose (grapes, for example). | |
| Jul 10, 2020 at 9:54 | comment | added | melissa_boiko | @tomd "The original Geneva was made in Holland by grinding berries with the malt before fermentation, and fermenting the whole together, by which the spirit was flavoured with the juniper from the beginning" (Thomas Webster, An Encyclopædia of Domestic Economy, 1844) | |
| Jul 10, 2020 at 9:49 | comment | added | melissa_boiko | @tomd With modern gin, yes (with the addition of extra herbs, too, in the British style). The original Dutch genever spirit (as described in 1606) was however distilled from fermented berries (as opposed to juniper flavour added later to grain spirits), without herbals. (OED) | |
| Jul 10, 2020 at 9:04 | comment | added | tomd | As I understand things, juniper berries are added to give gin its distinctive flavour, and are not the source of alcohol. That is, juniper berries are not fermented. | |
| Jul 9, 2020 at 13:32 | comment | added | fdb | The pun rests on the fact that Geneva was the seat of a (relatively) free press, which published many inflammatory books. | |
| Jul 9, 2020 at 12:11 | history | answered | melissa_boiko | CC BY-SA 4.0 |