Gin was created by a Dutch physician in the 17th century as a medicine to treat problems with kidneys and stomach. It takes its name from  genévrier (juniper in French), It was only when William Orange, ruler of the Dutch Republic, seized the British throne in what has become known as the Glorious Revolution that gin became vastly more popular in England and in the world, still very different from the gin that we know today.

Gin is the product of the distillation of wheat, or barley, potato, grape, any alcohol base could be used and then flavored (before, during or after distillation, depending on the distillery) with the botanicals that give its characteristic personality, like anise, angelica root and seed, orris root, licorice root, cinnamon, cubeb, savory, lime peel…..

Tonic

A vital ingredient to the perfect tonic water is the natural quinine. It was discovered in Peru about 1630 which was used by the Quechua Indians to halt shivering brought on by cold temperatures and the purest. Most abundant source of quinine came from one sub-species of fever tree called Cinchona Ledgeriana after the Englishman smuggled the seeds successfully for the Dutch traders in the 18^th century. Although attempts were made to grow the seeds in a variety of locations with similar climatic conditions, but Rwanda proved to be the only successful location for pure natural quinine. As the Peruvian forest were cut down, the only sizeable plantation of this species is now in Rwanda.

The process to make it is a natural wash of the bark from the trees.

The match

The quinine is a natural white crystalline alkaloid that can be used for reducing fever (fever tree…. see above), anti malarial with a bitter aftertaste, and during the colonialist period the English that were having the problem with malaria, thought to use gin (Genever at the time) to offset the bark’s bitter taste.