11 Types of Gin (Yes, 11) and How to Use Each One

Collage by Julia Duarte

You might drink some type of gin all the time and consider yourself a well-adjusted, very happy person. Same! But after your third martini, you might start to ask yourself: What even is gin? And why am I ordering so many light-up hula hoops on eBay?

Someone (probably on the internet) once told us that gin is just juniper-flavored vodka. But like asking Siri to do your taxes, it’s not quite that simple. Both gin and vodka are made from neutral spirits (which can be distilled from grains, grapes, sugar beets, or molasses, among others). Unlike vodka, when making gin, that neutral spirit is infused with botanicals (a fancy word for dried herbs, berries, roots, citrus peels, and spices) and generally redistilled.

Jump ahead:

London Dry Gin
Old Tom Gin
Dry Gin
Plymouth Gin
Navy Strength Gin
New Western and Modern Gins
Japanese Gin
Genever
Aged Gin
Sloe Gin
Nonalcoholic Gin Alternatives
Our Best Gin Cocktails

We won’t get too bogged down in the history here, but the earliest version of the spirit came in the form of Dutch genever (we’ll talk more about that below). Over many years, influenced by new rules, regulations, taxes, and trends, distinct gin types like Old Tom, sloe gin, Plymouth, Navy Strength, and London Dry gin emerged in England and beyond. These categories remain on the market today, along with newer styles and even nonalcoholic alternatives.

So what’s the difference between the different types of gin you might see at your local liquor store? Pour yourself a gimlet, Negroni, or even a Gin Rickey, and let’s get into it.

London Dry Gin

London Dry is what most people think of when they think of gin. It’s what you typically get when you order a G&T or martini; you know the stuff: Beefeater, Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire. “You're definitely gonna get juniper,” says gin expert Nathan McCarley-O’Neill, head of bar operations for Major Food Group, “because juniper is the most dominant flavor within the gin—hence the reason it’s called gin (juniper is genévrier in French).” Juniper, which might come to mind as the Christmas-tree-flavored berry often found in certain Bath and Body Works products, mellows out when distilled. Some London Dry gins steep dried or fresh citrus peels before distillation and that gives them a bright, citrus flavor—and it’s why a twist of lemon really does magic in a martini.

“There's no added (artificial) flavoring, the flavors are all natural from the botanicals,” O’Neill says, plus no added sweeteners. “If the gin has sweetness, it's more than likely it contained a botanical like licorice.”

Recommended Gin: Sipsmith London Dry Gin

Old Tom Gin

During the 19th century retailers (both pub owners and merchants) often made gin by buying raw spirits from distillers and doctoring it up themselves. “They would have used things like licorice or a sweetening agent to actually sweeten the gin.” O’Neill says.

Some sources claim pubs that sold this concoction kept a statue of a black tomcat out front, a secret signal that people could buy gin there. Others, including drinks historian David Wondrich in The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, attribute the name to a pair of two Thomases: Thomas Chamberlain, a distillery manager “who kept a special grade of gin for prize customers” and Thomas Norris, who popularized the gin by selling “that grade under the name ‘Old Tom’ at his public house.” At the time, Wondrich explains, Old Tom referred specifically to “the strongest sweetened gin legally available.”

Nowadays, Old Tom is richer in flavor than London Dry, which is why O’Neill thinks it’s ideal for “pre-Prohibition cocktails, anything that has bitter flavors.” You could also try it side by side with London Dry in a Tom Collins or Ramos Gin Fizz; modern-day versions tend to call for Dry gin, but these drinks were originally made with Old Tom.

Ransom’s Old Tom Gin is aged in wine barrels, so it takes on that caramel color, but some Old Tom gins, like Hayman’s, are clear. Some use added sugars to sweeten while others rely on botanicals like licorice to give the implication of sweetness. Different brands interpret the historic gin in their own way.

Recommended Gin: Ransom Old Tom Gin; Hayman’s Old Tom Gin

Dry Gin

Dry gins straddle the realm between earlier, sweeter gins and London Dry. The “dry” terminology dates back to the 1800s, as a shift away from varieties sweetened to mask the questionable ingredients used in making “bathtub gin.” “Dry gin took over and made it a little bit better,” says Stephen Blackmon, the lead bartender and social media manager at Doar Bros. in Charleston.

The rules around making Dry gin aren’t as stringent as those regulating London Dry. Like the latter, Dry gins have little to no added sugar, and juniper stands out as the primary flavor. But Dry gins can undergo numerous distillations, and can be flavored with both natural botanicals and artificial ingredients. “You’ll see a lot of things called ‘dry gin,’ and if it doesn’t have “London” in front of it, that should give you the hint that it probably has something added after an initial distillation,” Blackmon says. For example, he says, “Everyone knows Hendrick’s as the rose-and-cucumber gin. It’s still juniper-forward, but it has cucumber and rose flavors added post-distillation, placing it in line with more creative gin stylings.”

The Dry style is also a sort of godfather to the New Western/Modern gin movement (read more, below) seen around the world. By giving distillers a framework to produce gin with nontraditional botanicals, the category opened doors for regional interpretations.

Recommended Gin: The Botanist Islay Dry Gin

Plymouth Gin

The Black Friars Distillery in the city of Plymouth is the only spot that’s ever made this gin. It’s one of the oldest recorded gin distilleries in the UK, and the place has been through a lot—different owners, a little thing called World War II, the general progression of time and vodka. O’Neill schooled us: "Plymouth was very special because it was named in the Savoy Cocktail Book, used in 23 of the tome’s gin cocktail recipes. It was one of the most significant cocktail books in the world and still is to this day. So to have the actual name physically in it is very, very important. With that, it allowed Plymouth to become very popular in the first part of the 20th century when a lot of gins were coming onto the market.”

Flavor-wise, it's more citrus-forward than London Dry, and you might get a spicier finish from their blend of seven botanicals: juniper, coriander seed (adds acidity), dried sweet orange peels, cardamom, Angelica root, and Orris root. Because of those roots, said our gin guide, “the gin has a bit of an earthier feel, and it’s a little bit softer in juniper. It has a nice kind of oily texture, which works fantastic in things like martinis and Negronis—anything that has a slightly bitter flavor, Plymouth gin works really, really well.”

Bonus ingredient: Holy water. Just kidding, but the small amount of water in Plymouth is special. It’s pure water from the Dartmoor reservoir. Per O'Neill, who's been there and literally drunk the water, this “gives the gin an exceptionally clean and fresh flavor.” I'm just going to roll with him on that one.

Recommended Gin: Plymouth Original Gin

Navy Strength Gin

Anything boasting the Navy Strength label has some chutzpah to it, and it comes in the form of 57.15% ABV (at least). For comparison, the alcohol content in London Dry and Dry gin styles typically hovers around 40% ABV.

Back in the day, the British Navy transported its gin at a higher proof, which stabilized it for storing alongside gunpowder (quite the bang-up idea). There was another reason too, explains Alessandro Palazzi, bar manager at DUKES London: “In the 1700s, the Navy Strength, or as they called it ‘gunpowder,’ gin was given to the navy when they used to go fight. They gave them this high dose of alcohol to give them courage before going into the battles. Those poor guys.”

In recent years, Palazzi has seen a revival in Navy Strength gin, noting that more and more companies are introducing it as part of their portfolio.

Why? These highly concentrated gins pack big alcohol and big flavor. “Gins come off the still at very high percentages of alcohol and are then cut with water,” Blackmon says. Because Navy Strength Gin is less diluted, “the flavor is more predominant,” and botanicals and citrus oils shine a bit brighter. The high alcohol and concentrated botanicals lend themselves well to cocktail making. “Higher strength is a purposeful flavor holder,” he says. “I choose a higher ABV to stand up in a cocktail like an Army Navy where the other ingredients would otherwise overpower the gin.”

Recommended Gin: Leopold’s Navy Strength American GinBrosBros.; Conniption Navy Strength Gin

New Western and Modern Gins

A VinePair article traces the origin of the “New Western Dry” gin terminology to Aviation Gin co-founders Christian Krogstad and Ryan Magarian, who used the name to describe their gin. Other North American distilleries followed, using the name to refer to a dry-style gin accented by regional botanicals—gins that tended to branch out from the customary coriander, angelica, citrus peels, etc. But as gin production boomed around the world, the “New Western” terminology failed to acknowledge the significant scope of gin’s geography.

“I think I don’t like the terms “New World” or “Western” because they don’t describe the variety of modern gins. I consider them ‘creative’ gins,” Blackmon says.

A few characteristics define the style: The products usually fall under the Dry gin umbrella, free of the sweetness found in sloe gin and Old Tom. Juniper berries remain a key ingredient, though these gins tend to highlight other (often locally sourced) botanicals—whether that means in-season berries and lavender or shiso and yuzu. Since some bottlings lean more floral and citrusy, they “open doors to people who just cannot stand piney gin,” Blackmon says.

Japan’s Roku, Scotland’s The Botanist, and Germany’s Monkey 47, for example, each feature distinctive local ingredients. The numbers on those bottles–47 (Monkey), 22 (The Botanist), six (which translates to “Roku” in Japanese)—indicate the number of botanicals in each recipe. These distinctive and varied spirits lend themselves to creative cocktailing without needing to be classified as “flavored gins.” Try whatever brand you get your hands on in a citrusy Summer Babe, made with herbal Génépy des Alpes.

Recommended Gin: Hat Trick Botanical Gin; Roku Gin; Stray Dog Wild Gin

Strawberry rhubarb! Hawaiian ginger! Honey! Flavored gin has a lot going on, and it's nothing like the flavored vodka you took shots of in college—thank God.

Japanese Gin

Amid the new wave of modern gins, Japanese gin stands out for its distinct botanicals and relatively fast rise in popularity. Bigger distilleries like Kyoto Distillery pioneered the country’s gin production, introducing KI NO BI Dry Gin, made with ingredients like yuzu, shiso, sansho pepper, and green tea. Before long, other distilleries—many of them shochu manufacturers—started exploring gin production as well.

The malt spirit that forms the core of these gins is often distilled from barley, sweet potato, rice, or sugarcane. Then distillers add regional fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices, along with juniper berries, as botanicals. Sam Miyazawa, who manages Kuraichi, a Japanese specialty sake and liquor store in Brooklyn, explains that some Japanese gins take it a step further by using sake or shochu as the base. “It creates a richness–many people say ‘umami’ in the gin,” he says. 135° East Hyogo Dry Gin, for example, uses sake as a base along with eight botanicals, including coriander, juniper, shiso, yuzu, and plum. “It’s a very complicated taste, it’s very unique, and you can feel the yuzu and plum sourness and the sake gives it an umami-rich taste,” Miyazawa says.

Recommended Gin: 135° East Hygo Dry Gin; KI NO BI Kyoto Dry Gin

Genever

While you’ll taste the future in modern gins, it’s also fun to jump back in time. Genever—sometimes referred to as “Dutch gin”—is the original style of gin, dating back to 16th-century Holland or even earlier. The malted base grains give this spirit a more robust flavor—one that might appeal most to whiskey lovers.

O’Neill explained the process: “Instead of using a neutral grain spirit, Genever distillers actually create a malt wine spirit, which is the predominant flavor of the gin. The grains are left to ferment for five days or so, and then turned into a mash, which is similar to how whiskey is made. Then they’ll add different botanicals, including juniper, but the difference here between the dry gins and Genever is that juniper is not the predominant flavor. The actual gin is a lot more malty. Flavors added can be cloves, caraway, ginger, and nutmeg. So you’ve got a vaguely different style of taste, and you certainly have way more earth notes within it.” Unlike with London Dry gins, you likely won’t taste a lot of citrus flavor here. Distillers aren’t required to age their genever in barrels, though they often do.

If Old Tom is considered “rich” in flavor, Genever is even richer. This means it’s best in rich cocktails, with something like sweet vermouth, or stirred with a tiny bit of bitters and a touch of sugar like a gin Old Fashioned. “The malt wine has such a predominant flavor, if you’re mixing it with something richer, it's going to work really well,” O’Neill says. We feel like millionaires just thinking about it.

Recommended Gin: Boomsma Old Genever

Aged Gin

“The practice of aging gin has been going on for 500 to 600 years because gin was stored in wooden barrels as a means of transport,” Palazzi explains. Unlike wines and whiskeys, which are often promoted based on the amount of time they’ve been barrel-aged, gins typically age for 3 to 6 months. But there are some outliers, and they’re pretty different from the other gins on the market.

If you know aged rum or reposado tequila, then you can recognize the hallmarks of aged gin: White liquor (usually) turns golden brown, and, in addition to the botanicals, the smell and taste become rich with oak and spice notes.

When gin is aged in a wooden cask, especially one that held something else before, Palazzi says, the wood can lend a bittersweet flavor to the finished product. Such as Beefeater Burrough’s Reserve, which is aged in Lillet casks. “It’s beautiful,” Palazzi says. “You can use it to make a variation on an Old Fashioned,” he notes, recommending you swap the usual orange bitters for celery bitters as they do at Duke’s. Or play up the Lillet notes and pour a round of Vespers. While Palazzi typically steers away from aged gins when making a martini, he says, “The one I would use for martinis is the Colombian aged gin from Dictador, which is a rum distillery. I do a classic Martinez with that.”

Recommended Gin: Dictador Treasure Colombian Aged Gin

Sloe Gin

Sweet and rustic, this style gets its name from the inclusion of sloe berries in the distillation process. It originated in the English countryside as a type of gin made during the fall, coinciding with the harvest of sloe berries from the blackthorn plant, damson plums, and other fruity ingredients. Everyone seemed to have their own family recipe, which often involved using available fruits and botanicals from the garden. These inclusions give sloe gin a deep, punch-like color and a liqueur-like sweetness. Most commercial brands hover between 25% to 30% ABV, significantly lower than standard gin.

Sloe gin made its way to the States during the cocktail craze of the 1800s. “Sweeter drinks were en vogue,” Palazzi says, but when preferences shifted toward drier cocktails, sloe gin quickly fell out of fashion. The sloe gin fizz is one of the few classic cocktails that has immortalized it; try it in our updated Sloe Gin Spritz.

Some modern bartenders are finding creative ways to use sloe gin, and many big-name distilleries, like Plymouth and Fords, have a version in their portfolios. With hints of cassis flavor, sloe gin brings a berry-like dimension to semi-sweet cocktails. Try it with tonic and a lemon wedge.

Recommended Gin: Plymouth Sloe Gin; Hayman’s Sloe Gin

Nonalcoholic Gin Alternatives

Anyone paying attention has noticed the proliferation of nonalcoholic drinks in the past few years, and there are quite a few booze-free gin substitutes available at liquor stores and elsewhere. Maybe the flavors aren’t exactly the same, but there are some that channel a few key elements. From the back of the bar at Doar Bros., Blackmon retrieves a bottle of Ritual Zero Proof. “I haven’t found another gin alternative that works the way this one works. It gives you all the profile of gin and also the mouthfeel of the spirit,” which, he says, is quite a feat. The cucumber notes make it especially refreshing. Blackmon notes that most gin subs work best in a shaken drink, rather than something stirred. Paired with a booze-free aperitif and vermouth alternative, you can easily make a mocktail version of a Negroni whenever the mood strikes.

Recommended Gin: Ritual Non-Alcoholic Gin Alternative, Free Spirits The Spirit of Gin

Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit