The majority of American, English and Italian authors from the end of the 1800s to the modern 1980s agree: the invention of gin is to be attributed to a Dutchman, Franciscus de la Boë or de la Bouve, according to the sources. A doctor who began distilling juniper in search of a diuretic for tired kidneys.
However, in recent years, a guru of Mixology and Cocktail Culture, Gary Regan, advanced the hypothesis according to which the origin of the distillate must be traced back to Italy. In support of his thesis, the expert, who passed away in 2019, pointed to three clues: the Italian excellence in the cultivation of juniper, the impetus to the distillation process brought by the School of Salerno, the biggest European medical institution during the Middle Ages, and finally the creation, again by the School of Salerno, of the first botanical garden that would later spread to the rest of Italy.
It is documented that the innovations of alchemists, doctors, religious orders and metalsmiths contributed to the qualitative evolution of grappas and spirits. Gin is the topic of discussion. However, the birth of the Italian gin phenomenon has deep roots and is not based on improvisation.
Italian gins are charting a gustatory trajectory, but they also stand out for another thing: their packaging is beautiful. So beautiful, that our selection starts with the bottles as well as the content.
INSULAE GIN
From the Latin, "Gin of the island", or Sicily. This distillate that tastes of sun and sea is made with botanicals exclusively cultivated in Sicily: lemon, sweet and bitter orange and mandarin, carob, Ispica sesame, Bronte pistachios and Noto almonds, jasmine. Insulae is a Small Batch-Distilled Gin, with batches of up to 1000 liters and made in old flame-fed copper stills. The alcohol by volume is 42%, and the alcohol used is exclusively from Italian cereals.
ELEKTRO GIN
The first Italian gin with saffron, made by the company Il re dei re with twenty selected botanicals, distilled at low temperatures in copper stills. Together with the notes of saffron and Tuscan and organic juniper berries, notes of citrus and herbs stand out, ending with a long, spicy finish. Soft and persistent gin with notes of saffron. Botanicals also include orris, iris root and cardamom.
LOUIS GIN
A London dry gin with an absolutely distinctive recipe, thanks to the citric notes of the Pompia, or Sa Pumpia, an ancient Sardinian citrus fruit among the rarest in the world, with a very fragrant, rough and thick peel, which since 2004 has been part of a project for the safeguarding of biodiversity. This is the characterizing ingredient of this gin that was created in San Teodoro, on the north-eastern coast of Sardinia.