Gin: A Toast to the Most Aromatic of Spirits celebrates the clear spirit in all its guises; as a straight drink, the increasingly popular flavoured brands, as a base for cocktails & a cooking ingredient. It describes the history of the spirit; how it is made & how the method of distillation has changed across the centuries; the variations of gin; classic cocktail recipes; where to buy the premier brands; & tasting notes. Lavishly illustrated & written in an easy-to-read style, this book will go down as well as the most lovingly created Gin & Tonic. Few drinks can trace its history back more than half a millennium, but the Dutch genever (or jenever) is a clear predecessor of the modern gin distilled today. Gin`s history makes for fascinating reading, from how it grew & faded in popularity through the ages to the types of people who drank it & the story of the G&T (surely the world`s best known cocktail). According to Henry Mc Nulty, Vogue`s legendary wine & spirits columnist, ` Gin is the bad boy of the spirits world.` He may be correct, but the fact remains that gin is one of the world`s most popular spirits.