Gin has a distinctive herbal flavor, while vodka is generally unflavored and neutral. Vodka is water-based, while gin is distilled with juniper berries and botanicals that give them their distinctive flavors. So what's the difference between gin and vodka? Gin is often associated with herbal and pine notes, while vodka is best described as a flavorless entity. Vodka is a neutral liquor made with fermentable ingredients, such as grains or fruits, that is distilled or treated to create a liquor without character, aroma, flavor or color.
Gin, on the other hand, is a liquor that has 40 percent alcohol or more, with its main characteristic flavor derived from juniper berries. Gin is known for its pine and herbal flavors, while vodka is famous for its odourless and tasteless profile. Both are very different beverages, but they also share many similarities. Vodka tastes mild, clean and neutral, while gin has more complexity due to juniper and other botanical ingredients.
By law, all gins must contain juniper, but the amount of juniper varies by brand, and London Dry gins have a pronounced juniper flavor. Some American gins and many artisanal gins soften juniper with a more balanced botanical blend. BBC Good Food explains that the distillation of gin begins with a neutral grain alcohol, but the flavors are improved by the addition of juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. In fact, gin gets its name from genever, the Dutch word for juniper (via The Manual).
Smithsonian magazine explains that the flavor of juniper berries is reminiscent of pine, with hints of fruit and pepper. On the other hand, the word vodka comes from voda, the Russian word for water (via Britannica). During the 18th century, gin was intimately associated with cocktail making and continued to be drunk during Prohibition, as it was incredibly easy to distill gin from home, although perhaps not very well. The United States government officially classifies gin as spirits with a characteristic main flavor derived from juniper berries produced by distilling or blending liquors with juniper berries and other flavors or extracts derived from these materials.
Gin goes back even further, first described as “Geneva” in a scientific article by a Flemish author in the 1200s. Essentially, vodka and gin are clear liquors, distilled from fermented ingredients such as corn, rice, rye, cereals and potatoes. If vodka is your spirit animal, BBC Good Food shares 37 different beverages, from the colorful Cosmopolitan to a spicy Bloody Mary, a Moscow mule and a Brazilian-inspired caipiroska. The berries used to make gin can help the patient with infections, heart disease and even fight kidney and liver diseases.
This is due to having a detailed understanding of how spirits, juices, liquors, and fresh ingredients interact with each other, and both vodka and gin are great liquors to try out cocktail preparation for the first time. Like most spirits, vodka and gin were once used as medicines to cure different types of diseases before Western practices were invented. With roots dating back to the Middle Ages (and a history of use as herbal medicine), gin is one of the most popular spirits in the world (via Secret Gin Club). Mix them into a powerful cocktail or have two separate drinks one after the other; either way, gin and vodka are here to stay.
Which is very strong) and American gin (made in the United States, with more herbal notes than traditional gin). Gin was once the world's most popular spirit drink, but its popularity declined in the 1950s as vodka sales skyrocketed, perhaps due to the neutrality and versatility of vodka. The main difference between gin and vodka is that vodka is considered a neutral liquor, since it should not have a distinctive flavor, while the herbal and botanical flavors of gin depend on the mix of natural ingredients from each individual brand. Both vodka and gin are clear, distilled liquors, which are often used interchangeably in cocktails, especially Martini, Collins and Gimlet.
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