Gin: The Manual

In recent years, gin has shed its old-fashioned image and been reborn as a hot and hip spirit. The number of brands grows every day and bartenders - and consumers - are now beginning to re-examine gin as a quality base spirit for drinks both simple and complex.

Now, with more brands available than ever before, it is the time to set out what makes gin special, what its flavors are and how to get the most out of the brands you buy. With this book as your guide, discover:

• How gin is made
• What a botanical is and how they impact a gin's flavor
• What the difference between Dutch, London, Scottish, Spanish and American gins is
• How you drink them to maximize your pleasure
• Whether there is life beyond the gin & tonic (yes )

The body of the book covers 120 gins which Dave has tested four ways - with tonic, with lemonade, in a negroni and in a martini - and then scored. In addition, each gin is categorized according to an ingenious flavor camp system, which highlights its core properties and allows you to understand how you can best drink it, and therefore enjoy it.

Award-winning author and whisky expert Dave Broom has been writing about whisky for 25 years as a journalist and author. He has written eight books, two of which (Drink! and Rum) won the Glenfiddich Award for Drinks Book of the Year. He has also won the Glenfiddich Award for Drinks Writer of the Year twice and recently won the extremely prestigious IWSC Communicator of the Year Award.

Dave is editor-in-chief of Whisky Magazine: Japan, consultant editor to Whisky Magazine (UK, the USA, France, Spain), and a lead columnist on Whisky Advocate (USA). He is also editor of the Scotch Whisky Review and a contributor to a raft of national and international titles including the Spectator, Mixology, and Imbibe (Europe). He is a regular broadcaster on TV and radio.

Over his two decades in the field, Dave has built up a considerable international following with regular training/educational visits to France, Holland, Germany, the USA and Japan. His remit has covered consumer features as well as business reports. He is also actively involved in whisky education, acting as a consultant to major distillers on tasting techniques as well as teaching professionals and the public. He was also one of the developers of Diageo’s generic whisky tasting tool, the Flavour Map(TM).