World Gin Day 2022

What is World Gin Day?

Grab your best bottle of gin or prepare your favourite gin cocktail, as Saturday, 11 June 2022 is World Gin Day. This celebration of gin and the enjoyment it brings is celebrated every year on the second Saturday in June. It is a global “cheers” to this favourite distilled, juniper-flavoured alcoholic drink.

The concept of World Gin Day is simple. It’s a celebration of all types of gin and all things gin related. It was created to bring people together over a common interest in this unique liquor. It doesn’t matter if you want your gin served neat, as a classic gin and tonic, or in a variety of other cocktails, you’re ready to celebrate World Gin Day.

This is event is not to be mistaken with Ginuary.

Who Founded World Gin Day?

World Gin Day is a product of the Gin Monkey, a London-based woman named Emma. Emma works in science in the day, cocktail bars in the evening, and gin distilleries when possible. She is the author of The Periodic Table of Cocktails, a hardback collection of alcoholic drinks and has a goal of bringing cocktail drinking to the masses.

Celebrating World Gin Day

The 2020 celebration was held online but it’s still a day to raise a toast to friends and family while celebrating gin.

Here’s how you can celebrate:

• Follow #WorldGinDay on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Share your World Gin Day happenings with the #WorldGinDay hashtag
• Zoom with friends over a delicious gin cocktail
• Try a new bottle of gin or mix a new gin cocktail at home
• Attend a distillery tour to learn more about how gin is made
• View an online tasting while tasting varieties of gin at home
• Attending a World Gin Day event

The History of Gin

The British are known as gin fanatics, but the liquor’s origins are expected to date back to the Middle Ages. A spirit said to be flavoured with “genever” was first mentioned in a Flemish manuscript from the 1300s. However, the Dutch began producing what we know as modern gin around the 1600s.

Gin was originally created as a medicine to treat dyspepsia and gout. The spirit gained popularity among Brits during the Thirty Years’ War, when British soldiers fought on Dutch land. It is said that by 1720, one-fourth of the households in London produced their own gin. This became known as “The Gin Craze” in the city. Gin remains incredibly popular in London and across the UK, but it is now more commonly purchased from supermarkets and liquor stores than made at home.

For a long history on the history of gin please read our Ginuary event.

Interesting Facts About Gin

The Gin Monkey will tell you that gin is more than your average liquor. In fact, there are a lot of interesting facts you may not already know about gin, such as:

• The Gin & Tonic cocktail was first created in India during the 19th century as a way for Brits in India to avoid malaria
• More gin is consumed in the Philippines than any other country. Philippines consume roughly 25 million cases of gin per year
• Gin is the national spirit of England, but it was first created in Holland
• A spirit must be flavoured with juniper berries to be considered a gin
• Gin is in more cocktails than any other liquor
• Gin was paired with gingerbread in 1731, and this pairing remains common in parts of England