the library

London dry gin

Spirits & brews· spirit

What it is

London dry gin is a gin style, not necessarily made in London, distilled with juniper and other botanicals with no sugar or colouring added afterward.

What it tastes like

On the nose: lavender, pine, citrus, spicy. Among its measured molecules: neryl acetate, α-terpinene, geranyl acetate, humulene, sabinene.

Every one of its 15 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• linaloolaromaalcoholreads as spicy, citrus taste (PubChem)Measured in 91 of 341 ingredients.cite

  one of nine terpenoids detected across the 16 commercial gins by (−)ESI FT-ICR MS (tentative identification, isomers assigned by comparison with earlier GC-MS studies); the paper calls linalool 'one of the main oxygenated monoterpenes' of gin and traces it to coriander — Dou et al. 2023, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (Results, section 3.1 (Gin Analysis with (−) ESI FT-ICR MS))
• alpha-pinenearomaterpenoidreads as turpentine (PubChem)Measured in 72 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.1-1% of TIC in the gin and not detected in the rum or whiskey; named in the Results as one of six 'key flavor constituents of juniper berries' with high relative peak areas in this gin — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4 (Volatile compounds by chemical class identified in 3 commercial liquors analyzed by HS-SPME-GC-MS), monoterpene row 'α-pinene', Gin column '++'; Results)
• γ‑terpinenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 44 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.1-1% of TIC in the gin, not detected in the rum or whiskey; the paper's typesetting uses a latin small gamma (ɣ) rather than the greek letter — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, monoterpene row 'ɣ-terpinene', Gin column '++')
• α-terpinenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 16 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.01-0.1% of TIC in the gin, not detected in the rum or whiskey — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, monoterpene row 'α-terpinene', Gin column '+')
• p-cymenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 42 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.01-0.1% of TIC in the gin, not detected in the rum or whiskey — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, monoterpene row 'p-cymene', Gin column '+')
• terpinen-4-olaromaalcoholreads as pine (PubChem)Measured in 41 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.01-0.1% of TIC in the gin, not detected in the rum or whiskey — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, oxygenated monoterpene row 'terpinen-4-ol', Gin column '+')
• terpinolenearomaterpenoidreads as terpene taste (PubChem)Measured in 38 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.01-0.1% of TIC in the gin, not detected in the rum or whiskey — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, monoterpene row 'terpinolene', Gin column '+')
• beta-pinenearomaterpenoidreads as terpene (PubChem)Measured in 55 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.01-0.1% of TIC; named as a key juniper-berry flavour constituent — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, monoterpene row 'β-pinene', Gin column '+'; Results)
• sabinenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 32 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.01-0.1% of TIC in the gin, not detected in the rum or whiskey — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, monoterpene row 'sabinene', Gin column '+')
• limonenearomaterpenoidreads as lemon (PubChem)Measured in 92 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.1-1% of TIC; named as a key juniper-berry flavour constituent, and noted as also abundant in the citrus botanicals — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, monoterpene row 'limonene', Gin column '++' (rum and whiskey 'tr'); Results)
• myrcenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 68 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.1-1% of TIC, absent from rum and whiskey; named as a key juniper-berry flavour constituent — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, monoterpene row 'β-myrcene', Gin column '++'; Results)
• neryl acetatearomaterpenoidMeasured in 12 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.1-1% of TIC in the gin, not detected in the rum or whiskey — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, oxygenated monoterpene row 'neryl acetate', Gin column '++')
• geranyl acetatearomaterpenoidreads as lavender (PubChem)Measured in 24 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.1-1% of TIC in the gin, not detected in the rum or whiskey — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, oxygenated monoterpene row 'geranyl acetate', Gin column '++')
• caryophyllenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 50 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.1-1% of TIC; named as a key juniper-berry flavour constituent — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, sesquiterpene row 'β-caryophyllene', Gin column '++'; Results)
• humulenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 26 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative peak area 0.1-1% of TIC; named as a key juniper-berry flavour constituent — Barnes et al. 2022, Foods (Table 4, sesquiterpene row 'α-humulene', Gin column '++'; Results)