Events in date order, with the certainty the sources allow. Select an event for its place, its consequences and its sources.
From juniper water to London gin →
1690 – 1751
Statute 2 Will. & Mar. sess. 2 c. 9 set low duties on spirits from malted corn and opened distilling to any duty-paying person.
Why it mattered Its preamble names 'the greater consumption of Corne and the advantage of Tillage'. Historians link it to the loss of French brandy after William of Orange's accession.
Documented£20 annual retail licence and excise duty of 5s per gallon on distilled spirits.
Why it mattered To check the spread of gin shops, which unlike alehouses were not licensed.
DocumentedDuty of 20s per gallon and an annual £50 retail licence.
Why it mattered A campaign by moral reformers, bishops and the Society for the Reformation of Manners against soaring gin consumption.
DocumentedLicences at £2 a year, retail only by rent- and rate-paying householders, a moderate duty increase.
Why it mattered A Commons committee blamed rising robbery and murder on gin; petitions came from London parishes and from Bristol, Manchester and Norwich.
DocumentedA satirical etching and engraving showing gin-crazed Londoners, a drunken mother letting her baby fall, an emaciated ballad-seller, pawnbroker's and undertaker's signs.
Why it mattered Published in the year Parliament debated and passed the 1751 Gin Act, contrasting ruinous gin with healthy beer.
Documented2008 – 2019
Annex III listed the protected juniper-spirit GIs: the genever family, Hasselt, Balegem, Steinhäger, Plymouth Gin, Gin de Mahón, Vilnius gin and others.
Why it mattered To harmonise spirit definitions and protect geographical names.
DocumentedAnnex I categories 19 to 22 (juniper-flavoured spirit drinks, gin, distilled gin, London gin) and 35 (sloe gin).
Why it mattered To update the EU spirit-drink definitions and GI protection, repealing Regulation (EC) No 110/2008.
Documented