Gin de Mahón

The technical file (transmitted in 2018) describes a spirit of 38 to 43 % "with a strong juniper flavour", made by a single distillation of a water-alcohol mixture of 38 to 52 % with juniper berries. The juniper is dried at room temperature for at least a year and macerated for at least 10 hours. Distillation takes place in copper stills heated directly over a wood fire, once a day; only the heart is used, collected in jugs, and the combined distillate must reach at least 70 % before it is diluted. No additives, flavourings or extracts are allowed. The ingredients need not come from Menorca; a recipe book cited in the file warns that Balearic juniper is unsuitable.

The file ties the drink to British rule of Menorca (1712–1802): merchants in Mahón supplied gin to British soldiers and residents. Its earliest written reference is a recipe book dated between the end of 1790 and 1810; the writer Joan Ramis i Ramis mentions it in 1815. Gin de Mahón is listed in Regulation (EC) No 110/2008, kept in the 2016 list, and appears on Spain's register of EU-protected spirit GIs updated in July 2026.