Vodka has ranked as the top spirit for decades, but all reigns must end.
For the past 50 age , vodkahas had a chokehold on American drinkers . Vodka salesclock in at $ 7.3 billion per year , or $ 2 billion more than our 2d - favorite purport . However , there are signs on the horizon that vodka ’s authority is beginning to wane . For the first time in decennium , vodka face plastered competitor as tequila and whiskey angle to become the best - sell feeling in the United States .
Gin gross revenue , on the other hired hand , lag far behind . It ’s a puzzling and , for some of us , infuriating trend . While both are neutral spirit with fast distillment outgrowth , vodka easy takes on the flavors of whatever it ’s served with , whereas cotton gin has various botanical and an unmistakable Retama raetam flavor that punches you right in the oral fissure . It ’s a more distinctive spirit , by any measure .
As the craft cocktail scene keep on to acquire , andat - home bartendingskills better than ever , why do so many people still choose vodka over snare ?
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The history of vodka vs. gin
Vodka and gin have been scar against each other for generation of Americans . The former gets its name from the Russian wordvoda , intend water . Historiansdisagree on whether vodka was first distilled in Poland in the 700s or Russia sometime in the 800s . Either manner , we do know that , by 1174 , a still inKhylnovsk , Russiawas make it .
The heart stupefy a hazard to daze American penchant bud during World War II , when struggle - weary soldier encountered and enjoyed it — a slew . But , when they returned home , gin was still the best-loved exonerated spirit stateside . It had been the grain - devoid spirit of pick since English settlers arrived in the 1700s .
The British first learned of gin from the Dutch during theThirty Years ’ War , when the allies were fight much of Catholic Europe . The Dutch call their juniper - berry - soaked malt spirit genever . British troops noticed that whenever Dutch soldiers had a sip before a battle , they were hardy , take in the drink the sobriquet Dutch courage . After the war , the British start distilling their own style of gin , which would become what we call London juiceless gin . Britain start exporting this spirit as more of its citizen moved to North America . By the 1800s , gin was as pop as brandy and whiskey in the U.S.
For over 200 years , gin was popular in America , including during Prohibition , when folks looking to get a little loose begin making knock rummy in theirbathtubs . This is also when classic gin cocktail like theBee ’s Knees , Southsides , andGin Fizzeswere created .
How vodka became America’s favorite spirit
Vodka ’s procession to the top of the disembodied spirit market happened due to a combination of population switch , luck , and wise marketing .
“ selling really was the driving violence behind a destiny of vodkas , ” aver McLain Hedges , owner ofYacht Clubin Denver . “ A lot of people started to see at knock rummy as something their grandmother drank . It was for an older coevals , whereas vodka really fucking spring on board with merchandising and sequester themselves to celebrities and pop culture . ”
There were demographic reason , too , tell Martim Smith - Mattsson , brand manager forFord ’s Gin , who estimates new immigrants made vodka in the US as early as the 1930s . “ But by the 1960s and into the seventies , that ’s really when vodka kind of starts [ taking over ] the scene . ”
During Prohibition, folks looking to get loose made gin in their bathtubs and drank in speakeasies.|Getty
In the ’ 60s , vodkas like Smirnoff and Absolut get using soda finish icon like Zsa Zsa Gabor , Sean Connery , andAndy Warholto help promote their brands . In Gabor ’s iconic1967 Smirnoff advertising , she ’s draped in diamonds . A flowy white dress hangs off of her shoulders . Her hair is in a aphrodisiacal updo and her body is angled towards a glass with decipherable liquidness in it . The campaign notes that vodka is the best spirit to use in potable like Bloody Marys , Martinis , and on the rocks . It finishes with the hope of it also leaving zero scent behind after the drinker is done drink . “ Always require for Smirnoff vodka , it leaves you breathless , ” the ad declares .
Soon thereafter , vodka became the drink of the young and happening . The trend continues through the 20th and twenty-first centuries , with renown brands like the uber - popularCiroc , own by rapper Sean “ Diddy ” Combs , orKing St. Vodkafrom actress Kate Hudson .
Some vodka trademark advisedly target young consumer , too . “ Vodka is passing reachable for a younger market , ” say Conrad Helms , a tone specialist and saloon manager atLazy Bettyrestaurant in Atlanta . “ At the death of the day , that ’s really who ’s imbibe a mountain more vodka than anybody else , is gon na be those hoi polloi that are in your 21 - 28 - class - old form of range . ”
Zsa Zsa Gabor starred in an iconic 1967 for Smirnoff vodka|Getty
How to drink gin
It ’s heavy to argue with vodka ’s approachability and versatility , but gin has evolved past the overwhelmingly piney - retem flavors that many hoi polloi link with it .
A quick jaunt around your local hard liquor store and you ’ll blot options like the indigo - huedEmpress 1908 Gin , a pernicious - tasting spirit made with black tea and butterfly pea blossom . Or , you could try Etsu Gin from Hokkaido , Japan . This yuzu - forward spirit is equal office herbaceous and finespun , the type of potable you sip on the rock ( though it would puzzle out well in a screw auger , too ) . There ’s alsoProcera Ginfrom Nairobi , Kenya , which uses indigenousJuniperus proceraberries , pixie orangeness and Swahili lime hydrate , plus cardamom and mace from Zanzibar , Madagascan pink peppercorn , and Selim pepper from the Ivory Coast . The result is an crude , full-bodied feeling that ’s just beg to be swirl around a martini glass with a touch of vermouth .
Whichever bottle you choose , start your noose geographic expedition withcocktails , Helms says . Even if you ’ve had bad previous experiences , “ a cocktail proffer you the chance to open that door and say , ‘ Wait a minute , I can get down with this noose matter . ’ ”
Cocktails are a great way to explore different gins|Getty
As for great gins for first - timers to essay , Helms recommendsWonder Bird No . 61 , a comparative neophyte from Mississippi that ’s made with Delta rice . “ It ’s a really honest , all - around mixing snare . ”
Hedges is fond to Ford ’s Gin , which he call a “ workhorse ” spirit . “ Ford ’s Gin is an all - time pet for our barroom , ” says Hedges . “ It ’s a great expression of a London dry trend but with a little more tonic . It has all the preeminence that I want for something classic , but with a small more energy behind it . ”
The next fourth dimension you find yourself at a bar preparing to enjoin a vodka tonic ormartini , give a snare a chance or else . Or , try it in agimlet , a smashing political platform for wintertime citrus . You ’ll likely be surprised , in the best potential room .
