Hungarian gin: a new alternative to pálinka?

After hundreds of years of popularity abroad, gin is finally becoming popular in Hungary as well, as more and more pálinka distilleries start producing their own juniper-based liquor.

Dutch alchemists were among the first to put juniper berries (Juniperus communis) in alcohol in the early 17th century. Although their liquor, also called jenever, reached the British Isles relatively early, it was not until the reign of William of Orange that the juniper-flavoured drink gained popularity there.

But as Index writes, what people started producing in large quantities had little to do with what we call gin today, and the use of sulphuric acid, for example, did not quite fulfil the liquor’s original function as medicine.

This was followed by a small decline after the Gin Act (1751) when excise tax was significantly raised on gin, but then, with the Victorian era, came a real golden age of the drink: this is when some iconic “Gin Palaces”, such as Gordon’s, Beefeater, and Tanqueray, opened.

The next milestone in the history of gin was brought by the rising popularity of cocktails in the late 19th century: gin was first mixed with vermouth in a 1:1 ratio, which was gradually decreased during the decades that followed.

The other mixed version, gin and tonic, probably needs no introduction. Tonic water (consumed against malaria for its quinine content) had been mixed with other drinks like wine before, but it was the British who first mixed it with gin.

The drink then reached Spain (Gin de Menorca) and soon gained immense popularity on the mainland as well. This is where Mediterranean ingredients such as lemon peel and rosemary were added to the juniper-based drink, which then conquered the rest of Europe.

Hungarian gin: the next pálinka?

According to Regulation 110/2008 of the European Parliament, gin preparation requires ethyl alcohol, juniper berries, and still equipment. Since this is very similar to what you need to prepare pálinka, it is little surprise that gin distillation was quite quick to spread among Hungarian distilleries in the past years. According to Index,

“in the last 1-2 years, 40 Hungarian brands appeared on the market, and in the next few months, this number could reach 100.”

Their history, of course, hardly compares to other European distilleries that have hundreds of years of tradition. Another challenge Hungarian producers might face is constantly finding good-quality ingredients, but luckily, when juniper is hard to find in the Carpathian Basin, it can be easily imported from someplace else.

Already there are several worthwhile gin products on the Hungarian market. According to a recent gin-tasting event at Dunapark Kávéház where both gin and mixed drinks (with tonic) were blind-tasted by a group of bartenders and other professionals, these are the five Hungarian gins that are definitely worth a try:

• Pink Lady of Gong (coloured with rose petals, hibiscus)
• Somló Balaton’s gin (quince, muscat, lavender, elderflower)
• Pipacs Dry Gin of Márton Főzde (citrus, wildflowers, red berries)
• Hungarian Dry Gin of Agárdi Pálinkafőzde (lavender, citrus, “the closest to British gins”)
• Kalumba White Dry Gin of Zwack (Unicum) Ház (citrus, cubeba, pink pepper).

Read alsoHungarian gin outperforms our best wines at influential international competition

Source: index.hu